Sometimes Momonga is less of a role model and more of an external upgrade
A man has a tiny Chiikawa plush hanging from his bag.
From the outside, the obvious explanation is simple:
“He really likes Chiikawa.” “He likes cute things.” “He wants to carry his favorite character everywhere.”
All of that can be true.
But character merchandise can do far more than advertise a fandom.
It can be fun to look at. Comforting to touch. A quiet way to show your taste. An easy conversation starter. A prop for small jokes. And, in some cases, a character can act like an extra piece of equipment that helps its owner express something that is harder to do alone.
That is a lot of work for one tiny plush.
This article looks at why men wear Chiikawa merchandise without stopping at “men like cute things too.” It combines current Japanese survey data, research on cuteness and touch, plushie culture, and one particularly funny idea: sometimes the character is not your personality. It is your gear.
0. The 30-second answer: a man wearing Chiikawa is not a rare glitch
There is no single reason men attach Chiikawa goods to bags.
Common functions include:
- He simply likes the character.
- Cute visuals improve his mood.
- Touching a small plush can feel grounding.
- It shows his taste without requiring an introduction.
- Other fans can recognize it and start a conversation.
- The plush can be “taken along” on trips and everyday outings.
- A character can sometimes lend its owner a behavior that is harder to express directly.
And the starting assumption matters: liking Chiikawa is not especially unusual among Japanese men.
A nationwide survey conducted from late 2025 to early 2026 found Chiikawa among the top three favorite characters for men overall. Among men aged 30–49, Chiikawa ranked first.[1]
So the better question is not:
“Why would a man like Chiikawa?”
It is:
“What does he actually use the character for?”
1. “Plushies are for women” is already a weak model
A 2023 Japanese survey of people in their teens through thirties asked fans what kinds of merchandise they liked.
Among men, the most popular category was small and medium plushies.[2]
Large plushies came second, followed by figures.
That does not mean gender differences have disappeared.
In the 2026 character survey, 34% of men and 53% of women said they had a favorite character.[1]
But it does mean the old shortcut—
“men buy figures, women buy plushies”
—is not very good.
Men who like characters exist in large numbers. Men who like plushies also exist.
Sometimes the stereotype is more outdated than the bag charm.
2. Cuteness is not a women-only feature
It is reasonable to wonder whether women simply respond more strongly to cute things.
Some studies do find sex differences in how cuteness is rated.
But an influential 2012 experiment found that viewing cute animal images could change attention and careful task performance, and the behavioral results did not show significant gender-related main or interaction effects.[3]
That study does not prove that men and women like Chiikawa equally.
It proves something narrower and more useful:
the psychological effects of perceiving something as cute are not automatically women-only.
Small size. Round shapes. Readable expressions. A desire to approach or protect. A slight easing of mood.
There is no “male mode” that disables all of this.
3. Putting a plush on a bag turns ownership into companionship
You could keep a plush at home.
So why attach it to a bag?
This is where modern “plushie activity” culture matters.
A 2025 SHIBUYA109 lab survey of 507 women aged 15–24 found that “attaching a plush to a bag” was the most common form of plushie activity, reported by 59.4%.[4]
That sample was women only, so the percentage should not be generalized to men.
But the behavior itself helps explain why a bag matters.
A bag plush can:
travel with you, appear in photos, be turned toward something interesting, match your outfit, become part of the day rather than stay on a shelf.
The object stops being merely “owned.”
It starts to feel “brought along.”
You do not even have to talk to it out loud.
Silently thinking,
“Hey, there’s more Chiikawa stuff over there,”
and turning the plush toward the display is already enough to enter plushie-activity territory.
4. “Touching it calms me down” is not necessarily pure imagination
Some people automatically squeeze or rub a small plush when they feel restless outside.
Soft. Familiar. Always in the same place. Easy to touch.
It can become a tiny grounding routine.
The research should not be exaggerated here.
There is no experiment showing that squeezing a Chiikawa plush specifically lowers stress hormones.
However, a randomized study with 159 participants found that self-soothing touch and receiving a hug were associated with lower cortisol responses after a social stress task compared with control conditions.[5]
So touch itself is not irrelevant to stress regulation.
Add a familiar object and a liked character, and it is not surprising that a person may build a calming routine around the plush.
The careful claim is not:
“Plushies scientifically cure stress.”
It is:
“For some people, touching a familiar plush becomes a practical calming habit.”
5. Merchandise can say “this is me” without a speech
Character goods are also a very efficient form of self-expression.
You do not have to announce:
“I like this series.” “This is my sense of humor.” “This is my aesthetic.”
The bag already says part of it.
