Ube Maji-watch 2007! Part II! Let someone else do the work! 宇部のアザラシのマジちゃん

So...Maji-chan (I guess it's official now) is still around and now the city has a homepage for him:
アザラシのマジちゃん
They've got pictures!
They've got a map!
Also, if you have any photos of Maji-chan, send them here: seal@city.ube.yamaguchi.jp
The Ube Nippo, your semi-daily source of Maji-chan news, has a nicer map here.

Ube Maji-watch 2007! アザラシのマジちゃん

So Ube + summer vacation + a seal = Maji-watch 2007!

Quick follow-up to this story.

Today I went down to the Majime River and lo and behold! a whole bunch of other people had the same idea resulting in a slight traffic hazard.



Since "Maji-chan" (Its name isn't official yet -- rumour has it someone in the City Office wanted to name it Ube-chan, which is ten million times worse than Maji-chan. Also, I'm sticking to Maji-chan because it's a better name than Dice-K) has popped up twice people around town are rushing to get a quick glimpse.



Actually, I got the briefest of glimpses today of Maji-chan. Maji-chan's head popped up for a few seconds while I was down by the river. But I wasn't able to get a picture of our little scamp because it was so sudden and my mobile phone skills are sorely lacking in speed. Ah well.

Also:


I don't know if this woman was sitting there to see Maji-chan or she was just resting because there's no way she would be able to get up to the fence in time. Or she's really spry. I don't know. Look, it's hot these days, okay?

Seal in Majime River in Ube 宇部市の真締川にアザラシ

Here's something you don't see everyday: Ube City in the national news. Oh, and a seal.

(tip of the hat to Japan Probe.)

At about 4:00 PM on the 20th of this month a seal was discovered swimming in the Majime River which is located near the Ube City Office. Apparently it got there via the Ube Port and residents had reported seeing the seal about a week prior in the general area.
People quickly dubbed the seal "Maji-chan" or "Majime-kun" because...you know...it's the Majime River. Yeah.
Opportunists Concerned citizens are hoping to exploit Maji-chan will become a popular figure like Tama-chan.

Story (in Japanese) can be found here:
@nifty (with video from NNN)
Daily Yomiuri
Ube Nippo
Picture of Majime River looking not so...robust

Japan Probe (which scooped me! Damn!) has the NNN video of the story on youtube here.