An octopus has "predicted" how many medals Japanese athletes will scoop up at next month's London Olympics at an event inspired by Paul, Germany's famous fortunetelling octopus from the 2010 soccer World Cup.
At a department store in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, the octopus named Takotencho forecast Wednesday that Japan's medal haul will come to 25, the same number it won at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
After being carefully placed into a fish tank by Akashi Mayor Fusaho Izumi, Takotencho explored its new environment for a while before settling for the left-hand side — which indicated 25 medals.
Two years ago, his predecessor in Germany successfully predicted the outcome of all of the German soccer team's matches at the World Cup finals in South Africa, including its third-place victory over Uruguay. Paul then correctly picked Spain over the Netherlands in the final.
