lala

The penguin who went shopping

Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 1996 — the morning air smelled of mackerel and laundry steam. Down the narrow street came Lala, a king penguin in a small blue backpack, waddling toward the fish market. The neighbors watched from their porches; they’d seen the routine before.

Years earlier he’d been cut from a fishing net and taken in by the Nishimoto family, who built him a walk-in freezer for the summer heat. He learned their habits — baths from the garden hose, naps in front of the TV, errands at ten. At the market he waited patiently while the clerk slipped a single mackerel into his pack. Then he turned for home, one slow step at a time.

Cameras came eventually, and Lala became a small-town celebrity — the penguin who went shopping. When he died a few years later, the backpack hung by the freezer door for weeks, still cool to the touch, still smelling faintly of fish.