A mobile game featuring a traveling frog has become a hit in China, especially among overseas Chinese students who say they feel emotionally attached to it because it reminds them of home.

 

一款手机游戏《旅行青蛙》在中国风靡一时，特别是在那些海外留学生中，他们说这款游戏让他们想到了家乡。
 

 

The game is "Tabi Kaeru'', or "Travel Fog", created by the Japanese game company Hit-Point, and it's available only in Japanese. The company released the popular game Neko Atsume, or Kitty Collector, in 2014.

 

"Travel Fog" on Monday was still ranked first on a list of the most downloaded games from Apple's app store in China, according to Xinhua. The game also is being widely discussed on social media, where users post photos of their frog's adventures, sent to them by the frog. On the social media site Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, the hashtag #TravelingFrog has so far garnered¹ more than 300 million views.

 

In the game, players collect clovers that grow in the frog's garden so they can provide supplies - tents, bottles and other items - when the frog travels around Japan. Playing the game is free. The clovers cost $1 for 400. Food, for example, costs about 100 clovers.

 

When the frog leaves on a trip, it's unclear how long it will be gone. Sometimes it travels for hours or even days. When it returns, it provides snapshots and mementos² of its journey.

 

According to an article last week in the Beijing News, the main reason for the popularity³ of the game could be due to similarities between young people in China and Japan today.

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