Keromin is the name of a strange mixture between a stuffed frog and an electronic music instrument. Kero means “ribbet ribbet” in Japanese, while the Theremin is the world’s first musical instrument.

The little guy has been featured in the Japanese media last year already but currently gets some extra-attention because 2008 is declared the year of the frog by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Keromin starts to sing when you put your hand inside of him and move his mouth. He produces 12 different sounds, for example frog-like croaks, violins and pipe organs. The voices can be adjusted by pushing buttons on Keromin’s side. He has a speaker built into his belly.

His inventor, an engineer called Yuji Okuyama, provides a little more insight on the Keromin official home page (in English).

Via Mainichi News