'I can't pinpoint the exact reason, but Paddington remains a somewhat distant character for me." So wrote teddy bear aficionado Satomi Terakawa in an email interview. Terakawa harbors a lifelong love for stuffed toy bears, and spent 15 years designing and making teddy bears for a toy boutique in Ginza.
"My favorite bear is Pooh-san," she says. "For me, Paddington is the 'other bear.'"
Terakawa is not alone — for many Japanese, Paddington lacks the ubiquitous familiarity of A.A. Milne's creation, and he has never merited the "san" at the end of its name like Winnie-the-Pooh. It's rare for Japanese people to be introduced to Paddington books at an early age or surround themselves with Paddington merchandise goodies. Which is a bit of a head scratcher, since the Japanese have warmly embraced the Snoopy and Peanuts cartoons, and Pooh souvenirs at Tokyo Disneyland continue to fly off the shelves. Figure skater extraordinaire Yuzuru Hanyu is a famed Pooh-lover, who carries his own "Pooh-san" wherever he goes.