Memoire Online - Mascots in Japan

In 2014, mascot characters were elected as the 2nd hit product of the year in Japan. This represents opportunities for western companies and institutions to strategically integrate themselves into the local culture and communicate more efficiently with Japanese target audiences.

Thesis Director: German SAA, Deputy Director of International Operations, KYODO PR - Tokyo, Japan

3.2 Creating a mascot : what kind of mascots should be created in order to avoid

failure? 26
3.3 How to use mascots through traditional communication tools to better reach

During my stay in Japan in 2013, I worked for a PR Company that made me understand that Japan was a country that had nothing in common with any other country, not only in terms of culture but also in terms of communication. From brands to people or even between people. Thus, it seemed logical for me to focus on an aspect of what made Japan so special : its relationship with mascots.

I did not do a glossary, as I thought it would not be convenient for the lectors to always search for Japanese words' definitions, but the only word that people has to remember as I used it really often is « Kawaii » which means « lovable », « cute », or « adorable » in the context of Japanese culture.

I would like to thank all the people who helped me through this applied research paper. First, I would like to thank M. SAA German, my thesis Director for its valuable assistance, as usual, despite the distance. I am also grateful to M. TEJIMA Takuya, for answering my interview.

Finally, I want to thank Ms. ALBRYCHT, who helped me in my thinking for my researches and analysis.

Introduction

« The Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 will be a huge opportunity for Japan to introduce and spread mascots across the world »1

In 2020 Tokyo will host the summer Olympic Games. Its official mascot is not yet elected but the chosen one will be the face of Japan across the world.

Mascots are often used in sport to promote a team or a country in competitions. French people who are born before 1986 remember the little star of the Winter Olympic Games of Albertville in 1992. And those who were born that year all know Footix which was the French Team's mascot for the 1998 Football World Cup.

In France, mascots are also used in banking, with characters such as LA CAISSE D'EPARGNE's squirrel or LE CRÉDIT LYONNAIS' lion which was also the mascots for Le Tour de France. Yet these they are not really given much attention and they tend to disappear. In December 2014, the Euro 2016 mascot Super Victor was introduced to the world and its reception has not been as good as expected². It is a fact that mascots are often not as well accepted elsewhere as they are in Japan, known to be a country where cuteness (also called kawaii) is celebrated like nowhere else. Mascots are found everywhere; they have replaced celebrities and politicians as spokespersons for commercial or institutional causes.

The Land of the Rising Sun had always demonstrated animism³ (attributing life to the non-living) and has blurred the boundary between human beings and nature. It's a country known for its « talking animals characters » such as Hello Kitty or Pikachu (from Pokemon), which are famous worldwide.

1 OOCHi, Debra, Yuru kyara, humanity, and the uncanny instability of borders in the construction of Japanese identities and aesthetics, Miyazaki International College, in progress.

2 MASSON, Morgane (November 30, 2014) « Super Victor, la mascotte de l'Euro 2016, déjà moqué par les internautes » in The Huffington Post.

3 BROWN Stephen, PONSONBY-McCABE Sharon, Brand Mascots: And Other Marketing Animals, New-York, 2014, BROWN Stephen, PONSONBY-McCABE Sharon

On November 2014, Dentsu Inc., the biggest Advertising company in Japan and the fifth worldwide, announced its annual « hit product of the year » ranking⁴. It announced the consumer mindset of 2014. The movie « Frozen », « Talking mascots characters » and « Tokyo Skytree » were the top three of this list. In one year, mascots won more than 10 places in this ranking, and the market of mascots now represents 30 billion euros per year⁵

In this memoire, I will try to show that the trend for mascots is a huge opportunity for western organizations to strategically integrate themselves into the Japanese local culture and communicate more efficiently with Japanese target audiences.

Therefore, I will study Japanese culture to explain the increase of mascots' importance. I will first research its traditions as the foundations of its culture and how the country is grounded in a culture of cuteness. Finally I will talk about the culture of Omiyage (souvenir) which has led indirectly to a huge development of mascots business.

The second part will be dedicated to the current status of mascots. Through case studies of companies, tourist hotspots and institutions, I will show how big this trend is in Japan. This will be backed up by the results of a survey I made through interviews and speaking directly to Japanese people.

Finally, I will try to demonstrate how western companies can use mascots to promote themselves and to better communicate towards the Japanese. I will do this by first explaining why mascots are a relevant choice that can easily reach everyone, what a company has to do to create a successful mascot and finally how mascots can help to reach business objectives, both of notoriety and sales.

5 VINCENT, Alice. (March 5, 2015). «Meet Funassyi: the Japanese pear mascot who loves Aerosmith» in The Telegraph

The success of mascots is a trend which is more and more important currently. We will see that characters are not new and have existed for centuries in the Land of the Rising Sun but they are emphasized by the Japanese's love for cuteness and the important concept of bringing back souvenirs from any travel.

1.1 Characters in Japan, an old tradition

Japan has a strong tradition and culture of icons and its religions and history are full of characters.

Japan's history has always been full of icons. And it started with its 2 major religions the Shintoism and the Buddhism.

Shintoism is the Japan's indigenous religion, it is an animistic religion: it means that they recognize that spirits and souls live in living (fauna or flora) and non-living things. The sacred spirits, called Kami, are the «gods» in Shintoism⁶. They take the form of many things such as animals, plants, mountain or lakes. They must have a strange and unique form, for example they are very old, big, extremely high or difficult to reach.

The famous World Heritage Mount Fuji is considered as a Kami, as well as some big old trees or waterfalls in villages.

They are here to protect people from evil spirits. When important people die, they became Kami and are honored as Gods by their families in their home own altars or public shrines, such as the Nogi Shrine in Tokyo.⁷

In Shintoism, which is the most common religion in Japan, even material objects have a soul. This belief, could be one of the major reasons why people feel a strong

personal connection with non-living things, and by extension, characters and mascots.

In Buddhism, we meet constantly some Jizo statues.⁸ They are protectors for travelers and children. Those statues look like monk, they are wearing robes and have shaven head. It is used to both scare away living creatures and to awaken people from their dream-like world of illusion.

People can see statues in cemeteries, on road-sides and in temples all over Japan. They often clean the Jizo with water to purify them and give them food and drinks as offering.

Jizo Statue

The Seven Gods of Fortune called Shichi Fukujin are also really popular in Japan.⁹ They are the seven gods of good fortune in Japanese Buddhism's mythology and folklore.

Before the 15th century, Buddha was the god who wished population good harvest and Japan's safe. But at the end of Muromachi era (1336-1573), people started to think about their own success, wellbeing and richness than their compatriots' ones . In order to be people's own lucky charms, the Seven Lucky Gods were created.

