Spokesperson
Zakumi – World Cup Mascot
The 2010 World Cup is under way in South Africa so we thought we’d take a look at the official mascot. His name is Zakumi and he’s a leopard with green hair.
Elephant Parade in London
There are over 250 elephant mascots dotted around the city of London and each one is painted/designed by a different artist or celebrity such as Marc Quinn, Paul Smith, De Beauvoir Primary School in Hackney, Years 4 & 6 and many more.
Sento-kun
2010 marks the 1300th anniversary of the city of Nara so I thought I’d have an in-depth look at the controversial Sento-kun. Sento can be translated as ‘moving the capital’ which is what happened 1300 years ago when Nara replaced Fujiwara as the nations capital.
Kyuta – Tokyo’s No1 Fire Fighter
Kyuta is a fireman from the future and the mascot for the Tokyo metropolitan fire department. Kyuta wears a blue helmet, which represents water, and a red suit, which represents his fearlessness; his yellow antenna lights up when he detects danger, and his chest is imprinted with the emergency telephone number.
Inflatables – Air filled mascots
Air filled mascots from around Japan collected together. Inflatable Mascots include Mr Earth, Otosan the Softbank dog, Docomodake the Docomo Mushroom, Disneys’ Stitch, Pickachu, Maneki Nekoand, Detective Conan, Karuojisan, a penguin, lion and a random pink ball!
Japan’s Tower Mascots
Tawawa-chan awaits you inside Kyoto Tower and in Tokyo Tower there are the Noppon Brothers. Almost all the observation Towers in Japan have their own mascot. If they don’t have an Idle Idol they’ll almost certainly have a kigirumi (fur suit).
Pipo-kun
You can’t miss the little guy in Tokyo, hovering above police cars on the sides of houses, saluting pedestrians from construction site signs and waving at fans from the St Patricks day parade. But to see an ‘Idle Idol’ Pipo-kun you have to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Police museum in Ginza.
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