Forget the mascot – we want the man behind the mask!
It’s no secret that Japan likes its mascots, and you’ll find that there’s a cute little character to represent anything and everything possible. Even Japan’s cities and prefectures have their own characters (some official and others not) to represent them – Kumamoto Prefecture has Kumamon, Funabashi City in Chiba has Funassyi, and Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture has KitaQman.
Generally, people don’t wonder who it is in costume bringing those characters to life. Besides, that would ruin the magic, wouldn’t it? But things were a little different with KitaQman, because when the Fukuoka city mascot revealed his true identity, suddenly it wasn’t about the hero anymore, but it was all about Yuki Taki, the good-looking guy behind all of that armor.
▼ Because, um… just look at him!
この時期になるとヒーロー活動は汗だく！
— キタキュウマン (@kita_q_man) May 28, 2016
差し入れありがとう！感謝です！
皆はイケメンに感謝してね pic.twitter.com/lT7FogbKMJ
At first, KitaQman wasn’t very well-known or popular…
▼”・Police: ‘Who are you?’ ・KitaQ: ‘I’m KitaQman. Don’t you know me?’ ・Police: ‘No, we don’t.'”
警「誰ですかあなた」
— キタキュウマン (@kita_q_man) June 30, 2016
北「キタキュウマンですけど知りませんか？」
警「知りません」#警察に言われたこと pic.twitter.com/Sos04MTcxF
…but, while it’s taboo for a superhero to remove his mask and reveal his identity, once he did so, people became intrigued by the handsome face behind the mask and KitaQman soon became a household name.
KitaQman has an official website and Twitter you can follow, but if superheroes aren’t quite your thing, you can follow Yuki’s Instagram instead, and oggle at his beautiful face all day long.
*SWOON*
Source and images: Twitter/@kita_q_man, Instagram/@taki_yuki via Byokan Sunday
Featured image: Instagram/@taki_yuki
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