Plastic Pigs

The lick lipping pig outside restaurants cheerfully encouraging customers to take a bite can be seen all around the world. This is a collection of Death wish pigs found in Japan. We have pigs outside clothes shops in Yokohama’s China Town, Pigs above ramen restaurant door ways, outside a nikuman stall, made into a rubbish bin, disguised as a lantern and even outside a hairdressers.

Tokyo Park Animals

When it came to editing Idle Idol we ended up removing a whole section called Park attendants. They didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the mascots but it was really hard to get rid of such great characters from the book.

All over Japan these creatures brighten up small parks with slides made into elephants, wobbly seat pandas and some animals just there to brighten up a small corner of fun.

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.

Ultraman

I first spotted Ultraman in Odaiba, in a retro themed arcade shown left. I then found him proudly standing outside the Bandai headquarters who make Ultraman figures and toys. All the mascots have the distinctive yellow eyes and the red and silver costume. They also have a blue half sphere on their chest. This is a warning light which flashes red when the energy reserves have been used up.

The Ultraman series started in 1966 but has been regularly adapted until the present day. The Ultraman series was originally only 39 episodes, but it was such a commercial success that many sequels and remakes followed. Each series features a different costume for the Ultra Warriors.

In the original series, the main character is Shin Hayata, who crashes his plane into a red sphere of light. Inside the sphere, which is really an unusual vehicle, is Ultraman. After surveying the crash Ultraman finds the lifeless Hayata and, feeling pity on him, decides to merge their life force together and bring him back to life. As a result Hayata can transform into Ultraman whenever Earth is in danger from the various monsters that regularly attack it.

Ultraman is 130-feet tall, 20,000-Earth-years old, can run, swim and fly extremely fast and has an array of special powers including the Specium Ray and Ultra Slash.

The show’s creator, Eiji Tsuburaya, was also a part of the team behind the original Godzilla movie. Various monsters appeared in the show and many have been made into 3D mascots. In Japanese they are called Kaiju which translates as Strange beast. In the book you’ll find the very strange Alien Baltan and the infamous Kanegon.

UPDATE
Two new Ultramen spotted outside the TBS headquarters in Akasaka. Lastly I have to link to one of the most awesome Ultraman photos I’ve seen. The Ultraman house!!

Tanuki

This is Tanuki a raccoon dog and also a mythical creature from Japanese folklore. They are known for their mischief, magical powers and the ability to shapeshift. Statues of jolly tanuki can be found outside many bars and restaurants, beckoning at customers and welcoming guests.

A small town called Shigaraki is famous for making the large ceramic sculptures having started during the Edo period. Initially, the sculptures were primarily used as good fortune charms, but in the late 19th century they were used to identify shops that served soba noodles. The statues were first used by a a famous Tokyo soba shop near Tanuki Bridge where a specific soba dish called tanuki soba (Japanese noodles with tempura batter) was developed. Tanuki soba became popular and spread throughout Japan. Other soba shops would have a tanuki statue outside to show they sold the dish. Tanuki statues were further popularized in 1951 when Emperor Hirohito visited Shigaraki. He was so taken with the statues that he wrote a poem about them. The media picked up the story, and the statues’ popularity surged.

The statues often wear big straw hats and carry bottles of sake, promissory notes or empty purses. They always have large bellies and proudly display huge testicles that dangle down to the ground. Tanuki are a symbol of restraint that warns of what happens when you overindulge in food and alcohol.

Tales of tanuki playing tricks on people include legends of them transforming into kettles, monks or geisha, turning leaves into money or horse dung into a delicious meal. Many stories also involve a tanuki stretching his large testicles to the size of eight tatami mats. The always excellent Pink Tentacle has an excellent post on a set of prints showing tanuki ‘using their humorously large scrota in creative ways’. You can see images of them using their scrotums as blankets, weapons, raincoats, drums and even parachutes, as in the anime Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko.

Shigaraki decided Tanuki needed a rest so created Tanuki day on the 8th of November. Closed eye stickers are stuck over the staues eyes and some are placed in baths to relax. The 8th was chosen as it was the day Emperor Hirohito came to town. Check out the eight traits of Tanuki.