Each November I head to Hanyu City in Saitama to attend the “World Character Summit”, a sort of Comic Con for Japanese mascots, where 150 or so of them sell merchandise from booths, pose for pictures, and dance to their theme songs on stage. Here are some of the yuru-chara I encountered:
The small city of Shiki, in Saitama Prefecture, is associated with the kappa, the fearsome water imp of lore. Historically, adults have told terrifying tales of kappa to scare children into staying away from the rivers which run through the city. Statues of the mythological beast can be found in numerous spots around the town centre.
A humanoid figure with a beak, a turtle’s shell, a monk’s haircut, and a fondness for cucumbers, the kappa was said to snatch unsuspecting kids from river banks and drag them down to a watery grave. In recent years, however, the kappa has evolved into something altogether more cute, as evinced by Shiki’s official mascot, Kappy, a round, soft, big-eyed fellow, more inclined to pose for photos with children than drown them.
Even more popular than Kappy is the city’s unofficial mascot, Kapal, another lovable kappa pal. The celebrated Kapal plays bass for two rock bands, GCB47 and Charamel, and was voted Japan’s favourite mascot at the Yuruchara Grand Prix in 2018. Kapal was very much the star attraction at Shiki’s Citizens’ Festival, which took place last month for the first time since 2019. I went along and had a fantastic time. There were a few dozen mascots in attendance and below are the pictures I took of the kappa characters who came (some of whom were wearing dresses as part of a stage play they performed at the event).
Gunma-chan is the mascot of Gunma Prefecture, and first appeared in 1983, created for the National Sports Festival, which was held in the prefecture that year. Despite having been around for almost 40 years, Gunma-chan is eternally 7 years old. The mascot looks like a non-specific woodland creature, but is actually a pony. Gunma-chan looked far more equine in 1983, but has gradually evolved since then.
For 14 years, Gunma-chan has had a gift shop named “Gunma-chan’s House” in Tokyo’s Ginza district, full of Gunma-chan merchandise and other souvenirs from Gunma, but the store finally closed its doors yesterday. I’ve been to Gunma-chan’s house on a few occasions, so I decided to drop by one last time to catch Gunma-chan’s final appearance there on the 28th. Crowds of well-wishers, many in Gunma-chan costumes, gathered at the shop to say goodbye.
Here are some pictures I took yesterday, and on other occasions over the years, at Gunma-chan’s house.
2019 was another eventful year in the ever-evolving world of Japanese mascots. Here are some of the fun, fuzzy highlights:
Otter Devastation
The year got off to a bang with the complex story of a public feud between two lovable otter mascots.
Shinjokun is the mascot of Susaki City, Japan, and is based on an extinct river otter that was last sighted in the area (and has a bowl of local noodles on his head). Last year, Chiitan, a real-life pet otter with a huge SNS following, was invited to be an honorary tourism ambassador for Susaki. A costumed version of Chiitan (with a turtle inexplicably on its head) was then created by the same designers of Shinjokun.
When the costumed Chiitan (who is canonically a 0-year-old fairy baby, rather than an otter) began independently releasing jackass-style slapstick videos online that went viral, many elderly Susaki residents mistook the character for the comparatively well-behaved Shinjokun. The local government got more than 100 complaints, so Susaki decided not to renew the contract of Chiitan (the real otter) as tourism ambassador this year.
The mayor of Susaki City also held a press conference to complain that the rebellious costumed Chiitan had infringed the copyright of Shinjokun, and requested that the anarchic otter cease activity. In further bad news for the fairy baby, Chiitan’s various verified Twitter accounts, on which posts were made in various languages to more than a million followers, were mysteriously suspended, and a Chiitan anime that was in development was shelved.
Chiitan, who was the breakout mascot star of 2018, had a terrible 2019. But the copyright lawsuit was recently dismissed, so hopefully 2020 will be better. Shinjokun, meanwhile, has taken up nightclub DJing and has also become a champion competitive gamer, winning a Street Fighter V tournament.
