Japanese man spends £12,500 on ultra-realistic dog costume so he can live like an animal

A Japanese man says he has fulfilled his life-long ambition of becoming a four-legged animal after spending two-million Yen (£12,500) on a dog costume.

The man, who goes by the name of Toko-san, commissioned an agency called Zeppet who spent 40 days making the bespoke Collie outfit.

Posting photos of himself in the costume, Toko-san, said: ‘I made it a Collie because it looks real when I put it on.

‘I thought that a big animal close to my size would be good – considering that it would be a realistic model, so I decided to make it a dog.’ 

Debuting his costume on Youtube, Toko-san shares his unique journey living as a dog to over 1000 subscribers. Since starting his Youtube channel in April, his videos have over 600k views

The video posted on Twitter received over 50k likes and thousands of retweets with divided opinion on San’s alternative lifestyle

He went viral in Japan and featured in local news and television where San can be seen trying on the suit for the first time

A bizarre video clip of Toko-san dressed in the Collie costume emerged on YouTube in early April, which shows him standing on all fours in front of a camera with jaunty piano music playing in the background.

As the music plays, he lifts his right paw twice in an apparent greeting before raising his left paw.

The Lassie look-a-like is then seen rolling on the floor and waving his legs and paws in the air.

But while some have praised the life-like outfit as ‘awesome’ others have said it looks unnatural, with one viewer commenting: ‘No matter how much money you spent, you won’t be a real dog.’

Zeppet went through various rounds of revisions, with San being involved in every stage of the production process. San said he was happy with the company being able to deal with his difficult requests 

A Zeppet employee commented on how creating the life-like animal was difficult due to the amount of detail needed in creating a dog suit to fit the human body

The suit was made by Japanese company, Zeppet which provide costumes and figures for TV commercials and films.

A spokesman for Zeppet said, ‘Modelled after a collie dog, it reproduces the appearance of a real dog walking on four legs.’

Posting a video on Twitter of himself inside the dog costume and rolling on the floor, Toko-san wrote: ‘I ordered a costume! Thanks to you, I was able to fulfill my dream of becoming an animal!’

San suggested using a Collie as he says ‘long-haired dogs can mislead the human figure’

Zeppet told local media that they enhanced the ‘fluffiness’ of the coat to hide the shell of the dog and made the mouth open and close by itself

He added: ‘There are restrictions, but you can move in it. However, if you move too much, it will not look like a dog.’

The post, which now has over 50,000 likes, has divided the internet.

Writing on Toko-san’s YouTube page, one viewer said: ‘Being freak, god level! Well done!’

Another wrote: ‘You spent money on that? Lol well at least it’s realistic to a degree.’

But others praised his bravery and courage to follow a life-long dream. 

One commented: ‘I think it’s awesome that you are a Border collie never change unless you want to.’