CHAVEZ, Amy (March 31, 2012) « A guide to Jizo, guardian of travelers and the weak » in Japan Times HARRISON, Edward & John, Idle Idol, New-York, 2010, Jake Davis, 144 pages

The Lucky God Hotei, who loves foods and drinks, is seen outside many restaurants as he is referred to be the patron saint of restaurants owners and bartenders.

Ebisu and Daikokuten, for their part, are often displayed in small and/or local retail shops to bring luck and prosperity to their owner.

Some people say that Shintoism and Buddhism myths and beliefs are the reasons why Japan has such a big affinity with mascots and characters and why they are so prevalent in Japan.

People disagree about Manekineko's born place.¹⁰ Some say it is from Edo¹¹ some others believe it is from Osaka.

In any case, this cat with its hand holding up and down is believed to bring good luck to its owner. It is often seen in shop or restaurants windows as it is believed to attract good luck and fortune for its owners and make customers come.

The story began in the 17th century in Tokyo in a temple called Gotokuji in the ward of Setagaya in Tokyo. A wealthy lord took shelter from a rainstorm under a tree next to a temple where only a poor priest was living with its cat. The man thought that the cat had beckoned to him and walked toward the temple to follow him. A moment later

a lightning struck the tree the lord had been standing under. As the cat saved his life, he was so grateful, that he donated a huge amount of money and brought prosperity to the priest and his temple.

This is how the Manekineko began to be the « mascot of luck » in Japan. And now it is also often seen in front of Pachinkos, that are kind of casinos (where prizes are not money but gifts) to bring luck to the players.

A Tanuki is a kind of raccoon dog and also a mythical creature in Japanese folklore. They often look the same : with a hat, a walking stick, visible testicles (that are a symbol of chance) and a bottle of sake in one hand and a sake shop's credit book in the other hand. This shows that he is a credible and honorable succeeded character.

The town Shigaraki, in the Shiga Prefecture, in the center of Japan, is famous for its ceramic sculptures since the Edo Period (1603-1868).

At the beginning those sculptures were used as a way to bring luck. It was a « mascot » in the true sense of the word¹³. But after, in the late 19^th century, it started to be used to identify « soba noodles » restaurants where you can order a popular dish called tanuki soba¹⁴ .This is why the chosen mascot was a tanuki.

Because of the media coverage, after the Emperor Hirohito's visit in 1951, those statues became so popular that even Tokyo's shop wanted to have statues outside their restaurants to show they sold the dish.

The city of Shigaraki was so proud of this success that it created a « tanuki day » on November the 8th. (It was when the Emperor came in the town in 1951).

Still now, statues of tanuki are often found outside many restaurants and bars, beckoning at customers and welcoming guests.

As we said, Japan has a strong tradition, history and culture which are full of characters and the boundaries between human beings and nature have always been blurred. What was just a belief or an icon, became a mascot through the centuries.

As explained, Japan has a strong relation with its characters, but it is emphasized by the omnipresence of Kawaisa culture, which could be translated as «cuteness».¹⁵

According to Rebecca DYER¹⁶, people love cute things because it has a positive-affect and almost bring a loss of control. It allows people to escape from their mind, their problems and their daily life.

The archipelago is known to be a country where people have to deal with a lot of pressure from their childhood. They have to enter famous universities, workers have to sacrifice themselves for their companies with enormous amount of overwork time, and Japanese tend to be afraid toward the adult working life. This is why, through their kawaii culture, they keep a kind of eternal youth refuge with no pressure and no obligations. The cute characters become for them a way to healing and comfort.¹⁷

Everybody is concerned by this wave of cuteness. From junior high school students to salarymen, everyone has its cellphone with a strap featuring a mascot or anime's character such as Hello Kitty or Winnie the Pooh. In a nation obsessed with all things cute, there is nothing that has not something cute. For example, the famous bank MITSUBISHI UFJ offers its clients the choice between a casual or a Mickey Mouse and Friends stamped passbook and debit card.

¹⁵BIRKETT Mary, THE PRAGMATICS OF KAWAII (CUTE), University of Michigan, 2012

16 GAYLE Damien. (January 23,2013) «How cute animals on the internet bring out the savage» in Daily Mail.

Even pets are concerned : it is not unusual to see some dogs wearing anime branded clothes such as Lilo & Stich rain coats or Toystory,'s shoes in Tokyo.

In fact, everything in the Land of the Rising Sun might be considered as kawaii. Babies are kawaii, a cake is kawaii, a hair style is kawaii even a pair of eyeglasses can be kawaii.

Japanese men like girls with childish faces and behaviors. They want their women to be submissive and prefer a kawaii woman to an elegant woman with a strong character.

Childish attitudes are accepted and encouraged, so the attraction for mascots is a direct consequence : Japanese are attracted by cute and fragile character that they can take care of.

Omiyage is translated as « souvenir » in English, but the two are a little different.¹⁸ Basically, a souvenir is something that the traveller buys for himself to remember its trip. In Europe or in USA, it is easy to find stores filled with goodies and non-food items branded with the name of the place.

But in Japan, omiyage typically consists of food items produced in the area the trip was taken in (i.e., sweet potato pie from Okinawa, eel crisps from Shizuoka or apple from Aomori).

During the Edo feudal era (1603 -1868), traveling was prohibited for non-soldiers and non-samurai by the government of Shogun, the ruling Samurai regime.

The only exception was the « Oisemairi », a pilgrimage to visit the Ise Jingu shrine, the biggest Shintoist shrine in Japan. As it was far and expensive, some lotteries were organized each year to allow about two percents of the total population (30 millions at that time) to enjoy a long sightseeing visit. During their trip, the lucky winners brought back many Omiyage (souvenirs) of local specialties from Ise Jingu for their friends and relatives who had not the chance to come with them.

18 ALISA. (July 13, 2014) «Must-buy omiyage: check out this delicious tradition!» in Tsunagu Japan.

This might be the origin of Japanese's passion for travel « souvenirs » that represent the city, the region or the country they went to.

Currently there is an enormous business around Omiyage, and KITKAT is the King of this market by being the brand that creates products for almost any touristic place in Japan.

As it knows how Japanese are fond of omiyage, KITKAT offer a huge range of by-products to promote themselves according to the place: Mount Fuji KitKat, brown sugar syrup for Tokyo, green tea KitKat for Kyoto, strawberry for Okinawa etc.

The brand SANRIO, which owns Hello Kitty, produces also a lot of local adapted by-products. Wherever you go in Japan, you can find the cookies or noodles with Hello Kitty wearing the places' colors or local food stamped with the cat's face.

Of course, in Western countries, there are some local foods that tourists can bring back with them, such as the Mont Saint-Michel cookies but compared to Japan, the variety of food-related souvenirs in shops is low. Who has ever seen some Eiffel Tower cute crisps or Praha featuring Disney branded biscuits?