Research on possessions and psychological ownership has long examined how meaningful objects can become incorporated into a person’s sense of self.[6]
The SHIBUYA109 lab report also found that some young people use plushies as subtle stand-ins for themselves and as a way to share what they like without making a loud declaration.[4]
That is one of the advantages of a bag charm.
Before a man says,
“Yeah, I’m into Chiikawa,”
Momonga is already hanging there doing the introduction.
One communication step has been outsourced.
6. The final form: the character becomes external equipment
This is where the idea gets more interesting.
People do not always like characters because they want to become exactly like them.
Sometimes a character is useful because it has a trait the person does not naturally express.
Imagine someone who finds even small requests slightly difficult.
“I want to eat this.” “I want to go there.” “Wait a second.” “No, I don’t like that.”
All perfectly reasonable sentences.
But saying them can still feel harder than it should.
Now attach a shameless, demanding character to the bag.
A character whose behavior is funny precisely because it makes the viewer think:
“Wow. You really have no hesitation. You deserve some consequences.”
That character can become a small permission slip:
“Maybe I’m allowed to ask for something too.”
This is not the same as wanting to become the character.
It is closer to borrowing one feature.
Psychology research on self-distancing shows that even small shifts in perspective—such as thinking about yourself using your own name rather than “I”—can create psychological distance and sometimes help regulate emotion.[7]
No study has directly shown that wearing a character plush improves assertiveness.
So this is an interpretation, not a proven treatment.
Still, the mechanism is easy to recognize:
what feels awkward as “me demanding something” can feel easier when filtered through a playful character frame.
Momonga is not an ideology.
Momonga is equipment.
7. Liking Momonga does not mean wanting a Momonga-shaped relationship
This distinction matters.
It can be hilarious to watch a selfish fictional character make absurd demands.
You can sit in the audience thinking:
“Here we go again.” “That is outrageous.” “Please let karma find this creature.”
That does not mean you want a real partner to make endless demands while you become the permanent caretaker.
Enjoying a fictional dynamic and wanting to live inside that dynamic are different things.
People like villains without wanting villains as roommates.
They like horror movies without requesting a ghost in the hallway.
The same logic applies here.
You may want to borrow Momonga’s ability to ask.
You do not necessarily want to apply for the role of Kani-chan.
8. One plush can be an amulet, fashion item, conversation device, and toy
In the 2025 SHIBUYA109 lab survey, 70.3% of the young women surveyed said carrying a plush could feel similar to carrying an amulet.[4]
About a third also said they personified their plush.
Again, those percentages come from a female-only sample and should not be copied onto men.
But the list of possible functions is useful.
One plush can be:
an amulet, a fashion accent, a fandom badge, a photo subject, a conversation starter, a calming object, a tiny play partner.
A phone needs separate apps for that many functions.
A plush arrives with the bundle preinstalled.
No charging required.
Occasional squeezing is apparently sufficient maintenance.
9. For a man, wearing something cute can also make personal choice more visible
Cute character goods on men can still attract a little more attention than neutral accessories.
That can have a side effect.
It makes the decision look more deliberate.
Instead of optimizing for:
“What will look conventionally masculine?”
the person may simply be choosing:
“What do I actually like?”
Not every man wearing Chiikawa is making a statement about gender.
Maybe he won it at an arcade. Maybe it was a gift. Maybe he just thought it looked funny.
That is enough.
Still, the result can quietly communicate:
“I decide what I like.”
Attaching one tiny creature to a bag does not erase anyone’s masculinity.
Personal identity is not overwritten that easily.
The bag just gained a passenger.
10. Conclusion: Chiikawa merchandise can be much more than cute decoration
Why do men wear Chiikawa goods?
A compact answer is:
because a liked character becomes more useful when it can travel through everyday life.
It can be cute. Funny. Touchable. Calming. A signal of taste. A conversation starter. A travel companion. Sometimes even a borrowed personality feature.
Not every fan uses every function.
But if we reduce the whole thing to “a man wearing something cute,” we miss most of what the object is doing.
That tiny plush may simultaneously be:
a favorite character, decoration, amulet, tactile object, social signal, stand-in, and external upgrade.
Momonga is seriously overemployed.
References (7)
- Nippon Research Center (2026), Favorite Characters Survey nrc.co.jp
- TAITO (2023), Survey on Fan Activities and Merchandise prtimes.jp
- Nittono et al. (2012), The Power of Kawaii pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- SHIBUYA109 lab. (2025), Survey on Gen Z Plushie Activities shibuya109.co.jp
- Dreisoerner et al. (2021), Self-soothing touch and being hugged reduce cortisol responses to stress pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Furukawa et al. (2022), Development of a Japanese version of the Psychological Ownership Scale pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Moser et al. (2017), Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
