Plushies spending nights at Japan museums gain traction
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Plushies "visit” The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.
PHOTO: THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, TOKYO/FACEBOOK
TOKYO – Sending favourite stuffed animals to museums and art galleries to “spend the night” and view exhibits on their owners’ behalf is proving popular in Japan, with organisers hoping that such programmes will spark interest and attract more visitors to the facilities.
The Hikone Castle Museum in Shiga Prefecture and Nagoya City Art Museum are among a growing number of facilities hosting so-called sleepovers for plushies.
The event, believed to have originated in US public libraries as a fun way to spark children’s interest in reading, is spreading across Japan, fuelled by the recent trend of people bringing their favourite plushies along, photographing them and sharing the images on social media.
The activity is known as “nuikatsu”, a portmanteau of “nuigurumi” and “katsudo”, meaning “stuffed toys” and “activity” in Japanese.
When the Nagoya City Art Museum introduced its sleepover event for stuffed toys in 2025, slots filled up instantly, within a minute after online registration opened, museum officials said.
The Hikone Castle Museum held a similar event to commemorate its 40th anniversary in 2027, with owners allowed to leave their plushies at the museum for a week through early August.
The programme received 122 applications for just 10 available spots when applications opened in July.
Hikonyan, Hikone’s mascot, served as a guide, and the stuffed animals were pictured looking at a display of swords and armour passed down through the Ii family, the feudal lords of the Hikone domain.
Updates on the plushies’ activities were posted regularly on social media, with one post receiving more than 5,000 likes.
Naoya Okaniwa and his wife, who are both fans of the mascot, travelled to the Hikone Castle Museum from Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.
The 47-year-old said: “We have visited the museum many times, but through these stuffed animals, we discovered charms we had overlooked.”
Kanato Muraki, a seven-year-old from Kusatsu in Shiga Prefecture who was visiting the facility for the first time, was impressed.
“The actual armour suits were bigger than I expected. I was surprised. I want to come again.”
Only about 20 per cent of visitors to Hikone Castle visit the museum, which is located next to it, a museum official said.
“We hope this event will spark interest in our exhibits and help increase visitor numbers,” said museum staff member Yuto Nakahashi, 26. KYODO NEWS
