Japan is a country with a lot of cute characters. Starting with the obvious ones from anime and manga like Totoro and Doraemon, there’s also ones featured in video games like Pikachu or Sonic, and corporate symbols like Hello Kitty. Going further we can delve into the deep ecosystem of costumed mascots that can be found everywhere throughout Japan. Finally we can pile on all of the imported characters from North America and Europe.
All these cuddly animals and monsters running around beg the question: Which one is the most popular amongst children? To answer that, we have the semiannual Characters and Children Marketing Survey results which were recently published in Japan. Let’s take a look.
The survey was taken by around 600 children ages 3 to 12. It studied their awareness of 125 different characters or ensembles of characters. Here are the top 20:
20 – Sazae-san
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19 – Shaun the Sheep
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18 – Kumamon
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17 – Minnie Mouse
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16 – Toy Story
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15 – Chibi Maruko-chan
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14 – Detective Conan
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13 – Pokemon: Best Wishes!
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12 – Stitch
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11 – Tobidase Dobutsu No Mori
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10 – Qoo
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9 – Koala No March
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8 – Winnie-the-Pooh
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7 – Tom & Jerry
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6 – Taiko No Tatsujin
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5 – Rilakkuma
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4 – Super Mario
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3 – Tonari No Totoro
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2 – Mickey Mouse
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1 – Doraemon
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Not only has Doraemon taken the top spot from this June’s survey but the robotic cat has held it for nine consecutive surveys since 2009. Actually, for the most part, the rankings didn’t change much. However, Kumamoto Prefecture mascot Kumamon debuting on the list at number 18 and the Tobidase Dobutsu No Mori (Animal Crossing: New Leaf) crew at number 11 were some impressive entries.
As an added bonus, the moms of these children were also surveyed with the same characters but had some different results.
20 – Monsters Inc.
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20 (TIE) – Chip & Dale
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19 – Chibi Maruko-chan
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18 – Peter Rabbit
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17 – Moomin
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16 – Kiki & Lala (Little Twin Stars)
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15 – Raccoon Rascal
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14 – Toy Story
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13 – Pénélope tête en l’air
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12 – Rilakkuma
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11 – Hello Kitty
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10 – Donald Duck
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9 – Miffy
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8 – Doraemon
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7 – Sazae-san
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6 – Heidi
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5 – Snoopy
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4 – Winnie-the-Pooh
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3 – Minnie Mouse
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2 – Mickey Mouse
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1 – Tonari No Totoro
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While Totoro was on the minds of women with children ages 3 to 12, poor Mickey was still mired in that number two spot. That being said, the mothers seemed to be overwhelmingly aware of foreign characters overall in their top 20 compared to their kids who seem to prefer domestic fare.
Japanese netizens reacted mostly to the poor performance of Pokemon with the younger generation, particularly against the crudely drawn cat-like mascot for the sugary drink Qoo.
So that’s the current state of affairs with regards to cute characters in Japan. If any major shifts occur in children’s character preferences you’ll hear it here first… just as long as you don’t read any other website or social network.
Source: NicoNico News via Hachima Kiko (Japanese)
