Bunny + Pancake = Photo Book
Oolong the rabbit immortalized
With his flair for balancing waffles, toilet rolls and bananas on his head, Oolong the house rabbit (July 1994 – January 2003) gained a following of more than 2.5 million users to the website of Japanese photographer Hironori Akutagawa.
There were “photo journeys” of his expeditions through the house and garden, but the most popular photos were of him balancing everyday objects on his head.
Akutagawa called these photos the “art of head performance,” and Oolong seemed quite comfortable doing this. But there were certainly some people who thought that the whole scenario represented cruelty to animals. Most rabbit lovers seemed to think it was all harmless fun, and Akutagawa responded on his critics on his website, saying:
“Some visitors have written me e-mails, accusing me of being cruel to my rabbit and that I am abusing my pet. This was never my intention when I included numerous links to photographs, showing Oolong’s unique ability to hold objects on his head. This is not a site to mock rabbits, or demonstrate animal abuse. I’m sure you understand it if you see whole my site.”
Oolong became famous in the early days of the World Wide Web, and there’s now a book of photos of him doing some of his best “head performances.” It’s called In Almost Every Picture #8.
Here are some of the photos that Akutagawa gathered over the years.