The warring otters story blew up around the world and was featured on CNN (with me, bizarrely, as a guest) and on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”, in which Shinjokun became friends with a John Oliver-like otter named Chijohn.
Arukuma wins the Yuruchara Grand Prix
The annual Yuruchara Grand Prix, an online vote to establish Japan’s most popular mascot, is always a big event (for me, at least). This year’s well-deserved winner was Arukuma, the green bear mascot of Nagano Prefecture, who wears an apple hat and enjoys walking.
Pokemon as mascots
One fresh development this year was the use of Pokemon characters as regional mascots.
Three Pokemon (Geodude, Lapras, and Chansey) were appointed “Thanks for the Reconstruction” ambassadors for towns affected by the Great Tohoku Earthquake and that will also be host towns for the 2020 Olympics.
Commercials
Mascots in Japan are always promoting something, and several of them appeared in memorable commercials in 2019.
The Japanese mascot for Oreo cookies, Oreo Panda, danced and rapped in an intense retro commercial, which starts like an old children’s show and evolves into a phrenetic C & C Music Factory-style music video.
New Mascots
Lots of new mascots debuted this year. These included the costumed version of the popular virtual youtuber, Peanuts-kun, a peanut-headed yellow figure who wears only underpants and a neckerchief. Peanuts-kun went on to win 1st place in the “Corporate/Other” category of the aforementioned Yuruchara Grand Prix.
Another cult online character crowdfunded a costume for himself. Kawacchi, a maudlin, booze-loving kappa (folkloric water imp) with a successful Twitter account, is an unofficial mascot for Kawaguchi City, in Saitama Prefecture.
In Kudamatsu City, 3,200 elementary school students voted for their city’s new mascot, using tables and ballot boxes from governmental elections. There were three candidates (narrowed down from 764 entries) and the eventual winner was Kudamaru (the character in the middle, below) .
Funassyi, the acrobatic pear fairy rock-star from Funabashi City, this year introduced a new member of his entourage, his childhood penpal from France, Peannu-chan.
The Rugby World Cup was held in Japan in 2019, and the tournament’s mascots didn’t disappoint. The two white-and-red lion-like creatures, collectively named Ren-G, gained popularity for their idiosyncratic dancing and sold tons of merchandise.
Also debuting this year was the clearly Chiitan-inspired pro-wrestling seal, Pokotan, of DDT Wrestling.
The Unko Museum (Poo Museum) opened in Yokohama this spring, then moved to Tokyo. The museum’s mascot, a contemplative poop named Unberto, made… um… quite a splash.
Another notable 2019 debut was Kemuimon, a cloud of cigarette smoke who covers his own mouth and warns of the dangers of secondhand smoke.
In Memoriam
Sadly, a few mascots had to bow out this year.
Hustle Komon, the elderly tradesman mascot of Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture, retired in March and handed over the reins to the local unofficial mascot, Nebaaru-kun, a giant stretchy natto fairy. Based on a character from the long-running Japanese period TV drama, Mito Komon, the old tradesman is stepping down after 12 years because the rights to the character expired, but I’m sure Nebaaru-kun will prove to be a worthy successor.
Yuzugappa, the mascot of Kito, a tiny village in Tokushima Prefecture, is a hybrid of a kappa and a yuzu citrus fruit. He went into “hibernation” in May and hasn’t been seen since. Sayonara, Yuzugappa!
Japan’s scenic Kujuku Islands retired their tourism mascots, two rocky islands named Butsubutsu-kun and Butsubutsu-chan, over concerns that the mascots’ bumpy sandstone faces might offend people with skin complaints. RIP, guys!
2020
Next year looks set to be another exciting year for Japanese mascots: Brown & Friends, the mascots for the messaging app Line, will be appearing in their own Netflix show; the Olympics and Paralympics will take place in Tokyo, and the events’ futuristic mascots, Miraitowa and Someity, are likely to be omnipresent; and 2020 will also be the year of the final ever Yuruchara Grand Prix (supposedly). I’m looking forward to all the impending fun!
