The Baboon King of Japan

I was coming back from Japan, watching Drive on the screen embedded in the headrest of the seat in front of me.  It was a fair movie, but I was distracted looking at a Japanese girl a row ahead of me diagonally.  She had already watched all of the movies that the plane offered in Japanese, so she turned on The Lion King (no disrespect--I had already watched it earlier).  I noticed she was fast-forwarding through about 80% of the movie.  She let it go through the first song, then fast-forwarded to "I Just Can't Wait to be King," and so on to all the songs.  Until she stopped it at the part where Rafiki, the baboon, catches Simba's scent on the wind.  She got to that part, and reversed the movie so that she could see all of it.  Then she stopped it again, when Rafiki meets up with Simba and smacks him on the head.  This girl was watching the songs... and all the parts with the baboon.

lionking.org

I sat there and pondered for a while.  The songs, I could understand.  She probably knew them already, and I admit, I have no idea what the lyrics are in some of the Japanese songs that I enjoy.  But why, of all the characters, did she pick Rafiki, the baboon?  It's not like he's easier to understand than Jonathan Taylor Thomas, or has a more pleasant voice than James Earl Jones.  So, why?

The only thing that I can come up with is that maybe Rafiki is a thing in Japan.  I never heard anything to lead me to believe that such is the case, but what else is there?  Anyone with any theories is more than welcome to plunk them down below.