Got an exam coming up? Then you need some elephant poop! Fukuoka Zoo is making omamori (good luck charms) from the feces of Hanako, one of the zoo’s best-loved elephants. The omamori are inspired by a play on words, as 運 means “luck” and うん (short for うんち) translates as “dung”. The five-sided shape of the omamori is also a linguistic rib-tickler, since 五角 (gokaku, “pentagonal”) sounds like 合格 (goukaku “pass”). So students who are facing the fiery hell of exam season should get down to Fukuoka Zoo early to make sure they get their mits on one of the 600 omamori. The charms will be divided and distributed in four sessions: on Jan. 29, there will be 100 omamori given out at 9:30, and again at 13:30; on Jan. 30, there will be 200 omamori given out at 9:30, and the same again at 13:30. As the French say, merde!
• 1/29 (Fri.) ~ 1/30 (Sat.)
• 9:30~, 13:30~
• Admission to zoo: Adult: ¥400, HS: ¥200, MS and under: free
• Fukuoka City Zoological Garden
• 1-1 Minamikoen, Chuo-ku
• 092-531-1968
• http://zoo.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/news/detail/665