Also, omiyage is not intended to be consumed by the traveler himself and is instead given out to colleagues or friends. People almost have no choice on whether they would like to bring something back for others, it's almost considered as an obligation. As we can see, omiyage is a massive tradition for Japanese people, and bringing back it to co-workers or family allows local cities or prefectures to increase their notoriety amongst traveler's colleagues and relatives.

We will see later how, from Japanese people's passion for travel's souvenirs, towns and prefectures have also developed many local by-products that are now branded with mascots image.

As we saw on this first part, mascots are not a new trend but their importance is increasing years after years due to two major reasons : religion and culture. Japanese grew up with icons and characters and embrace them as a result of their love of cuteness. This passion for kawaii associated to the culture of trips' souvenirs omiyage leads to a development of locally stamped products.

II. The current status of mascots in Japan

Mascots represent everything in Japan : cities, companies or even Tokyo's Fire Department. With the licensed character industry, copyright and merchandising it represents 30 billion euros a year¹⁹. That is more than Japan, who is the most « books lovers » country, spends on books each year²⁰.

As explained in the first part, mascot are not new but they have been deeply integrated into many facets of the local culture, that is what we will see through different case studies.

In Europe or in America, mascots are often used to represent schools or sport team. In Japan, there are three ways of using mascots : by companies, for tourism or by national public institutions.

LINE is a messaging application which works like WHATSAPP or VIBER and is beloved in Japan, in Asia and little by little in Europe. What is the difference with the others free messaging app? The use of cute « stickers » which are kind of emoticons but truly funnier and more expressive.

1,8 billion out of more than 10 billion messages reportedly sent every day on LINE are only stickers messages.²¹

19 VINCENT, Alice. (March 5, 2015). «Meet Funassyi: the Japanese pear mascot who loves Aerosmith» in The Telegraph

QUIGLEY, J.T. (November 27, 2014) «Line crowns Creators Market Award winners, reveals $30M revenue from user-created stickers» in Techinasia

In the survey I made ²² , 100% of people answered that they were using LINE to send messages to their colleagues, friends or relatives. They prefer LINE to SMS because the stamps are cute and allow people to express their feelings and emotions better than classical emoticons. Japanese are known for their politeness and their habit to never say « no », a Line stamp is a solution when people do not want to be rude. 23

It is also a good way to answer quickly when you do not have time to write texts messages
	Line's conversation Images: The New York Times

LINE is also used by brands such as DIOR, UNIQLO, MY LITTLE PARIS OR COCA-COLA to communicate amongst potential or actual customers but BURBERRY was the first fashion brand to create exclusive stickers that have featured LINE's official characters.²⁴

BURBERRY wanted to expend itself in Japan and to connect more with its Asian's fans. So they contracted a partnership with LINE and especially with its two most popular characters : Brown and Cony. The couple made of a bear and a rabbit were BURBERRY's guests for the London's fashion week on February 2015. They created stickers and video where the couple were redressed with Burberry's famous trench coat and check umbrella. During this partnership, LINE x BURBERRY also created Cara Delevigne and Anna Wintour's stickers.

BURBERRY's CEO Christopher Bailey said; «I am delighted that we are working closely together with LINE - a company we have long admired for their innovation and creativity. This exciting collaboration will help us share our rich heritage and culture of design by building a very personal relationship with audiences in Japan.»

23 TABUCHI, Hiroko. (May 2015, 2014) «No Time to Text? Say It With Stickers » in The New York Times.

24 GHOSH, Shona. (February 18, 2015) « Burberry brings London Fashion Week to Tokyo with Line messaging app » in Marketing Magazine

According to Takuya TEJIMA from LINE, the success of stamps could be the result of the opening in 2014 of the LINE CREATORS MARKET which allowed any company or person to sell its own stamps on the « LINE STAMPS SHOP».²⁵ It gives opportunities to promote anything through « cute stamps » made by brands for customers.

The 40-sticker sets cost 100 yen each (around €0.80) and creators keep the half of the sales.

Seven months after its launch, 270,000 creators from 145 different countries applied for LINE CREATORS MARKET service, it represents about 23,4 million euros. Currently, around 30,000 stickers are sold in the Creators Market.

Created only four years ago, on March 2011 (just after the tsunami) LINE is one of the biggest successes that Japan has ever met before.

Two years after its launch, it became the archipelago's largest social network and on February 2015, it announced the 600 million users mark had been passed.

In 2007, the mobile phone company SOFTBANK began using a white male dog in its commercial campaigns for their White Plan. In those ads he is the patriarch of the SHIRATO family whereas his wife and his two kids are human.

The commercial series won the 2008 ACC Grand Prix Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award. The marketing team of SOFTBANK decided to use a dog after finding that they had to be different from other companies by using a non human but « family man » and that dog was the favorite pet amongst Japanese.²⁶

In his book, Aoki SADASHIGE, professor of Social Sciences Department of Media and Communication Studies of Hosei University, ²⁷ does a comparison between the

27 AOKI, Sadashige,\u12461ÉLp573'-- 1.'7-- (Kyarakutaa Pawaa), Tokyo, 2014, NHK Shuppan,

characteristics of each characters, if it had been a human or a dog : he writes that a dog as a dad has not that rude « paternal power », that it seems cuter and more able to communicate and to be listened by the audience than a human. As Japanese are not reticent with unserious things, SOFTBANK did it in a serious field of services that are telecommunication.

SOFTBANK's head of marketing, Tatsuro Kurisaka said that the use of the white dog brought dozens of million euros to the company. It is not only linked to the advertising but also with by-products. SOFTBANK has produced beers, books, mobile cases and bikes with the dog's face or speakers that have a dog shape.

Everywhere, tourism is used to revitalize a region. But in the Land of the Rising Sun, in order to do so, mascots are used as part of Place Branding²⁸. They are called gotouchi kyara \u12372²«-'nÉLÉÉ5 that means « place character mascots ».²⁹

They represent cities or prefectures and their characteristics are that they highlight significant aspects of the place they belong to and these are often famous foods. As explained in the part 1 about Japanese souvenir, food is important for them especially when traveling. Also all those mascots have the goal to make their places look better towards visitors and to be more dynamic.

