Patience!!! Japanese Man Takes Pet Giant Tortoise Out On Long Walks

A Japanese man and his adorable pet tortoise have become internet sensations after photos of them strolling along the streets of Tokyo went viral. Oddity Central has more:

The man – funeral director Mitani Hisao – revealed that the tortoise was a tiny baby, only five cm in diameter, when he first spotted it in a the window of a pet store. “I never had any children, but 19 years ago my wife caught the eyes of this little tortoise and felt an instant bond with him,” he said. “I couldn’t leave the store without it.”

So they adopted the little creature, named it Bon-chan, and cared for it as they would the child they never had. “I take him out for walks two to three times a week, he loves these walks, he has a set route that takes us 1.5 hours,” he added. “I’m pretty patient, but Bon-chan is actually not that slow.

He knows the route by heart and is very strong-minded, so it is more me that follows him, than the other way around. We walk the neighborhood and we are pretty famous around here.”