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Man Who Spent $16K To Transform Into a Dog Steps Out for His First “Walk” in Public

By Margherita Cole on July 31, 2023

Man Goes on Walk in Realistic Dog Costume

Putting on a costume can help you embrace a whole character. Usually, this practice is associated with Halloween or acting in plays; but for Toko Ueda, costuming is much more than that. The Japanese engineer spent 2 million yen—about US$16,000—on a custom canine costume based on a rough collie, produced by the company Zeppet. When he steps into this hyperrealistic suit, it's easy to mistake the large fluffy creature for a real dog. At least at first glance. To prove its uncanniness, Ueda even went for a walk as a canine and it his venture out in public was captured on video.

The recently released video captures some behind-the-scenes moments of Ueda in full dog costume as he was interviewed by RTL, a German TV station, in 2022. Ueda was finally given permission to share this video on his own channel this month and they've quickly gone viral. It shows Ueda, already inside the rough collie costume, walking on all fours around a small park with a German reporter and camera crew. There are some points when Ueda appears to be on a wheeled cart to easily move him from one place to another—it's presumably not entirely comfortable to try to move like a dog when you're an adult human being in a restricting costume.

The illusion is still quite effective though. In fact, the video even shows some real dogs stopping by and inspecting the strange creature, the way that dogs would normally greet one another. Ueda himself tries to behave as a real pup would, having learned many of the mannerisms. At one point, the reporter even plays along by extending her hand for Ueda to shake. It's no surprise that the hyperrealistic appearance of the costume draws a crowd, and many people stop by to interact with Ueda.

To see more videos of Ueda's incredible cosplays, you can scroll down or subscribe to his YouTube channel.