Can somebunny share the love for Rabbit Fashion Week?

In recent years I’ve noticed a trend towards pet owners taking various animals and dressing them up in costumes. I just discovered the Japanese Rabbit Festival, an annual event where bunnies are dressed up in all types of couture and make their adorable flip floppy way down a rabbit runway, as part of a two day rabbit fiesta.

As far as I can ascertain (Google translate Japanese is a little hairy) each Rabbit Festival follows a particular theme, and the bunnies are adorned to match. The festival is about more than just the rabbit fashion show, as there are hug a bunny workshops, video diaries of bunny activity and rabbit accessories to buy. People who visit can come WITH their own rabbit, and it sounds like a strange but sweet meetup.

I’m not 100% sure but I also think there’s a bunny cosplay event going on as well; – though whether that’s for the owners of the pet or the animals I’m uncertain.

The 2012 theme roughly means ‘Thanks To You’, and the theme from 2011 was ‘Ties’ – to show how people connect together.

Maybe that’s where animals dressed as different nations come in? Either way the bunnies look happy, adorable and I’ve never seen rabbit costumes before.

I originally stumbled across the Rabbit Festa on the ZuZuTop blog, and was initially sceptical if this was an actual event; – perhaps it was a weird one off, as the internet didn’t seem to be giving me any feedback on whether this was still running.

Happily I managed to confirm with the Yokohama Visitors Guide that the RABBIT FESTIVAL is indeed still happening annually, and the next one will be in November 2013. It’s held in the city of Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan after Tokyo, and is home to plum blossoms and sea fishing events. Plus, rabbits!

Here’s how you can learn more about the Rabbit Festival for yourself.

Just in case you were super curious, here’s what the Famous Ducks look like…

NOTE: Please credit me if you write about this- unless you spoke to their tourism board as well!

Image credits [YOSHIKAZU TSUNO / AFP / Getty Images]