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Japanese tourists are wild about Rascal

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

During the tour of North’s home, one of the tourists recreated a famous scene from the cartoon, while others in the group snapped photos.

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Mayu and Sanae play with her stuffed Rascal during the tour.

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Mayu Hatta clutches her stuffed Rascal while on tour at the Sterling North home and Museum. Mayu’s mother, Sanae Hatta, won a trip to Edgerton as part of a contest in Japan celebrating the 30th anniversary of a cartoon based on North’s books.

Photo

Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Mark Scarborough, center right, leads a group of Japanese tourists through the the Sterling North Home and Museum in Edgerton on Wednesday. A cartoon based on North’s books has become especially popular in Japan, and for the cartoon’s 30th anniversary, the animation company behind the show sponsored a trip to the city that inspired North’s stories.

EDGERTON — Mayu Hatta’s eyes widened as she looked at the room Sterling North, chronicler of her beloved Rascal, lived in as a child.

The 7-year-old stood on tiptoes, dressed head to toe in pink, and looked at a comb that belonged to the famous author. A pink baseball cap with a raccoon patch adorned her head, and strawberry soda stained her mouth.

Mayu and her mother, Sanae Hatta, 35, came all the way from Japan to see Edgerton, model for Brailsford Junction and the place where North really kept a pet raccoon.

North’s book, “Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era,” became a wildly popular cartoon from Nippon Animation in Japan. To celebrate the cartoon’s 30th anniversary, the company sponsored a contest to send two people to Edgerton.

Mayu and Sanae joined about a dozen other Japanese tourists, including representatives of the Nippon and a company that makes stuffed Rascal toys.

One traveler, Mayumi Kondo, 38, paid her own way on the trip. She clutched a somewhat worn Rascal doll and beamed at everyone she met.

“I’ve loved Rascal a long time,” she said, struggling to express herself in English.

The visitors arrived Tuesday and toured the Sterling North Home and Museum, 409 W. Rollin St., Wednesday. They met members of the Sterling North Society board and Arielle North Olson, Sterling North’s daughter.

They found the sites in the home and city familiar. Animators visited Edgerton in the 1970s to paint an accurate portrait of the city for the Rascal cartoon.

The visitors nodded and smiled in recognition as they saw representations of the Christmas tree Rascal tried to climb, the bicycle with the basket he rode in and the high chair he sat in with two sugar cubes on its tray.

In the barn, they drank strawberry pop and ate blueberry pie, two important items from the book.

In fact, strawberry pop helped Sanae win the trip to Edgerton. The animation company invited people to write about their favorite scenes and randomly drew a winner. Sanae wrote about the scene in which Rascal and Sterling drink strawberry pop.

She also wrote about a childhood memory. When the Rascal cartoon first came out, Sanae was given a stuffed Rascal toy and was devastated when she lost it at a train station. She knew she wouldn’t get it back because the raccoon was so popular.

Sanae was thrilled to see Rascal’s real home. She and her daughter have grown closer watching the mischievous raccoon over and over on DVD, she said through an interpreter.

“I’m very happy because Edgerton in the animation and Edgerton in real life hasn’t changed much,” she said. “It’s like I’m living the story.”

Sanae even got a new stuffed Rascal—almost.

“Nippon gave one to my daughter, but I actually wanted one, too,” she said.