Elderly and disabled people, as well as those too busy to travel, haven taken to booking holiday tours for their stuffed toys.
Ecocoro Tokushima, a supplier of nursing care products based in the town of Itano, Tokushima Prefecture, organizes these tour packages, which come complete with photographs of the toys posing at popular tourist hots pots.
Tours offered by the company's Sudachi Travel division include a visit to three of the 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kukai on the Shikoku pilgrimage trail, which costs ¥2,160, and a trip to the Naruto whirlpools by high-speed boat, priced at ¥3,980.