Hamsters Abroad

07-Apr-2017 | Milku

I think I’m living on the wrong continent.

It looks like the Japanese appreciate an adventurous hamster. Hamtaro is a hamster manga star.

He can boast five anime series, four movies, several specials, many video game/DVD releases and merchandise. He doesn’t even have to rely on other species. Oh, no. Hamtaro has adventures with other hamsters, known as "Ham-Hams". They’ve even got a special clubhouse.

Yet again, the owner is a young girl called Hiroko Haruna (Laura Haruna in the English dub). Don’t boys like hamsters or something?

Then I came across a song about Harvey the Wonder Hamster on the 1993 album Alapalooza by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Do you want to sing along? Well, here are the lyrics...

"Oh, Harvey, Harvey

Harvey the Wonder Hamster

He doesn't bite and he doesn't squeal

He just runs around on his hamster wheel

Harvey, Harvey

Harvey the Wonder Hamster

Hey, Harvey!"

So it sounds like North America is friendly towards hamsters too. It's not so surprising. After all, that’s the continent that spawned ZhuZhu pets in 2008. What do you mean they sound Chinese? Well, OK, the name comes from the Mandarin meaning "little pig", but the robotic hamsters were conceived in the USA. Now, I’m not a big fan of toy hamsters, but they do know how to accessorise. I think I’ll have to request some of the Kung Zhu gear.