This black bear with red cheeks mascot born in Kyushu (south of Japan) met an unlikely marketing triumph in the island. His name is literally translated as « Bear Man » from « kuma » that means « bear » and « mon » that means «man » in the local dialect.³⁰

Rivaling the success of Hello Kitty or Mickey Mouse in the country, the black bear brought a fortune to its rural region and became a marketing case study.³¹

28 Def : Use corporate branding techniques to village, cities, regions or nations

29 BARROWS Lisa, Planning with Character: Gotouchi Kyara and Place Branding in Japan, University of Columbia, 2014, 61 pages

30 TRENDS IN JAPAN (August 2013). ÒÒKUMAMON»--JAPAN'S MOST POPULAR BEAR» in Web Japan

31 DEROME, Jean, «Kumamon, a hairy bear », in Zoom Japan, 23, July-August 2014, pages 9-10

In 2014, two years after its launch, Kumamon has already generated 1 billion euros in economic benefits for his region, including tourism and by-products sales.³² Kumamon is so famous that it danced for the Emperor and his wife when they came in the Kumamoto prefecture.

When we watch the video³³, it seems unbelievable that a mascot is vigorously dancing in front of the most important family in Japan, but it is normal for Japanese. Through that dance, Kumamon showed the dynamic part of its prefecture and illustrated local people's mind.

Since the first day of his launch, licenses are offered for free : companies only need to fill out a free application and obtain permission to use it. This decision has been taken in order to increase Kumamon's notoriety but keeping control of his image.

The prefecture has received more than 10,000 applications since December 2010, with an average of 700 a month. Thanks to this free of charge licensing, Kumamon's face can be found on everything from cookies to phone cases and noodles.

It allowed Kumamoto Prefecture and Kumamon to gain notoriety and in 2013, 87.4 percent of the Japanese population recognized his image.

«Definitely Kumamoto's prominence has increased in the eyes of the public,» said Masataka NARUO, brand officer for the prefectural government.³⁴

The same year, JAPAN AIR LINE offered to its travelers to USA and several countries in Europe (such as France or Germany), a Kumamon in-flight meal called «Air Kumamon».³⁵ Made by Kumamoto's

food companies and restaurants, the goal was to offer JAL's passengers an innovative meal by making them discover Kyushu's local food.

32 FUJII, Moeko. (June 28, 2013) «The Branding of Kumamon: The Bear That Stole Japan's Heart» in Japan Real Time

34 HIMAYA, Hiroshi (March 12, 2014) « Mascot Kumamon turns cute into bear market » in The Japan Times.

35 Japan Airline (22 May, 2014) «Popular [AIR KUMAMON] with New Package Onboard JAL International Flights».

national campaigns rather than the region Kumamoto. But according to Shogo TOYOTA from Osaka's Research Institute for Culture, Energy and Life, it does not matter as « Kumamon's true role is to be a medium for boosting Kumamoto's brand image ». So now Kumamon's goal is to stay efficient as a spokesman of Kumamoto in an era where place branding mascots challengers are everywhere, including Funassyi of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture who defeated Kumamon in terms of popularity in August 2013.³⁶

b) Funassyi, the anthropomorphic pear Created by an anonymous citizen of Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture, this vigorous dancing pear became one of the most famous mascots in Japan. He unofficially represents the city of Funabashi which is only known for the culture of delicious pears.

His name is a composition of « funa » in reference to the city and « nassyi/nashi » the name in Japanese language of the pears cultivated in this place.

Funassyi

Even if the city refuses to recognize him as its mascot, for image control issues, Funassyi has increased his nationwide notoriety with almost 1.3 million of followers on Twitter³⁷ and has generated economic benefits of 50 million euros after a bit more than three years.³⁸

He is considered as a celebrity in Japan.³⁹ He has made over 10 commercials including for a local tea brand or Fuji Film. It won many awards such as the « Japan Department Store Association's Local Character General Election » in 2013 or « Voice Ringtone Category of Japan's RecoChoku Annual Ranking» the same year.

36 NAMIHEI, Odaihira, «Mascot Planet », in Zoom Japan, 23, July-August 2014, pages 6-7

38 ADELSTEIN Jack.(March 2015) «Funassyi: The Pacifist Pear Fairy Ready To Take On The World, 1.2 Million Japanese Already Love It» in Forbes

39 STUCKY, Nathalie-Kyoko. (March 9, 2015) «Japan's Peacenik Pear Fairy» in The Daily Beast.

He is also often guest on events or TV shows⁴⁰. Such as « human » guests, he does some TV games and oral speeches. He is invited for interviews and is beloved by TV programs for his convulsive dances and its zany personality. When speaking, he often ends his sentences with the word « nashi » which not only refers to pears as we said before, but which also means « without » or « not alright » in Japanese. So his «interviews » are often nonsensical as we don't know if he answers positively or unfavorably. But « nashi » can also means « pear » in Japanese, so every time he speaks, he makes a reference to the prefecture of Funabashi and increase the place's notoriety indirectly.

On March 5, 2015, Funassyi was the first non-human invited by FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN⁴¹ to show its support to the Japan's pacifist Constitution and he has been interviewed by many media from all around the world.⁴² Even celebrities endorsed him in shows, in magazines or in social medias. For example the model Cara DELAVIGNE (who has showed her love for Japanese's cute characters with the Burberry x Line stickers partnership ) or Miranda KERR appeared on photos with him.

The talking pear has generated so many licensed products, that on March 2015, Funassyi Land, a shop that sells only Funassyi branded goods, opened in Funabashi City and an anime called Funassyi no FunaFunaFuna Biyori has been launched on Nippon Television.⁴³

Once again we can see how mascots are integrated in the Japanese culture. It will be unimaginable in western countries such as France or USA to see a speaking character acting like a real human in a TV show or in an official journalist's conference.

Those place branding mascots are really powerful, even more than brand mascots. In the survey⁴⁴ we asked people « What are your top 3 favorite mascots? », and as

42 Youtube: «Superstar mascot Funassyi: "I'm a symbol of what perseverence can do"

43 WILLIAM, (March 10, 2015) «Funassyi TV anime series, starts March 30^th» in Japan Trends.

expected Kumamon and Funassyi represented 48% of answers ahead of Line's characters.

Cities have to compete to attract visitors and the use of mascot characters is well integrated in their « city branding » strategies.

As they fit with the kawaii culture of contemporary Japanese society, using mascots can be a good opportunity to both promoting and making profits for the regions or cities by becoming, like Funassyi, brands by themselves.

2.1.3 How Japanese public institutions soften their powers? Mascots are not only used by companies and for tourism, they are also used by public institutions in order to soften their images in the eyes of their audiences. I have chosen three of them to talk about: the Tokyo Police, the Tokyo Fire brigade and more recently the Prison's mascots.

Pipo-kun has been created in 1987 and his name comes from the words « people » and « police » 45 . « Kun » is an honorific suffix often used for young males.

His body is a mix of big ears, to listen people's problems, big eyes, to see everything that can happen and an antenna to catch movements around him.

