Oolong (rabbit)

Oolong (ウーロン, Ūron; Originated from Chinese: 烏龍; July 28, 1994 – January 7, 2003) was a domestic rabbit owned by Hironori Akutagawa. Oolong became an Internet phenomenon through his owner, Akutagawa, uploading images of the rabbit with objects balanced on his head because of his skills of balancing items such as dorayaki.

Akutagawa's site featured "photo journeys" of Oolong traveling with his master through the house, yard, and other locations. The website became known to a wider audience when it was covered in 2001 by Syberpunk, a site which focuses on odd aspects of Japanese culture.

History

Oolong was trained to balance objects on his head, an art called 'Head Performance' by his owner. The first object balanced on Oolong's head was a 35 mm film canister on 25 May 1999. Akutagawa later used tea cups, bread, fruit, dorayaki, and a rabbit skull. Although most reactions on the Internet were positive, there were some complaints by people who believed the practice to be cruel to animals. In response, Akutagawa wrote in a message to website visitors:

Some visitors have written me e-mails, accusing me of being cruel to my rabbit and that I am abusing my pet. This was never my intention when I included numerous links to photographs, showing Oolong's unique ability to hold objects on his head.