Toco wanted to be a dog since early childhood, and now his dream has come true
A man who spent £11,000 to ‘become a dog’ has now opened his own ‘zoo’ where you can pay to see people dressed as animals.
In a world where almost anything is possible, sometimes people’s dreams are a little more extreme than your average Joe.
While you might like to do your hair, nails, or make-up to change the way you look, others prefer to take it to the extreme.
We’ve all seen the utter chaos that is botched surgery, but thankfully this isn’t what this man has done.
Instead, he paid for a custom suit to slink into, so that he could be a Collie every single day.
The Japanese man, called Toco, bought his hyper-realistic costume in 2023 so that he could ‘transform’ into a Collie and live his life as a dog.
Toco’s doggie antics went viral across social media when people kept mistaking him for an actual pooch.
The suit, which took 40 days to make, is all you’ll see when you look up his YouTube content.
But now, he’s opened up a ‘zoo’ where other people can become animals too.
You could be admiring a silverback gorilla, and then it suddenly pops off its head and underneath is a bloke who’s asking the staff for another Maccies breakfast meal.
That’s scary.
Anyway, with this so-called zoo, presumably you’d know that there are people within the suits and it would be part of the allure.
Having announced the launch in October of last year, Tocotoco Zoo will see visitors donning their own costumes.
In a YouTube video, Toco explained: “I dreamed about becoming an animal since I was a child, and when I grew up, my dream came true in the form of a costume!
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“When I was young, I thought, ‘It would be nice if there was a service where you could become an animal. What can I do to help others who feel the same way I do?’”
As per the zoo’s official website, humans can choose to be an Alaskan Malamute as long as they are smaller than 5’11 but taller than 4’11.
This strict criteria ensures that they can fit inside the suit.
Tocotoco Zoo states: “If you are unable to open or close the mouth, we will give you a 10% discount.”
Anyone who wants to be a dog can reserve their spot 30 days beforehand and pay ¥49,000 (around £250) for 180 minutes of fun.
If you want to dog around in a group, you can do that too, which would make for a hilarious birthday party.
Having reportedly opened on 26 January in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, the zoo is ready to accept business.
Toco posted about a visitor becoming a dog and wearing the suit in December, stating: “The visitor was able to become a dog and perform cute tricks!”
He hopes to expand his range to pandas, but no cats or foxes because they’re ‘too small for humans to try’ and it would also be super weird to see them five times their natural size.