Through the use of his image on videos and posters, the Tokyo Police Department softens its institution's image. He is part of prevention campaigns in the subway transportation system, directly appealing to the population.⁴⁶

As companies do, the Tokyo Police also created by-products that people may keep on them : on their phones, on their backpacks, etc.

It is a way for Tokyo Police authorities to promote itself directly through people without doing any special campaign.

Pipo-Kun is the most famous Police character, as Tokyo is the biggest and the most famous prefecture in Japan. But actually, every prefecture has its own official mascot. There are as much mascots as number of Prefectures in Japan with one extra for the city of Saga and in Yokohama. Each one is represented with the symbol of its own prefecture : food, flower, animal or local legends.⁴⁷

b) Tokyo Metropolitan Fire Department : Kyuta-kun Kyuta-kun is found outside Tokyo's fire stations and his face is printed on leaflets, stickers and posters for the department such as Pipo-kun for the Police.

His name is a pun with the number 9 (in 119 which is the emergency number) and 2 kanji⁴⁸ \u24613} and \u25937~, which mean «rapid» and «rescue»

number 119 printed on his chests, and wears a blue helmet that represents water. Like Pipo-kun, he has yellow antennas that are supposed to light up when there is a danger.

That mascot character was launched in 2013 in order to soften the Japan's far north Asahikawa city's prison's image and make it more acceptable by the wider society.⁴⁹

Katakkuri-chan, who exists in male or female version, is dressed with a prison warden's uniform and wears a giant purple flower on his head.

Asahikawa's prison is known as one of the country's most forbidding jails. They created that mascot to change the prison's dark and isolated image, and to make nearby residents see this jail as a positive place,

48 Def: a Japanese writing system - along with hiragana and katakana - that uses Chinese symbols

49 RAVEN, David. (September 2013) «Japan prison gets cuddly mascot» in Mirror.

as people often consider that kind of place unwelcome in their neighborhood.⁵⁰ So Katakkuri-chan is here to be Asahikawa's spokesperson amongst the general audience and they hope that Katakkuri-chan will encourage nearby residents to support the jail rather than fear it.

In order to create link with their citizens and soften their power, Japanese institutions tend to use cute mascots. Some people believe that because of their culture and way of living, Japanese people are afraid of confronting humans, as explained in the part two about LINE Stickers and SOFTBANK's dog.

This could be why institutions use animal mascots as they are easier to talk with and increase easier people's trust.

2.2 When mascots are not enough to save a brand image: the TEPCO / Fukushima case

In 2012, one year after the Fukushima disasters, TEPCO, the electric utility servicing company who operated the Nuclear Power Plants at Fukushima Daiichi, decided to discharge its well famous known mascot in Japan: Denko-chan.⁵¹

Since 1987, the little girl's image was on TEPCO's leaflets and TV ads, giving some advices to use energy effectively in households. She was used as a spokesperson to humanize a field which was usually not appreciated. And she was effective because a survey showed that 80% of people associated advertising campaigns with Denko-chan to TEPCO. As all the mascots we talked about earlier, she was featured on many by-products : pens, mobile phone strap, lunchbox a pair of oven mitts⁵².

The company's spokesperson after the Fukushima's issues « We pulled out the character since the accident and we decided not to renew our contract with the Denko-chan's illustrator »

50 SPOTTISWOODE, Jocelyn. (September 2013) «Japanese prison adopts mascot» in The Telegraph.

51 SEKIGUCHI Tokyo. (March 15, 2012) «Sayonara Denko-Chan: Tepco Unplugs Cartoon Mascot» in Japan Real Time.

TEPCO did it for several reasons. The first one was that they had to save money in order to compensate victims of the nuclear crisis. They also had to save money to deactivate the reactors and to decontaminate the affected area, as the costs of the operations were estimated to 44 billion euros.

Finally, they did it because Denko-chan's image was too affected. Some people started to do some caricatures that were directly linked with the accident. Her catch phrase used to be « Be careful with electricity », so it seemed a bit inappropriate to use her as a representative of a company who caused so many damages.

People were not able to believe her messages anymore, and to be forgotten TEPCO has chosen to keep the silence and to dismiss its mascot.

Few days after the accident, some people launched some unofficial characters related to the nuclear accident. Genpatsu-kun (Nuclear Boy in English) was drawn by an artist to illustrate the crisis situation with heartwarming words.

It shows that even in disasters, Japanese people continue to pay attention to mascots and that they have such an important role that they can be discharged such as human during a crisis.

It is hard to imagine BOUYGUES TELECOM, the St. Peter's Basilica or the Police of New-York with such mascot characters, but in Japan, according to the Gotouchi Kyara Catalogue⁵³, there were 2,642 mascots registered in 2014 for places or institutions, such as cities, towns, police forces, jails, and more.

They are not only numerous but also influent amongst the population. Japanese companies, places and institutions found an efficient way to communicate efficiently with their audiences.

III. Use mascots to communicate with Japanese audiences

As we saw in our studies, mascots are truly integrated in Japanese's culture whatever it is a cellphone company or the Tokyo Fire Department. In the survey I conducted, 79% of respondents answered that foreign organizations should use mascots to promote themselves in the country⁵⁴. As a matter of fact it is not only reserved for Japanese companies.

On April 2014, The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy Tokyo has created videos to promote studies in America amongst young Japanese students.⁵⁵

We can see a girl arguing with her parents who do not want her to spend a year abroad. Then comes Tom⁵⁶, the U.S. Embassy Tokyo Social Media Friendship Ambassador who has the appearance of a bean. He helps her to find appropriate words to talk with her parents to convince them about her idea, he promotes

the America Expo⁵⁷ and explains how to get a visa. He is also the image of the US Embassy Tokyo's Facebook page⁵⁸ that has more than 26.000 fans.

Through this America-friendly but Japanese look-like mascot, the U.S Embassy Tokyo found the way and the words to reassure Japanese people regarding topics they basically don't know.

Here are many reasons why western companies should use mascots and the commitments to respect to succeed for a proper use of mascots.

Endorsement is really important in Japan. To represent a brand or a product, companies often make contract with celebrities (i.e., Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean Reno or Céline Dion). SOFTBANK, which uses a white dog as its mascot, signed a contract for a commercial with Tommy Lee Jones. In this promotional video we see the American actor meeting the SHIRATO Family with the dog as the father (as explained is the part 2). But again, the dog was the main character and the presence of Tommy Lee Jones was just for one commercial.⁵⁹

As Takuya TEJIMA said⁶⁰, « The characters may unconsciously make people remind the company». It helps people identify a brand, a product, a company or even a service much quicker than if just a `name' or a logo is thrown at them.

