Serious Mascots

.

And now for something completely different.

Since Buck-Tick are on vacation, I thought it would be nice to take a little vacation here on Blog-Tick, too, and relax with some surreal-yet-all-too-real cultural happenings and phenomena from the Land of the Rising Sun.

And since Buck-Tick now have their own set of mascots in the form of Serious Bear and Pandacchan, I thought we'd start on the topic of mascots.

For those of you who just became a Buck-Tick fan five minutes ago, this is Serious Bear. He was designed by Higuchi Yutaka, which is why he has an initial U on his chest.

Pandacchan is perhaps less easily understood, but since pandas are known for their difficulty in achieving please me oh yes sexual tacos, maybe he's not so hard to understand after all. (Contrary to popular belief, the A doesn't stand for "Anarchy," neither does it stand for "Atsushi." The A stands for "Angry as Fuck.")

(As we can see from the reference photo above, Pandacchan is an excellent likeness.)

.

Anyhoo, some of you may be aware that Buck-Tick are actually very late to the mascot game. In fact, Japan is full of mascots, or "yuru-kyara," who represent everything from prefectural governments to national historical sites.

For example, this is Hikonyan, the samurai cat who represents the Hikone Castle in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture.

(The above photo of the Hikone Castle was actually taken by Cayce, many many moons ago...)

.

And here's Serious Bear with Gunma-chan, the official mascot of Gunma Prefecture. These official tie-in goods were sold at the Day in Question last year.

.

Tie-in merchandise is a big deal for mascots. Some mascots become popular media stars and people throughout the country buy the tie-in goods, regardless of whether they've ever visited the prefecture or other location in question. One of the most popular mascots in Japan these days is Kumamon, who represents Kumamoto Prefecture. Isn't he cute?

These days you can't go anywhere in Japan without bumping into Kumamon. The parade of Kumamon goods is endless, so let's take a look at some of them...

Kumamon holds Hello Kitty from behind in a dubious embrace...

He graces the film of your instant-developing film camera...

He pops up on your sake bottle...

He might even jump out of your bento box!

So popular, no wonder the girls want to snuggle with him at night!

.

In fact, Kumamon is so popular he has also become a meme.

(Kumamoto Prefecture is particularly known for its delicious citrus fruit.)

.

.

.

.

But!  These days Japanese mascots are in trouble, thanks to government budget-trimmers who think things have gotten a little out of hand. This is an actual article that appeared in the actual Japan Times...

And this is Last Week Tonight's John Oliver responding to the article above. Western journalists may love to talk about "wacky Japan," but as they're swept up in sensationalism and cheap cultural and racial stereotypes, they usually end up getting things terribly wrong. John Oliver, however, is right about everything. Watch this clip, people. Watch all of it.

.

.

.

If you have design submissions for This is NOT Greatest Mascot, email me.

.