Two Giant Rubber Ducks Debut in Hong Kong in Bid to Drive Double Happiness’ 

A woman poses for a photo as an art installation, dubbed "Double Ducks" by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, is seen in the background at Victoria Harbor, in Hong Kong, China June 9, 2023. (Reuters)
A woman poses for a photo as an art installation, dubbed "Double Ducks" by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, is seen in the background at Victoria Harbor, in Hong Kong, China June 9, 2023. (Reuters)
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Two Giant Rubber Ducks Debut in Hong Kong in Bid to Drive Double Happiness’ 

A woman poses for a photo as an art installation, dubbed "Double Ducks" by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, is seen in the background at Victoria Harbor, in Hong Kong, China June 9, 2023. (Reuters)
A woman poses for a photo as an art installation, dubbed "Double Ducks" by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, is seen in the background at Victoria Harbor, in Hong Kong, China June 9, 2023. (Reuters)

A pair of Rubber Ducks made a splash in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on Friday, part of an art installation dubbed "Double Ducks" by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, who says he hopes the ducks will bring happiness to the city.

The inflatable yellow ducks, 18 meters (59 feet) high, will sail on the harbor for two weeks and come a decade after Hofman's "Rubber Duck" sculpture drew crowds in the Asian financial hub in 2013.

Hofman said his pair of ducks represent "twice the fun, double the happiness" and bring new excitement to Hong Kong.

"I hope it will bring as much pleasure as it did in the past and in a world where we suffered from a pandemic, wars and political situation, I think it's the right moment to bring back the double luck."

Curator AllRightsReserved (ARR) said the ducks were like the symmetrical Chinese characters "xi" for happiness and "peng" for friends.

Hofman, who was inspired by a world map and rubber duck to create his giant inflatable rubber duck installation, began a world tour starting from the Netherlands in 2007, making stops in harbors from France to Brazil.

Stationed near Hong Kong's central district and Tamar Park, the ducks swam across Victoria Harbor to the delight of dozens of bystanders.

Anna, a 40-year old woman, who was walking the promenade said she enjoyed seeing the ducks.

"We would like more installation art like the rubber ducks in Hong Kong. Right now there isn't much space for art in Hong Kong if we compare it to Macau or Shenzhen, they have more art installations."

A 40-year-old engineer named Kane said the ducks were positive for Hong Kong. "It's a silver lining when the society is in such low spirits. It's better for the government to spend public money on this than on other areas."



Stolen Shoe Mystery Solved at Japanese Kindergarten When Security Camera Catches Weasel in the Act

This image made from security camera video released by Kasuya Police shows a weasel with a shoe at a kindergarten in Koga, Fukuoka prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Nov. 11, 2024. (Kasuya Police via AP)
This image made from security camera video released by Kasuya Police shows a weasel with a shoe at a kindergarten in Koga, Fukuoka prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Nov. 11, 2024. (Kasuya Police via AP)
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Stolen Shoe Mystery Solved at Japanese Kindergarten When Security Camera Catches Weasel in the Act

This image made from security camera video released by Kasuya Police shows a weasel with a shoe at a kindergarten in Koga, Fukuoka prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Nov. 11, 2024. (Kasuya Police via AP)
This image made from security camera video released by Kasuya Police shows a weasel with a shoe at a kindergarten in Koga, Fukuoka prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Nov. 11, 2024. (Kasuya Police via AP)

Police thought a shoe thief was on the loose at a kindergarten in southwestern Japan, until a security camera caught the furry culprit in action.

A weasel with a tiny shoe in its mouth was spotted on the video footage after police installed three cameras in the school in the prefecture of Fukuoka.

“It’s great it turned out not to be a human being,” Deputy Police Chief Hiroaki Inada told The Associated Press Sunday. Teachers and parents had feared it could be a disturbed person with a shoe fetish.

Japanese customarily take their shoes off before entering homes. The vanished shoes were all slip-ons the children wore indoors, stored in cubbyholes near the door.

Weasels are known to stash items and people who keep weasels as pets give them toys so they can hide them.

The weasel scattered shoes around and took 15 of them before police were called. Six more were taken the following day. The weasel returned Nov. 11 to steal one more shoe. The camera footage of that theft was seen the next day.

The shoe-loving weasel only took the white indoor shoes made of canvas, likely because they’re light to carry.

“We were so relieved,” Gosho Kodomo-en kindergarten director Yoshihide Saito told Japanese broadcaster RKB Mainichi Broadcasting.

The children got a good laugh when they saw the weasel in the video.

Although the stolen shoes were never found, the remaining shoes are now safe at the kindergarten with nets installed over the cubbyholes.

The weasel, which is believed to be wild, is still on the loose.