As explained in the part 1.2 about the culture of cuteness in Japan, kawaii is often a better choice than sexy, beautiful or strong image. In some countries, a half-naked female or a strong and sexy man can be obvious choices for attracting consumers, but in the eyes of Japanese, it will be hard to find a human person as cute as a character can be.⁶¹

Also, using mascots allows to target everybody from office ladies to salary men. As explained in the first part and as observed in the survey, almost all the Japanese like cute things and characters.

But Japan is a market where females (20 - 50) are usually the strongest audience that every company targets. As German SAA, expert in Public Relation in Japan explains⁶², « They are usually the ones with the income, the time and the willingness to become the shopping trend setters ». Then it makes sense to come up with those cutesy mascot characters to familiarize the target audiences to whatever a company is trying to push into the market.

Finally, choosing a mascot instead of a real person is cost-effective and can also avoid image issues. In 2013, ROLA, who is the most famous and influential model

61 BASEEL, Casey. (January 6, 2014) «Why does Japan love fictional characters so much?» in Japan Today.

62 Cf. appendix 8: Interview of German SAA - Kyodo PR Deputy Director of International Operations

and TV personality in Japan, faced images issues because of her father. He was accused to defraud the national health and ROLA had to publicly apologized on her blog for the troubles caused. TV channels have decided to reduce her appearances as a guest on TV shows that lead to a decrease of the popularity of the model who is currently the Japanese celebrity with the more contracts for brands.

People are more willing to forgive mascots' behavior as they are cute and sometimes out of control. On February 2014, during a show in front of hundred of media, the dog of SOFTBANK acted badly and uncontrollable⁶³, but as it is not a human, its behavior has been forgiven quickly as soon as the conference was done. And it didn't impact the brand image as it could have been if it was a human muse.

Finally, human celebrities and tend setters become out of fashion after few years and are replaced by someone else more fashionable whereas a mascot can last longer, such as the SOFTBANK's dog which is their official mascot in every single commercial or print advertising for more than 8 years.

Mascots are an efficient way to represent a brand. It is also more reliable than a human celebrity in terms of image control and a better value for money as it is created by the company itself.

3.2 Creating a Mascot : what kind of mascots should be created in order to avoid failure?

As we saw before, mascots can be an effective communications tool to promote a brand's image in Japan and build a better relationship with customers and clients but companies have to be careful regarding certain aspects.

Ed Harrison, co-author of Idle Idol: The Japanese Mascot, explains some tricks to design appropriate mascot for your company.⁶⁴

63 CLEGG, Cara (February 8, 2014) «SoftBank's mascot dog behaving badly at bizarre press conference » in Rocket News 24.

« The traditional approach, which is tried and tested, is basically to take an element from your company or product, or to play on the words of the company name to help you generate your mascot's form, and slap on some cute features. »

In almost every cases, mascots are a metaphor of something; so it is important to find the good inspiration from something meaningful (i.e, the place where the company is from, or its personality etc.)⁶⁵

As suggested in the book Idle Idol, you can name your mascot according to your business. For example, the mobile company DOCOMO created a mascot, which looks like a mushroom, called Docomodake. The name is a mix between the name of the brand « Docomo » and « dake » that means « only » but it also sounds a bit like « take » which means « mushroom ». 66

Also, as the discussed in part 2.2, TEPCO's mascot Denko-chan's name was a reference to TEPCO's business: «den» means electrical power and «ko»means child.

Also, NHK, the first Japan's national public broadcasting organization has its own mascot called Domo-kun.⁶⁷ It has been created on a reference to the NHK's announcer who was always saying «Domo» which has several meanings like « thank you », « hello » or even « goodbye ». As explained before « Kun » is an honorific suffix often used with young males.

But the problem can be that people don't make the connection between your company and its mascot. For instance, NHK's Domo-kun has been used by Seven Eleven in the USA but not with the NHK's logo on it.

Companies should not believe that mascots are for children, they have to think that adults will also be concerned by it. So it can be childish but meaningful for both adults and children, such as Cony and Brown from Line. They are cute characters

65 SEAMAN, Amy. (November 2, 2011). «How to create a Japanese Mascot» in Ehmii.

67 DEROME, Jean, «Goda Tsuneo's lucky star », in Zoom Japan, 23, July-August 2014, pages 7-9

but who are also in couple, which means that they « act » like adults: romantic diner stamps, jealousy from Cony, hangover , etc.

To reach a Japanese level of expectation in terms of cuteness, western companies have to call upon Japanese design companies or at least Japan experts (A Japanese or foreign person who has background connected with the archipelago).

Companies have to be careful because some characters might not be appreciated by Japanese: as the culture is different, the spokesperson also has to be different. In the conducted survey⁶⁸, people answered that they thought that generally western countries' companies' mascots are not cute enough according to them.

As mentioned by German SAA in its interview⁶⁹, the « yuru » (wobbly/loose) aspect and the « kawaii » (cute/lovable) have to be in the chosen mascot Also its style or behavior can depend of the city the brand is targeting. Osaka is a more humor-loving city and Tokyo is more stylish and colorful. But Japan is essentially homogeneous, lives as a group and often takes on the same way of thinking whatever the place.

So mascots can be an effective communication tool if properly studied, designed and adapted to Japanese's culture and beliefs. If companies don't see mascots as impersonal spokesperson for children it can be a success to reach different goals.

3.3 How use mascots through traditional communication tools to better reach goals?

If designed the right way, mascots can be a cost-effective tool to increase the notoriety, trust and profits of a company when associated to other communication medium.

In order to develop a brand or institution's notoriety, mascots can be used in TV commercials or in printed ads such as the dog of SOFTBANK (Cf. part 2.2)

69 Cf. appendix 8: Interview of German SAA - Kyodo PR Deputy Director of International Operations

Japanese press and television have enormous influence on the public opinion. The aggregate daily circulation of the five national dailies is over 27 million copies which is more than half the number of households in Japan (about 46.8 million)⁷⁰. The number of copies of daily newspapers in circulation per 1,000 persons in Japan is 668, close to twice the figure in the U.S. (264), U.K. (409), or Germany (375)⁷¹. Due to distribution system, 5 major daily newspapers (and one local per prefecture) and 6 TV networks are recognized as dominant media.⁷²

Western places might use their own mascot to increase their notoriety amongst Japanese through classic media. For example, we can imagine a city in France or in Italy which face a lake of Japanese tourist despite the numbers in their respective countries, could create a mascot to bring people in their place.

They could make their mascot meet some media, to make them talk about their place. As we saw before it is common to see talking characters on TV shows or in official meetings.

With a powerful mascot, once the media market is penetrated, it is easy to spread a message to a targeted audience. The company's or places' mascot can be featured in the media and increase the notoriety, as we said before mascots are sometimes more efficient than logo to remember a brand or an institution.

