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Bears over flowers: The RocketNews24 giant bear takes an Ueno Park swan boat for a spin

Evie Nyan Apr 15, 2016
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“I’m the king of the world, on a boat like Leo/If you’re on the shore, then you’re sho’ not me-oh.” – Sangelica

The last time we saw Sangelica, the RocketNews24 office’s hybrid teddy bear/middle-aged and rarely behaved male writer, she was parading for patrons at her local Starbucks. Since then, things have been quiet on the tubby teddy front, but why go to all the trouble of skinning a teddy to make a bear suit if you’re not going to wear her out and about? Hence, her latest exploit: taking a refreshing paddle on the swan boats at Ueno Park!

During cherry blossom season, Ueno Park tends to get quite a lot of visitors. The park’s boating lake is a popular spot from which to view the pink blossoms, and in hanami (cherry blossom viewing) tradition, street stalls selling all manner of tasty fare spring up along the park’s pathways. It was the perfect setting for a romantic boating outing for our writer Yoshio and his bear pal Sangelica (aka another of our writers, P.K. Sanjun)!

Before hitting the swan boats, however, Sangelica had to run the gauntlet of frenzied fans who couldn’t resist getting a peek or a poke at her. Being this cute ain’t easy!

Naturally, cute and cuddly Sangelica was a big hit with the kids. Little did they know that within that soft stuffy exterior lurked a heavy smoking, potty-mouthed writer!

Sangelica also used her teddy charms to schmooze with this very excited-looking young lady.

After all that procrastinating, Yoshio finally wrestled Sangelica’s chubby, overstuffed body onto one of the swan boats. Now when Yoshio said he was taking Sangelica boating, we were all a little worried that things would end badly. Visions of a capsized Sangelica succumbing to saturation and sinking to the depths of the lake flashed before our eyes. Luckily, though, there were no soggy teddy catastrophes this time.

▼ Sangelica taking to the open waters of the, er, small lake! Paddling with the extra padding was hard work, but well worth it for the experience!

The interior of the swan boat was actually quite roomy, as the below picture shows. And don’t they make a cute pair?!

The pink boats have a certain panache, but Sangelica much preferred her choice of neutral swan. After all, she’d hate to be upstaged when she’d gone to so much trouble to entertain the park visitors with her graceful turn about the lake.

▼ “Hello fans! Aren’t I just too cute to bear?”

Unfortunately, with all the exertion of paddling, Sangelica’s back seam was starting to split. The two decided to call it a day and head back to dry land.

After all that paddling, Sangelica was badly in need of sustenance. A quick swing by the street stalls, and she found the perfect treat: a chocolate covered banana on a stick.

▼ Yes, it does look like she’s holding a poo. But we assure you it was chocolate!

One last round of photos with her adoring fans, and Sangelica was ready to head back to her usual resting spot in the RocketNews24 office’s closet.

And, as for Sanjun, he felt he was owed a smoke break after an entire day of epic bear work.

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A post shared by P.K.サンジュン (@p.k.sanjun)

What should Sangelica get up to next? If you have any ideas, we’d love to hear them, no matter how crazy – our man Sanjun is totally pre-beared for anything!