Japanese Mascots Unleashed: Guide to Japan's Yuru-chara ★ ONLY in JAPAN #42
Japanese Mascots have gone wild all over Japan! There are literally thousands of them representing local towns and areas, cities, government agencies, banks, products – even prisons! Japanese mascots are called “yuru chara” in Japan and there are certain guidelines to become one:
1) The character must convey a love for the local area or hometown
2) Character movements or behavior should be unique, unstable or awkward
3) They should also be YURUI meaning unsophisticated, laid-bak – and absolutely lovable!
In this episode, John Daub travels to Shizuoka to attend the 2015 Yuruchara Grand Prix held in Hamamatsu city.
1727 mascots were entered. In the first Yuru Chara Grand Prix in 2010, only 169 mascots were entered so there's been an explosion of characters!
We will also take a close look at Kumamon くまモン who is the most recognized mascot in Japan. Kumamon is from Kumamoto which was recently hit with massive earthquakes. Kumamon now is bringing happiness to those effected by the earthquake and will help to rebuild the image of Kumamoto prefecture.
How much money do Japanese mascots generate for Japan?
In 2012, the strongest year for yuru chara growth, they generated US$16B.
URL:
Yuru Chara Grand Prix
Won won? The Japanese Mascot ranking for 2015:
Yonago City Tourism (Yonegees)
Music:
KUMAMONMON くまモンもん song
Kumamoto Prefecture
URL:
Full Song Video:
Hot Swing by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (
Source:
Artist:
Direct to Video by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (
Source:
Artist:
This show has been created and produced by John Daub ジョン・ドーブ. He's been living and working in Japan for over 18 years and regularly reports on TV for Japan's International Channel.
Obstacles mar Japan-Dokdo rouse, casting shadow over Japan's claims
One of our teams celebrated the nation's liberation day in August over in Korea's Dokdo Island.
That was back in the Summer, and now on the brink of winter, our Lee Ji-won tried to revisit the nation's easternmost territory... this time, from Japan which continues to renew false claims over the Korea-controlled islets.
Japan has made repeated claims to Korea's Dokdo Island, but in that case, shouldn't it be possible to get to Dokdo from Japan?
After all, it's relatively easy to get to Dokdo from Korea, and 100 to 200-thousand people go there every year,. while an estimated 1-point-8 million people are expected to have visited the islets by next year... since the islets first opened to the public in 2005.
We thought that it should be possible for a country that claims sovereignty over Dokdo,... like Japan,... to provide its citizens with passage to the islets.
So we set out to see if it was possible.
After landing at Japan's Yonago Airport,... we went to Shichirui Port in Shimane Prefecture, where we caught a ferry.
After two hours on board, we landed on the Oki Islands.
Japan's northwest archipelago is the country's closest territory to Dokdo,... with a distance of 157 kilometers. And to support their argument that 'Dokdo belongs to Japan,'... posters and monuments on Dokdo are displayed around the islands.
For example, right at the disembarkation point, visitors are greeted by a sign that reads:
Dokdo is and has always been part of the Oki Islands.
Japan claims to have incorporated Dokdo, or Takeshima as they call it, into the Oki Islands in 1905 -- a claim that Seoul rejects.
Dogojima is the inhabited island furthest from the Japanese mainland... and no cruise ships or ferries sail any further west from here, so we got onto a small fishing boat to see how close to Dokdo we could get.
Have you ever been to Dokdo?
No, I haven't.
We heard that the Japanese used to fish around Dokdo about 100 years ago.
I've heard about that, but I've never met anyone who's actually been there. I've only seen them on TV.
But after getting about 14 miles from Dogojima, we had to head back because the waves were getting too high.
In fact, Japanese boats can't get any closer than 12 nautical miles, or a little over 22 kilometers, from Dokdo.
According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea from 1982, that's the limit for a country's territorial waters.
A similar law was passed in Korea in 1977,... whereby the Korean Coast Guard patrols the islets 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, within the 12-nautical-mile zone.
Now, even though we couldn't get to Dokdo from Japan, we visited several places on the Oki Islands that claim Dokdo is Japanese territory.
The Kumi Takeshima History Museum displays a number of pictures and maps of Dokdo, as well as records of Japanese fishermen's activities on the islets.
Our guide was Maeda Yoshihiki, a councilman who's contributed a great deal to getting the museum built... and worked to raise awareness of Japan's claims to Dokdo to the Japanese people.
He is also the person who put up the Dokdo billboard that reads: Give back Takeshima and the sea.
I put this billboard here because it is the people from this village who went to Dokdo to fish, before historical issues became sensitive issues... and after which they could no longer go.
Japan has been relentless in its attempts to breach the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit -- as it did in 2006, amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
Its patrol boats still get within 13 nautical miles of Dokdo about twice a week.
But the attempts have always been blocked by the Korean patrol boats guarding the island.
Mr. Yoshihiki hopes to visit Dokdo someday, but it's unlikely he'll ever make it.
Although Japanese citizens can get to Dokdo through Korea, they don't get much encouragement from the Japanese government,
as that would be an acknowledgement that there is no official way for Japanese people to reach Dokdo, without going through Korea.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News, Oki Islands.
Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages
Facebook(NEWS):
Homepage:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram: