Award-winning short captures rawness of relationships in 14 minutes
Finnish director Fabian Munsterhjelm's short film "Pantyhose" begins unassumingly as couple Matti and Jonna prepare to leave home for an important event.
But when Jonna discovers a hole in her tights with their ride about to arrive, it becomes a catalyst for tensions in their relationship to burst through the surface.
Raw and relatable, the story earned Munsterhjelm the top prize at Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2025.
>>Read the full article with visuals and video on Spotlight Japan>>
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Japan Today
11-08-2025
- Japan Today
Fans celebrate 80th birthday of Moomins, Finland's most lovable literary cartoon family
Finland Moomins Fans celebrate the 80th anniversary of the publication of the Finnish children's classic, "The Moomins and The Great Flood," and the birthday of the author Tove Jansson, in Tampere, Finland, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Tommi Ojala) By HELI SIVUNEN, TOMMI OJALA and STEFANIE DAZIO The Moomins, Finland's most lovable literary cartoon family, are celebrating their 80th birthday this year. The chubby, white, hippopotamus-like characters have captivated readers worldwide since author and illustrator Tove Jansson published 'The Moomins and the Great Flood' in 1945. The children's book featuring Moomintroll and Moominmamma in their search for the missing Moominpappa. Jansson, a Swedish-speaking Finn who died in 2001, went on to write eight more books, multiple picture books and a comic strip about the Moomins in Swedish. The series, set in the fictional Moominvalley, has been translated into more than 60 languages, and sparked movie and TV adaptations, children's plays, art gallery exhibitions and an eponymous museum — plus theme parks in Finland and Japan. Finnair, the national carrier, has even put Moomins on its airplanes. On Saturday, fans flocked to Tampere in southern Finland — home of the Moomin Museum — to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the 1945 publication as well as Jansson's Aug. 9, 1914, birthday. For Rosa Senn of the United Kingdom, the festivities reminded her of her childhood. Her Norwegian mother, a fan since her own youth, read all of the tales to Senn and her sister growing up. 'Moomins have been such a special thing in my life, my whole life," Senn said. "I just carried that love for Moomin, for Tove Jansson, with me into my adult life.' When Senn met her now-wife, Lizzie, they were initially in a long-distance relationship for the first year and a half. Senn introduced Lizzie to the books and the couple used a plush doll of Moomintroll to feel closer to each other while they were apart. The doll was the ringbearer at their wedding, and they traveled to Tampere on their honeymoon. The Senns also made an Instagram page documenting the trio's adventures, which now has nearly 11,000 followers. The social media account has connected them with Moomin fans all over the world, including Stefanie and Michael Geutebrück from Germany. Stefanie Geutebrück said she remembers falling in love with the Moomins while watching their animations during her childhood in East Germany. She also brought the Moomins into her husband's life, to the point where they also traveled to Tampere for Saturday's entertainment. "Now he's a total fan and our apartment looks like a Moomin shop,' she said. Beyond the Geutebrücks' home, Moomin merchandise is hugely popular. There's a massive market for Moomintroll, Moominmamma and Moominpappa souvenirs across the globe, and secondary characters like their friends Stinky, Sniff, Snufkin, Snork Maiden and Hattifatteners are also well-loved. 'The Moomin mug is one of the best-known collector items worldwide,' Selma Green, director of the Moomin Museum, said. 'You buy a Moomin mug, you like the characters, you maybe see something on TV — but we all go back to the books, the original illustrations.' Depictions of the character Stinky, described as a lovable rogue who has captured Moominmamma's heart, generated debate and outcry in Finland this summer after reports emerged in Finnish media that Stinky was removed from murals in an exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York due to concerns that the cartoon might be perceived as racist. Jansson's drawings of Stinky shows the character with a dark, fuzzy body, with skinny legs and antennae. He has a reputation as an unsuccessful criminal — whose plans get foiled or he gets caught in the act — with an appetite for furniture and other wooden things. 'To me, this became as quite a big surprise because I have more thought about Stinky being close to a mole or a vole," Sirke Happonen, a Moomins scholar and associate professor at the University of Helsinki, said of the library's decision. "He's an interesting character in many ways, like controversial and fun.' The Moomin stories honor the idea of family as a flexible concept. Diverse gender roles and queer themes also come across in Moominvalley, as well as in Jansson's other works, reflecting her LGBTQ+ identity. Her partner of more than 45 years, engraver and artist Tuulikki Pietilä, was memorialized as the character Too-ticky in 'Moominland Midwinter.' The couple lived in Helsinki and spent their summers on the small rocky island of Klovharu in the Gulf of Finland until the 1990s. Jansson's stories also reflect war and catastrophe. The first book, 'The Moomins and the Great Flood,' features the displaced Moomin family and was published in the final months of World War II. The conflict had ruined Finland, even though it had remained independent, and one of the author's brothers went missing during part of his time at the front. While Jansson sought to portray Moominvalley as an escape, Moomin stories have always had a mixture of peril and comfort. 'Her first Moomin book came out in a dark era. She felt it was very difficult to paint, and she started writing what she called a fairy tale, but she excused herself not to include princesses or princes,' Happonen said. Moominvalley was borne of a need to find beauty at a time when Jansson's existence, along with everyone else in Finland, felt frail. 'I think she wanted to make a contrast — Tove Jansson loved contrasts — by writing about this beautiful world, full of friendship and love,' Happonen said. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Kyodo News
09-08-2025
- Kyodo News
Popular Japanese character "Npochamu" aims for overseas expansion
TOKYO - Japanese character "Npochamu," marketed as a goofy and rotund yoghurt fairy, is aiming to capitalize on its popularity overseas, with trading house Itochu Corp. gaining merchandising rights for countries and regions in Asia and North America. Npochamu and friend Kimimaro are already a hit among young people in Japan and South Korea, with goods such as charms featuring their likeness dangling from bags on city streets, while clips of their antics have amassed millions of views online. Created by Japanese illustrator Kawaisouni!, whose moniker comes from an expression roughly meaning "How pitiful!" in English, Npochamu started gaining attention in 2022 after the artist began posting content of the white marshmallow-like figure on social media. Itochu will develop Npochamu through a Hong Kong-based investee firm that also holds the rights to the Finnish storybook characters known as The Moomins. The Japanese conglomerate aims to increase the total annual distribution value of Npochamu content to around 150 billion yen ($1.02 billion) by 2029. Its current value is around 10 billion yen. In Japan and South Korea, a separate Japanese firm holds the rights to and manages the sales of Npochamu goods such as plushies and keychains. The Japanese government has positioned the export of goods and content like manga and video games as part of its "Cool Japan" strategy for economic growth. According to government estimates, the amount of such exports in 2022 reached 4.7 trillion yen, rivaling the scale of the steel and semiconductor industries.
Asahi Shimbun
23-07-2025
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: Snufkin shows the freedom found in solitude and simplicity
'One can never be truly free, if one admires someone else too much.' Such counsel could only come from someone like Snufkin—a philosophical wanderer, poet at heart, who values freedom, independence and solitude above all else. It's the kind of advice he might offer to those who idolize him, gently warning against the dangers of attachment. A beloved figure in the Moomin series, Snufkin follows a ritual all his own: He departs on solitary travels before winter sets in and faithfully returns to Moominvalley with the coming of spring. At "Tove Jansson and the Moomins," an exhibition currently on view in Tokyo celebrating the artistic world of the Finnish creator behind the beloved literary family, Snufkin stands out as a crowd favorite. Every illustration and sketch of the free-spirited wanderer draws a cluster of admirers. With his trademark wide-brimmed pointed hat pulled low and a harmonica in hand, he is often depicted fishing beside his close friend Moomin. His enduring appeal seems rooted in his steadfast devotion to freedom. Author Tove Jansson (1914–2001) once reflected on Snufkin's personality and his inner contradictions. As cited in 'Tove Jansson' by Mayumi Tomihara (1954–2025), a Japanese scholar of French philosophy and Swedish literature, Jansson described the nomadic vagabond as someone who, alongside his longing for freedom, is inevitably drawn to solitude. This disposition, she noted, contains 'a self-centered weakness.' Jansson, a Finnish national, was born into a minority Swedish-speaking family. During World War II, as Finland found itself precariously positioned between two powerful and hostile forces—the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany—she began creating the Moomin characters as a means of escaping the turmoil of those dark and uncertain times. As a longtime reader, I've always been drawn to Snufkin's philosophical yet unpretentious words. In one scene from the Moomin books, he advises his friends to leave behind the gemstones they find in the valley, keeping them instead as memories. 'It's much more fun to keep things in your head than in a suitcase,' the contemplative wanderer says. I've come to believe that Snufkin is a restless traveler because he can only compose poetry and songs when tested by harsh environments. That's why he sets off each year before winter, leaving behind a sorrowful Moomin. He brushes aside sentimentality and embraces solitude with quiet dignity, carrying his ego without apology. There's something profoundly moving in that image. —The Asahi Shimbun, July 23 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
