By Miho Inada and Daisuke Wakabayashi
Kumamon, the mischievous black bear mascot, is not only the face of Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture; he’s also the face of a movement. No other “creature” captures the craze surrounding Japan’s mascot boom as the rosy-cheeked bear.
His name is a combination of two words: “Kuma” is short for Kumamoto and “Mon” represents the local dialect that uses that word for the standard Japanese word for “things,” or “mono.” The bear was created in March 2010 to draw in tourists ahead of the 2011 opening of a new bullet train stop in the capital city of the southern Japanese prefecture. His popularity surged after he won the title of Japan’s most popular mascot in an online poll last year. He didn’t partake in this year’s poll.
- Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
- The life-size character “Kumamon” posing for visitors in Gifu city on June 30.
Riding on the wave of his popularity, Kumamon’s image was everywhere. His smiling face was on the packaging for the region’s rice or local snacks. Hisao Wakasugi, manager of the Kumamon promotional team, said the prefecture received 400 applications a month to put the bear’s image on various Kumamoto products after his victory last year.
The strategy paid off. There are already three books about Kumamon on store shelves with another four on the way. Kumamon-related goods generated more than ¥2.5 billion in sales last year, but Mr. Wakasugi said he expects that figure to double this year.
The prefecture has worked hard to preserve the image that Kumamon is more than a person in a suit. He was given the title of “sales manager” for the prefecture’s agricultural products. When asked who plays the role of Kumamon, Mr. Wakasugi responded curtly: “Kumamon is Kumamon. There is only one Kumamon. Don’t ask any details.”
But for every success story like Kumamon, there are dozens of mascots that fail to resonate initially. Take, for example, Mak-kun. The pine-cone shaped fairy of the red pine forest in Minamiminowa, a village in central Japan, came in last in the 2011 poll. However, through active promotion on Mak-kun’s blog and frequent appearances at events, the mascot rallied to place 48th out of 865 entries in this year’s online poll.
And just who plays Mak-kun? It could be you, if you can stand the conditions.
Takashi Fujisawa, who oversees Mak-kun, said he loans out the pine-cone outfit to whoever needs it for promotional events. He explains that the suit can be difficult to wear — especially in the summer. The rules are that whoever wears the mascot outfit must wear a long-sleeve shirt and wrap a towel around their neck to prevent staining the suit with sweat.
“We don’t last more than 30 minutes during the summer time,” he said.
Read the WSJ’s Page One story on Japan’s mascots here: Isn’t That Cute? In Japan, Cuddly Characters Compete
Follow Daisuke Wakabayashi on Twitter @daiwaka
India can grow fast without America, China cannot . America is only Indias 3rd largest trading partner after the United Arab Emirates and China .
STOP IT RETARDED !!! You don’t stop flooding this forum with your India-related words that are PLAIN STUPID and have NOTHING TO DO with the topic !
Have you lost your pills or are you broken from psychiatric hospital ?
By the way, if this “Yagi-san” really said that “India [...] is not dependant on any country for anything” he is an idiot too. When a country’s account balance is negative, it’s the proof a country can’t provide itself everything it needs. But I guess it’s too far thinking for the dumber who doesn’t stop talking about India… a country he obviously doesn’t know at all !
He took over as the Ambassador in October this year. Yagi, who is relatively new to the country, says that India has done well for itself and is not dependant on any country for anything.
“We are working on various things together, the current projects are the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor. This consists of many projects and is a master plan. We will also assist in the construction of the second phase of the Bangalore Metro project. Preliminary studies have begun for the high-speed train project between Bangalore and Chennai and extended areas. We are trying to extend it to the west and east coast of India,” explains Yagi.
He goes on to say that in the economic field, the number of Japanese companies operating in India has increased rapidly over the past few years, making Japan the fourth largest foreign investor in India.
“As part of our economic cooperation, we are actively participating in important infrastructure projects. In the educational sphere also, we want to invite more Indian students to Japan instead of expanding our universities here,” says Yagi.
“If more students come to Japan, the tourism sector will be boosted. As of now, the number of tourists from India to Japan is very limited. Most of them feel that Japan is an expensive country and some of them also have language constraints. But if they do decide to come to Japan for a holiday, I am sure they will not return disappointed. They will be assisted so that their stay is comfortable,” he says.
“But here, I would like to clarify that Japan is not very expensive and we will welcome tourists from India to our country. As far as Japanese investors are concerned, the Indian government doesn’t have to do much to lure them as they are already on a rise. Both the governments can cooperate to bring in more investors. The Indian infrastructure is expanding rapidly and India is not dependent on Japan for its infrastructure. It is self-sufficient, in fact, many countries are attracted to India because of its natural resources,” he notes.
“Since this year, we are celebrating the 60th year of Indo-Japan diplomatic ties, we are organising more than 160 cultural and intellectual exchange events. This will include introduction of Japanese technology and conducting a host of cultural programmes in various parts of the India. These exchanges will help Indians to know their country better and in creating awareness about our country and its culture,” he sums up.
A country where people need so badly mascots for anything and any reason is a nation of retarded.