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Japanese museum holds on to child’s lost stuffed animal for 30 years, gives it bath, new clothes

Casey Baseel Dec 11, 2018
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Beyond-kind lost and found corner still hopes it can find original owner.

Yamagata Prefecture’s Chido Museum, located in the town of Tsuruoka, is a pretty unique place, consisting of a collection of samurai homes and some of Japan’s oldest still-standing Meiji Period Western-style buildings. However, like any museum, it also has a lost and found desk, and the museum recently shared a photo of a stuffed animal that a guest accidentally left behind.

The stuffed animal, which appears to be Donald Duck, was found in the museum’s parking lot, so it was probably dropped by a child before their vacationing family got back on the road and headed out of town. The museum hopes the owner will come back for it, and so it’s been hanging onto the stuffed duck…for 30 years.

今日は30年前の
お客様の忘れ物をご紹介します

博物館駐車場に落ちていた
あひる、、（笑）

お洋服を編んであげたり

お風呂に入れてあげたり

去年
30年ぶりに服を編んであげて
すっかりドナルドダックらしくなりましたよ

30年経ったいまも
大事にお預かりしています😊 pic.twitter.com/iA6YWjLRld

— 致道博物館 (@chido1950) December 7, 2018

The employee in charge of Chido Museum’s official Twitter account was working at the facility when Donald was originally found, but left the job about 10 years later. However, five years ago he started working at the museum again, and noticed that even after all this time, no one had been able to bring themselves to get rid of it.

Of course, 30 years is a lot of time to accumulate dust and dirt, so the staff recently decided to give Donald a bath, and they’ve even knitted him a new set of clothes.

“It’s been 30 years, but we’re still taking good care of him,” the account tweeted, prompting reactions such as:

“You guys are so sweet to give him a bath!”
“What a heartwarming story. It’s not even my stuffed animal, but I feel so warm and fuzzy that I have to say thank you too.”
“Donald looks so happy.”
“I want to buy a Daisy stuffed animal and have her sit next to him.”

As sweet as that last idea is, though, the museum’s goal is still to one day reunite the stuffed animal with its original owner. Of course, with the toy having been lost 30 years ago, the child who dropped Donald likely became an adult before the rise of social media, and may or may not have a Twitter account with which to see the photos of their long-lost cuddly friend.

Still, the museum hopes that all the exposure its tweet has been getting will help word eventually spread to Donald’s rightful owner. In the meantime, though, the stuffed animal rotates between different desks in the office, keeping various employees company during their shifts, and should the owner never be found, it looks like the Chido Museum is more than happy to let Donald stay with them permanently if need be.

Related: Chido Museum webite
Source: Twitter/@chido1950 via IT Media