On Thursday, a livestream from a seal shelter near Groningen suddenly went viral on X, attracting thousands of views and donations from one country in particular.
Japanese X account @hokahoka_times posted a snippet of the Pieterburen Seal Centre’s 24-hour livestream, inviting followers to tune in.
And the Japanese certainly did. The post was viewed over 19 million times, earning the centre’s livestream ten times the number of views it normally attracts in a day.
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Kind-hearted cyberterrorism
The attention surge was so huge that, initially, the centre’s employees feared a cyber-attack, reports NOS.
Turns out, the extraordinary traffic was simply due to a wave of Japanese viewers tuning in to watch the seals, leaving behind a trail of comments, questions, and donations.
In what @hokahoka_times called “kind-hearted cyberterrorism from Japan”, viewers smashed the shelter’s donation button, buying the seals thousands of €5 portions of fish.
This resulted in the shelter making the same amount that it would usually earn within a month in just 24 hours.
The extra income came at a critical time. With no government subsidies and languishing summer visits, the centre was struggling to attract funds, says communications manager Marco Boshoven to RTL.
A lucky encounter with some lucky seals
But why did the centre go viral in Japan of all places?
Aside from being gorgeously rotund, the Pieterburen seals are actually very lucky — and not just because of all the fish they’ve been gifted.
Apparently, in Japan, upright-swimming seals are thought to resemble floating tea leaves, a symbol of good luck.
This explains the seals’ unusual popularity with the Japanese — together with their cuteness, of course!
What is cuter, Pieterburen seals or everyone buying them dinner from across the world? Tell us in the comments below.
I find the explanation provided here for why Japanese people donated to support completely unreasonable and unnatural, and it is insulting to the Japanese culture. The idea that Japanese people see them as symbols of fortune, like tea leaves, is simply not true. We donate because these animals are cute and in need of help, not because they represent some symbol of fortune. I strongly request that you amend this article and avoid making baseless and nonsensical connections.