m1
I love Japanese mascots (ゆるキャラ)!
Before I came to Japan, I had heard of very famous characters, like Kumamon(くまモン), Chiitan (ちぃたん), Funassyi(ふなっしー), Nyango-Star(にゃんごすたー). These characters have become “viral”, incredibly popular on the internet, and they have many fans in the United States. Japanese mascots have cute personalities or appearances, which is uncommon in American mascots. They also seem more popular! Many businesses and towns have some sort of mascot and I really love it!
In America, we have mascots for businesses and sports teams, but many of them are rather serious or not very cute. I think we prefer our mascots to showt heir competitive spirit by looking a bit tough or sometimes a little crazy. My favorite North American mascot is the Raptor from the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. He enjoys eating people, rollerskating, and playing basketball.
As for local mascots, I would like to meet Hyakumansan, as he is very popular with ALTs. I’ve met Nonoichi’s Notty and Ishiura Shrine’s Kima-chan. They are very cute. I have only seen Meirin’s Rin-kun once, but I hope to see him again! I don’t think I will go to famous mascot events, but I really enjoying randomly running into them.
Are you a fan of mascots?
-Tiffany