2019 was also an eventful year for myself, personally. I got to meet and photograph almost 1,000 mascots in person at various events, and I had lots of exciting adventures traveling around the country to do so. I got interviewed by CNN, the BBC, the New York Times, and GQ; and I made it onto the AV Club’s list of The 100 best, worst, and weirdest things we saw on the internet in the 2010s (number 74). I also began writing a Mondo Mascots book, so look out for that later next year.
Thank you for reading all my posts in 2019, and thanks to all the marvelous mascot folks for bringing so much fun into my days.
Last month I attended Japan’s annual “World Character Summit”, held each November in Hanyu City, Saitama, on the outskirts of Tokyo. The world’s largest outdoor gathering of costumed characters, more than 300 were present, despite the terrible weather. Rain was bucketing down for most of the weekend, and the place was so muddy that it resembled the Glastonbury Festival. Mascots wore plastic bags on their feet to keep the mud off. I arrived halfway through the second day, just when the rain was stopping, and I managed to see a few mascots in customized raincoats, and even took some pictures with a rainbow in the background.
Last month I went to the annual Gotochi Character Festival in Sumida, Tokyo, which took place in three spots around the base of the Tokyo Sky Tree (Japan’s tallest tower). About 100 mascots from all over Japan came to the event, and I took lots of pictures. Among the highlights for me were appearances from the brand new mascots Kitanyan (trendy cat mascot for Jujo Ginza shopping arcade in Tokyo) and Komikyan (a baby version of Mikyan, a dog/tangerine hybrid mascot from Ehime), as well as the final appearance of Yuzugappaa—the popular half-citrus fruit, half-kappa (a folkloric water imp) mascot of Kito, Tokushima, who is now going into “hibernation” for undisclosed reasons.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a big expo in Tokyo called Licensing Japan, where company representatives go to meet various costumed characters to possibly license for their businesses. The existence of a giant event for mascots to schmooze potential clients shows that such characters are big business in Japan. Getting in to the event required a certain amount of Ethan Hunt-style subterfuge — I had to pose as a fancy marketing executive in order to get an entry ticket and a name tag. It was worth it to see some mascots who don’t often appear in Tokyo, and to catch a drumming performance by the always great Nyango-Star, the drumming apple/cat from Aomori Prefecture. Here are some photos:
Spring is an eventful time of the year in my neighbourhood. When the cherry blossoms explode on the trees that line the river in Nakameguro, vendors are soon selling tasty delicacies from stalls, and the streets are bustling with revellers. Some popular mascots came out to play under the blossoms at the Meguro Sakura Festival, and I took some pictures:
A few weeks ago I ventured out to Nishi-Kokobunji, on the outskirts of Tokyo, to catch a rare appearance from the local mascot, Nishiko-kun, an armless, dancing character based an ancient roof tile excavated in the area. The enigmatic Nishiko-kun rarely comes to events in other parts of the city (but has managed to fly to other countries such as the UAE and France).
I was a bit late when I arrived at the Shinto temple where Nishiko-kun was set to appear, and there was nary a soul in sight on the grounds outside, so I sheepishly entered the temple through an unmanned side door. Inside, a couple of dozen people were sitting on pews, heads bowed in quiet contemplation, as two bald Buddhist monks in robes performed a religious ritual before them, involving chanting and banging a gong. I would have assumed I’d come to the wrong address, were it not for the fuzzy grey mascot sitting in the front row, silently observing the ritual. I quietly slipped into a vacant seat.
Once the ritual was over, we were treated to an impressively nimble dance performance by Nishiko-kun, followed by a meet and greet.
Somewhere on my journey home, I mislaid the flyer for the event, so I never did work out what the religious ritual was for, but it was a fascinating spectacle nonetheless.
The Furusato Matsuri (Hometown Festival) is a big food event held each winter over several days in Tokyo Dome, and hundreds of towns and cities around Japan are represented by booths selling yummy local delicacies. Some of them bring mascots along, which is why I went to the event last month. Here are some of the characters I encountered.
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