Over the course of last week, we kept coming across the same clip on Twitter. It read: “When you’re overqualified for the job”.
This tweet features a short clip (below) of someone in a cat costume, performing twee pop music, and taking what is clearly a kids event incredibly seriously. It’s a total joy to behold.
Nyango Star the Cat Drummer Extraordinaire
Apparently, the cat mascot plays the drums for Japanese pop duo Charan-Po-Rantan. But we couldn’t find any clips of that.
What we do know is this cat is called Nyango Star and has a penchant for heavy metal drumming. That’s what that style of playing is, if you were wondering.
It’s part of the whole mondo mascot craze sweeping across Japan.
Who the person in the suit is we currently don’t know. No doubt someone will find out soon enough. But it’s the enthusiasm we like. Perhaps it’s Yoyoka Soma, the young drumming sensation.
Anyway, getting this job would make most people die a little inside. But this person is hellbent on proving their chops no matter the setting.
Let’s hope he/she is able to land a bigger gig thanks to the media exposure this month.
And, indeed, he/she has a YouTube channel dedicated to metal beats… done in the cat costume.
After a bit more research, we found out Nyango Star is actually an apple/cat hybrid. Which makes total sense. Well, in the world of Mondo mascots at any rate. It’s not something we have here in England (we just deeply, deeply wish we did).
It’s not one of the best drummers ever, sure, but it’s certainly the best cat/apple drummer we’ve ever come across.
The cat/apple is from Aomori’s Kuroishi City (a northernmost part of Japan).
But because it’s such a ridiculous sight seeing this adept drummer going for it at a kawaii driven kids concert, the popularity of the mascot has sky-rocketed.
In Japan, the modern kawaii culture craze (essentially: cuteness culture – stuff like Nintendo’s Pokémon, Hello Kitty, cats etc.) sits awkwardly alongside the nation’s traditional outlook of discipline, humility, and polite reserve.
Look to Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows for a realisation why.
And yet this is why we love Japan. The madness of Nyango Star will upset traditionalists who want to preserve these attributes… but, for many people, we’re able to revel in Japan’s peerless sense of surreal lunacy.
The World’s Craziest Drummers
Japan isn’t the only country to throw up something like this. America’s Steve Moore (aka The Mad Drummer) became a sensation after the above clip went viral off YouTube.
After almost 50 million views, his hilarious impersonation of a walrus attempting to copulate continue to fascinate. Good on you, man.
