So one neat thing about Animal Crossing is the fact that all the furniture and such is represented by leaves in your inventory or when they're dropped on the ground. In Japanese folklore, the tanuki (raccoon dog) youkai shapeshift into things by placing leaves on their heads.

In Japanese folklore, tanuki are known as notorious pranksters who transform themselves and surrounding objects to trick people or gain some kind of advantage. They're not commonly depicted as malicious, though.

The legend of the tanuki transforming through the power of the leaf is pretty common in Japanese media, and it's definitely used in other Nintendo properties like Mario. The raccoon suit's power-up item is one of these leaves.

Given that Tom Nook, a tanuki, is your primary source of furniture in Animal Crossing. It stands to reason that everything you buy from him and his nephews could be transformed leaves powered and maintained by his magic. But it's probably just a fun nod to Japanese mythology.

This thread brought to you by my yearly rewatch of Pom Poko. Please watch Pom Poko, it's an absolute classic.