Located in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, the 北九州市立いのちのたび博物館 (kitakyūshū shiritsu inochi no tabi hakubutsukan | Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History) exhibits fossils of creatures from ancient times, meteorites, and realistic moving dinosaur robots.

In addition, the museum also holds special exhibitions based on various themes.

From March to May 2022, the museum held an exhibit entitled 『まるごとウマ展-ウマと人のキズナ-』(marugoto uma ten - uma to hito no kizuna | all about horses exhibition: the bond between horses and people).

Twitter user べろろん Beroron (@beroron) was one of the people who visited. Since he enjoyed it, he decided to purchase a t-shirt from the museum shop that was being sold in connection with the exhibition.

Reproduced with permission from べろろん Beroron (@beroron)

He liked the design of the tee, which had a row of kanji characters containing 馬 meaning "horse." However, when he tried it on, he found something odd about it. For some reason, an illustration of a horse was printed on the inside of the T-shirt, and upside-down!

Reproduced with permission from べろろん Beroron (@beroron)

Beroron thought it might be a misprint, so he contacted the museum. If something that should have been printed on the front was printed on the inside due to a mistake, he would like to have it replaced.

However, the museum's response was...

"It's not a misprint, it's by design."

So then, why was the illustration printed on a part of the T-shirt that no one could see?

As it turns out, there are two ways to wear this t-shirt. You can wear it normally and display the horse kanji design on the front... or, when you really feel like horsing around, you can wear it like this!

Reproduced with permission from べろろん Beroron (@beroron)

If you lift it up and wear it over your heard, you'll turn into a horse!

Beroron recalls, "It was the most unexpected thing I ever experienced."

The series of posts had many netizens neighing in delight, eliciting comments such as:

  • "I couldn't see through this trap... Now, I want this t-shirt so bad."
  • "What is this? Whoever thought of this is amazing."
  • "I bought this T-shirt too! When I found out why it was printed on the inside, I burst out laughing!"
  • "I remember this kind of thing in a comedy skit!"

Although some of our readers may have already seen "flip tees" like this, they're not too common in Japan. Think back to the first time you saw one and you'll understand why Beroro and the people commenting were so surprised and amused.

Incidentally, the exhibition was also rich in horse racing-related content, which Beroro thoroughly enjoyed as a fan.

Reproduced with permission from べろろん Beroron (@beroron)

In addition, the museum also has excellent permanent exhibits, such as insect specimens like the one shown above.

Why not visit the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History on your next trip to Kitakyushu City?


By - grape Japan editorial staff.