Japanese Mascots

Fu-ta-kun is the mascot of the Fukuoka Tower visitor attraction. He was introduced to the public for the first time on 01 May 2008, when the tower announced details of its twentieth anniversary celebrations. Fu-ta-kun’s name in Japanese is フータくん.

Thanks to Mark for his comment on Sento-kun, the mascot of the 1,300th Anniversary of the Heijo-kyo capital in what is now the city of Nara. Japanese Mascots.com first wrote about Sento-kun here. The Daily Yomiuri reported here on 20 Apr 08 that the unpopularity of the mascot’s design has been worth about 1.5 billion yen in free publicity.

Sento-kun is the mascot of the 1,300th Anniversary of the Heijo-kyo capital in what is now the city of Nara, which will take place in 2010. His name was chosen from more than 14,000 suggestions, although the design has been controversial: it combines the Buddhist monks and the deer for which the area is famous, but many people have commented that the resulting character is not cute. Sento-kun’s profile is here and his name in Japanese is せんとくん.

Hikonyan is the mascot of the 400th aniversary celebrations at Hikone Castle in Shiga prefecture. His hobby is walking and he likes eating meat and fish. Hikonyan’s profile is here and there are lots of photos here. His name in Japanese is ひこにゃん. The Yahoo Japan News site reported in April 2008 that visitor numbers at Hikone Castle are 60% higher than they were ten years ago, with the very popular Hikonyan believed to be largely responsible for the increase.