I stuck my waffley tare panda in the scanner...

Dis was his tag.
 

Tare Panda is apparently quite the thing in Japan...  They were all over at NekoCon.  Toshi tells me that tare basically means "floppy".  I've also heard it translated as "lazy panda".
 

I am in bizarre obsessive love with tare pandas...  I mean LOOK at him!

See, I can RELATE to that...  I FEEL like that 90% of the time....

What TIME magazine says, about Tare Panda:

"TIME"magazine(1999/8/9) introduced a Japanese strange character called "TARE PANDA".
         Title : Japan's Cuddly Cure
         Savvy firms are raking in the money with soothing products
         that cheer the nation's depressed citizens.
         "A mere glance at it makes me melt" says the 34-years-old company worker.
         Men and thier pandas. That' what it has come to in Japan.
         A decade of recession has taken its toll,
         and relieving job stress has never been difficult.
         What's a salaryman to do?
         Hug a bear, of course.
         This age of economic uncertainly now has a mascot.
         A stuffed animal called Tare Panda.
         Sales of its panda paraphernalia have exceeded $250 million in the last 12 months alone.