All six candidates were cute enough to do the country proud, but these two are the winners.
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Mascots
Enlightening clips show just how hard it is to do the simplest things when you’re a mascot.
Organizers find a way to let vision-impaired kids express their opinion of which of the adorable characters best represents Japan.
These six mascots take their inspiration from sakura cherry blossoms, shrines, and Japanese fairy tales.
The city’s subway operator can’t decide whether their mascot should look like a muppet or a sexy service manager.
The cute character bares his pecs in the fight against stranger danger, where children are told to remember the words “Squid Sushi” to protect them from harm.
With her own official Twitter account and a town in Tottori Prefecture behind her, Japan’s first ever cannabis character comes dressed as a pink-haired shrine maiden.
Call me old fashioned but I remember when mascots were meant to be cute, not demons spawned by human weakness or yam ninjas.
Over the weekend, a fight broke out between two mascots who have a well-documented history of bad blood.
A roly-poly bear with red cheeks and white eyebrows recently appeared on a TV program in China, which can mean only one thing: Kumamoto Prefecture traveled six years back in time and ripped them off!
The “K.R.T. Girls”, moe mascots fronting the line for Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Rapid Transit (KRT), are no stranger on our humble website. Just recently, we saw them taking over their trains with full-length decals, and just a couple of days ago they released a new image song for one of the girls that briefly mentions a few of the stations along the subway lines.
It’s a catchy pop tune befitting of the cute, refreshing image of the mascot girls, but some Japanese netizens are saying that it sounds like a theme song for an erotic game. Give it a listen after the break!
You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that the whole “moe” phenomenon – you know, that chibi, super cute anime girl style of animation and illustration that’s all over Tokyo’s infamous Akihabara district – is a Japan-only thing. But in reality, moe has spread throughout Asia and even beyond. It seems a lot of fans are captivated by the adorable schoolgirl outfits, exaggerated mannerisms and impossibly huge eyes of these distinct animated girls.
One such region in which moe has really taken hold is Taiwan, which is so obsessed with the animation style that it’s kind of doubled down on the moe-ness, pulling ahead of even Japan’s moe obsession by plastering its subways with moe characters.
Emerging from the cocoon that was The Daily Show, John Oliver has carved out a brilliant spot for himself with his own talk show Last Week Tonight. He has produced some amazing pieces on net neutrality, Edward Snowden, the Miss America Pageant and the NCAA. Viewers tune in each week to find out what subject close to their hearts is being roasted or promoted on HBO. Japan has gotten a couple of mentions on the show before, but this past week brought the insanity that is Japanese mascots to the attention of his viewers. Surely Japan’s mastery of the subject can teach the rest of the world something.
Meet the newest mascot at Fukushima Industries! This cute, winged egg is the perfect face for a company that manufactures the kind of industrial refrigerators, blast chillers, freezers and refrigerated showcases that you might find in a restaurant or a supermarket.
The name they chose for this little egghead, though, probably needed a bit more work…
Japan’s mascot obsession is known by those even marginally familiar with the country’s culture. Characters like Hello Kitty and her signature silhouette are recognized in countries across the globe, and thanks to the wonders of the internet we’re able to learn more about other cultures than ever before. But something I find that many people don’t realize about Japan is the sheer breadth of things that get their own mascots. Take, for instance, Japanese prefectures.
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