The anime Moomins is very popular in Japan. The original story “Moomins” was written by Tove Jansson from Finland. A Japanese production company created the anime series and released it in 1969, but Tove did not like the appearance of the characters of Moomins. She complained that the characters had become too round and cute. The production company changed the characters’ appearance to meet her liking, but then the Japanese viewers complained about the changes. Finally Tove told the production company that they may keep the appearance but that they must not release the series outside of Japan. Since 1969 the new TV series and Moomin movies have been being produced both in Japan and in Finland, and the Moomin character goods have remained popular in Japan for over 40 years.
