New Sato-chan

One of the first posts on the Idle Idol site was about Sato-chan and Satoko-chan. In the previous post I described Shimizu Pharmacy in Ginza and it’s small museum dedicated to the pair of elephants. I was once again passing by the store when I quickly noticed a new Sato-chan mascot outside. This design marks the latest in a long line of alterations since it’s inception in 1955. The earliest model I’ve found is from 1965 and is my favourite. The design didn’t change much over the years until 1982. The only version of this design I’ve found was painted over in white and placed outside a hairdressers in Omotesando, Tokyo. The next change was in 1993, the eyes are the most noticeable difference and he’s the skipping pose lost in favour of a standing position. In 2000 there are more small changes, the face and body becoming more round and streamlined. You can see this model wearing the blue coat. Which leads us to the latest design. The most obvious difference is the eyes which now have colour (green for Sato-chan and pink for Satoko-chan).

The final photos on the page show the previous model dressed up as various characters from the anime One Piece which I also spotted recently.

What do you think of the latest design, let me know in the comments.

Sato-chan and Satoko-chan

Just off the main road in Ginza, the cosmopolitan shopping area of Tokyo lies Shimizu Pharmacy. Like most drug stores in Tokyo they sell the usual products but as soon as you step into the shop you’ll notice two characters almost everywhere you look. Like two stone lions guarding the entrance to a temple they stand either side of the doors. The welcome mat features the pair and inside you’ll find plates, mugs and smaller collectible models. They’re mascots for Sato Pharmaceutical and stand outside drug stores all over Japan. However its only Shimizu Pharmacy which boasts a small museum dedicated to the loveable elephants.

Sato-chan the orange elephant first appeared as an illustration in 1955; then in 1961 he was launched as their first storefront mascot sitting astride a rocket. In 1982 Sato’s sister was born and began to stand alongside her brother outside stores in 1995. There have been many incarnations of the characters, and older models are scattered among the newer ones. In the past their were models which could speak to customers when they walked by. Others could sing a song if you dropped a coin in them.

The two characters are so popular that many stores chain them up to keep keen collectors and fans from stealing them. The pink Satoko-chan is particularly sought after, and as a result is a bit more rare than her brother.

The siblings are modelled after the Indian elephant, which the creators believed to have a calm and gentle nature. Sato Pharmaceuticals also chose elephants as a mascot because elephants live long lives, something the company would like to emulate. A Sato Pharmaceutical advertising representative praised the elephants for standing in front of shops all day everyday, always smiling, always being welcoming.

This pair may be the most common ‘Idle Idol’ in Japan, you can see them dressed up in different costumes all over the place. If you’re lucky you might even be given a cute pair of finger puppets if you take enough pictures of them and a kind shop owner notices you.

Higuchi-san

This is Higuchi-san the mascot for Higuchi Pharmacy. Like a lot of Idle Idols I’ve found he obviously decided his own image would make a great mascot. Its surprising how many fat middle aged company presidents have made the same choice. Higuchi-san on the other hand is pretty slim and he had the great idea of including himself sitting on an elephant.

Surprisingly as he’s not that common, this was probably one of the first Japanese mascots I discovered when I was in Tokyo on a two week trip. I stumbled across it near my hotel and was amazed by the unusualness of it. It has to be one of my favourite Idle Idols. The vibrant colours,the disproportionally large head, his happy face and confident pose.

In the bottom picture you can see some numbers on the wall behind this large mascot in Osaka. In neon the numbers 1327 light up behind the oversized Higuchi head. This is because in an early commercial Higuchi Toshio the founder can be seen sitting on a real elephant declaring his intention for opening 1327 stores. This advert was the inspiration behind the mascot. Higuchi-san has still to realise his ambition of opening the magic number of stores as by the time the company expanded to 500 they started to see a decline in profits.

Opticians

They didn’t make it into the book but I do like these great signs spotted around Tokyo. The eyes madly rotate round and round outside various opticians and glasses shops.