Beyond the promoting aspect, Western organizations can also use mascots as spokesperson to create trust for a brand or affection for a place. As explained before, the archipelago is a homogenous country where companies have to reach the mass to reach the individuals. In one way, it is easier for Western companies as they don't have to adapt their messages as much as they might have to in their own country.

The direct relationship is valued in Japan : Journalists do face-to-face interviews and customers love being reassure by seeing or testing before any decisions. 73

72 ABU-FADIL, Magda. (June 12, 2014) «'World Press Trends 2014' Debunks Newspapers' Death» in The Huffington Post Media.

So mascots can be use in consumer events, such as fair or street marketing, to introduce the mascot to the people and to make them discover the represented place, company, service or product.

Once again, mascots can be use as spokesperson to do direct marketing with targets. They can make people test a product but without being as oppressive as a real person can be. For tourism, western mascot can be used to be a direct representation of what a place looks like.

However, in media events, mascots don't have necessarily to be main part of the event, as media is often there for newsworthy information, but they can me a part of the signage and branding. That way, the corporation's name is easily recognizable besides also bringing color to the event itself.

Mascot's image can also be used through online media. Such as Funassyi, brands can launch social media accounts for their mascots to increase people's affection and engagement. One can follow them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. They can see video of them on Youtube, like the U.S Embassy's mascot Tom. All those media are a good way to spread messages and increase the affection for a mascot as if it was a real person.

Mascots can be used to increase people's trust by using them as spokesperson directly with the target audience in a Business To Consumer attitude.

At last but not least, mascot can be use to increase a company or a place's earnings.

As seen before, tourism's mascot Kumamon and Funassyi have generated together 1.5 billions euro in 3 years. Most of this result comes from the by-products on which their faces appeared such as food product or cuddly toys.

But first of all, before expecting licensed or own self created by-products, a specific campaign has to be launched for the mascot itself to become well-known amongst target audiences. Once a clear and direct link between the mascot and the company or organization, that it supposedly represents, is established, then it can be used in the same way a logo is used for all sorts of promotional activities.

By-products are not only good for the profits, there are also beneficial for the brand's notoriety. As illustrated before, companies such as SOFTBANK with its dog or prefectures such as Kumamoto with its bear Kumamon create product that are bought by people for different uses : cellphone, bags, etc. So without asking, the brand or place's notoriety is increasing.

It is also possible to reach targets with the mascot's image through LINE. As we saw in the part 2, companies can create stamps branded with the image they want. In 7 months, Line Creator Market has generated 23,4 million euros, so it's a huge opportunity to catch. Even if it is not products' sales it increases its notoriety indirectly bring profits.

To conclude this recommendation, we can say that creating a mascot is a cost-effective choice for western companies to integrate themselves and better communicate with Japanese audiences. Organizations have to deeply think about a mascot that can be understood and appreciated by Japanese people. They also have to make sure that the mascot is used regularly, uniformly and closely linked to what it represents, no matter the platform (TV, online or print).

Finally, the mascot must be protected just like a logo would, about copyrights and making sure it is not overused for other purposes than to promote the company or organization. If the mascot gets involved in other activities, then confusion would reign and its popularity will decrease gradually.

All this precaution allow the brand to increase not only its notoriety and affection but also profits by the sell of by-products.

Conclusion

Matthew ALT, an expert on Japanese popular culture who has written several books on Japan's imaginary monsters and folklore, told Forbes⁷⁴ on March 2015 that

«Mascots are only recent example of a Japanese predilection for personification and characterization of things that extends back for centuries. The roots run deep: Japan's said to be home to eight million gods. [...]This is an animistic, polytheistic culture. Anything is fair game for personification in Japan Ð foods, phones, tools, even feces, anthropomorphic versions of which are often spotted hawking constipation cures in Japanese drugstores. When you look at the world that way, nearly anything can have a spirit or spark of life. Even an anthropomorphic pear or rather a fairy in the form of a wise-cracking anthropomorphic pear. »

As he said and as we saw in this applied research paper, the use of mascot is not a new trend in Japan.

It has been used for years and years and it's not about to disappear. The Japanese are deeply attached to their characters and their power amongst people is increasing. The link between the massive use of mascots and the love that the Japanese have for anything with a childlike, innocent and harmless profile, is undeniable.

Whatever their profiles, companies, cities, regions and institutions use cute mascots to better communicate towards the Japanese. Some are old, like the Tokyo Police Mascot, and some are new, such as LINE, which after 4 years became so powerful that it is on its way to conquer the USA.⁷⁵

People in the archipelago are deeply attached to those mascots and Western organizations have to embrace this trend to strategically integrate themselves into the local culture and communicate more efficiently with Japanese target audiences. As we showed, endorsement by renowned people is really important in the Land of the Rising Sun, but if well planned and thought-through a mascot can be more cost-

74 ADELSTEIN Jack.(March 2015) «Funassyi: The Pacifist Pear Fairy Ready To Take On The World, 1.2 Million Japanese Already Love It» in Forbes

75 BYFORD, Sam. (August 7, 2014) «Line's bears and bunnies are coming for America». in The Verge.

effective than a celebrity. It can be used for TV commercials, in media or public events but also to allow the brand to increase its profits with the sale of by-products. This is an advantage that human celebrities can't bring to a company.

LINE is trying to implant itself in the USA, but is it possible to believe that Americans will like those kawaii characters? Is a passion for cuteness something that can only work in Japan? Moreover, as explained in an article of the New York Times⁷⁶, American users might prefer explicit stickers with smiles, tears or words than ambiguous stickers with half smiles. The article quotes a discussion between an American who asked « What's the point of a half-smile? » and a Japanese who answered « It's difficult to express in words. That's why we use stickers. »

Finally, it might be difficult to imagine LINE as a big success in the USA, as no Japanese software business has so far been a success in North America.

But with well-known Japanese companies such as NINTENDO or SANRIO (Hello Kitty) and the Tokyo Olympics Games 2020 as springboards, LINE might be the first company to introduce its favorite mascots to the world.

76 TABUCHI, Hiroko. (May 2015, 2014) «No Time to Text? Say It With Stickers » in The New York Times.

AOKI, Sadashige,\u12461ÉL- 57\u12479É^- )1- (Kyarakutaa Pawaa), Tokyo, 2014, NHK Shuppan, 231 pages

BROWN Stephen, PONSONBY-McCABE Sharon, Brand Mascots: And Other Marketing Animals, New-York, 2014, BROWN Stephen, PONSONBY-McCABE Sharon, 312 Pages

MATTHEW Alt, YODA Hiroko, Hello, Please!, San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 240 pages

BIRKETT Mary, The Pragmatics Of Kawaii (Cute), University Of Michigan, 2012, 118 pages

BARROWS Lisa, Planning with Character: Gotouchi Kyara and Place Branding in Japan, University of Columbia, 2014, 61 pages

OOCHi, Debra, Yuru kyara, humanity, and the uncanny instability of borders in the construction of Japanese identities and aesthetics, Miyazaki International College, in progress.

Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, «Wobbly Aesthetics, Performance, and

NAMIHEI, Odaihira, «Mascot Planet », in Zoom Japan, 23, July-August 2014, pages 6-7

DEROME, Jean, «Goda Tsuneo's lucky star », in Zoom Japan, 23, July-August 2014, pages 7-9

DEROME, Jean, «Kumamon, a hairy bear », in Zoom Japan, 23, July-August 2014, pages 9-10

Japan Airline (22 May, 2014) «Popular [AIR KUMAMON] with New Package Onboard JAL International Flights».

MACKEY, Patrick. (November 23, 2013). «Top Ten Japanese Character Mascots 2013 » in Finding Fukuoka

POST, Todd. (April 20, 2011) «A Question of Character: Branding with Mascots »in Toddmpost

PULVER, Jonas (March 26, 2015) «Dans la peau d'un champignon géant» in Le Temps.

QUIGLEY, J.T. (November 27, 2014) «Line crowns Creators Market Award winners, reveals $30M revenue from user-created stickers» in Techinasia

TRENDS IN JAPAN (August 2013). ««KUMAMON»--JAPAN'S MOST POPULAR BEAR» in Web Japan

WILLIAM, (March 10, 2015) «Funassyi TV anime series, starts March 30^th» in Japan Trends.

WOW Japan, «Yuru-Kyara Mascots : The Cute Side of Big Business Japan» in WOW Japan.

«Superstar mascot Funassyi: "I'm a symbol of what perseverence can do", last modified March 5, 2015,

« Tommy Lee Jones in Boss-SoftBank crossover commercials part2 », last modified September 24, 2012

Statistics Bureau - Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication http://www.stat.go.jp/

NEWS RELEASE

DENTSU INC.

Higashi-shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-7001, Japan http://www.dentsthcom

--The movie "Frozen," talking mascot characters and Tokyo Skytree
chosen as the top three--

Dentsu Inc (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today the release of its "2014 Hit Products in Japan" report. Produced as part of a series that has been chronicling hit products since 1985, the latest report examines major trends that represented the consumer mindset in 2014. It is based on an Internet survey of Japanese consumers carried out in November 2014 by Dentsu Macromill Insight, Inc.

Although 2014 was a year in which Japan and the Japanese people themselves regained confidence as a result of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Abenomics policies to stimulate the Japanese economy, it was a "year of ambivalence" in which an awareness of the need to economize fueled by the consumption tax increase in April intersected with aggressive consumption.

According to a close analysis of the rankings made by the Dentsu Innovation Institute, the fact that there is a lot of bright, cheerful content such as the movie Frozen, talking mascot characters such as Funassyi, the Yo-kai Watch games, manga and toys, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter"' and Halloween costumes in the top-ranked products shows that although people do not want to return to the gloomy deflation era and yet still do not have the courage to move forward with confidence, there are cheerful, comfortable feelings propping them up.

Although growth is stagnant, the strength of the Japanese economy, Japan's participation in overseas events such as the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, the Japanese Nobel laureates who invented blue LEDs, global recognition of the Tomioka Silk Mill as a world cultural heritage by UNESCO, and the ongoing development in Japan of electric vehicles (including fuel cell-powered vehicles) and jet aircraft have enhanced the country's profile both at home and abroad.

In addition, lightweight wearable terminals and other futuristic technology applications are

appearing one after another, and are making inroads into our lifestyles. 3D printers and public Wi-Fi are technologies that are closely related with our daily lives, and will boast expectations toward lifestyle innovations.

The following top 20 products (which include some popular content and social phenomena) were selected from 130 popular items and services by 1,200 Internet survey respondents aged between 20 and 69. The figures in parentheses are last year's rankings. Previously unranked products are indicated with (-).

This year, a "2015 Expected Hit Products" list was compiled using the products selected for the °It has been popular this year. / It is popular now." category as a base and then focusing on those selected for the "It will become popular" category.

No. 6: Thinking about how to lead your life in your later years and preparations for the end of

Survey period: Survey subjects: Sample size: Survey type: Survey company: Survey content:

November 7-10, 2014

Men and women nationwide aged between 20 and 69

1,200 (responses received)

Internet survey

Dentsu Macromill Insight, Inc.

Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with the

following four statements about 130 items and services:

"It has been popular this year. / It is popular now"

"It will become popular."

"It is not popular, and will not become popular in the future"

"I have never heard of it."

- « We already think that western companies are cool and appealing, so it can be a way to make them more attractive by adapting themselves to the culture

Line Corp. is a Japanese company which develops mobile applications and Internet services. It was launched in 2011 the Line Smartphone App which allows users to make calls and messaging with others users.

He is a character based on an anime and he is now used, with licences, by many famous places, such as Nagoya or Kyoto to promote themselves amongst tourists.

He is a mascot created by the government of Kumamoto Prefecture. Within 2 years after its launch, he generated around €920 billions in revenue.

Flora Mitsushima	Inter4E Applied Research Paper
TA		YATLJVA

My name is Takuya Tejima. I'm a 30 years old Application Developer working in Tokyo at Line Corporation

I like it, I think they are really funny and cute. They are really famous in Japan and often used by companies to give messages to their customers.

Why do you think that Japanese companies use mascots to promote themselves amongst Japanese customers?

I think this is because mascots have a positive impact for customers and the eye-catching characters may be easier to remember than the company itself (like who she is, what her logo is etc.). The characters may unconsciously remind of the company/organization.

Mascots have been rated as the 2nd preferred trend in Japan in 2014 whereas they were 12th in 2013, why?/what do you

I guess it might be u because of » Funasshi, as he became incredibly successful recently. Also because LINE Creators Market opened in 2014 and it allows any company or person to sell its own stamps on the u Line Stamps Shop ». It gives

opportunities to promote anything through u cute stamps » which are most of the time mascots.

Do you think that western companies should use it to implant themselves in Japan? And why?

Yes, they should use it because as you can see it has a potential to hit everybody and to promote a company easily.

This pear mascot was created for the local revitalization of Funabashi-shi in Chiba, which was considered as a a not fancy

It lets anyone create and sell their own stickers. Often used in Japan, it's now used by companies worldwide in USA or Europe. In France My Little Paris launched its own stamps and Burberry did it for UK with a partnership with Line's Mascots.

Companies have to be careful because some characters might not be appreciated by Japanese, as the culture is different, the message, the spokesperson also has to be different. In almost every cases, mascots are a metaphor of something so it's important to find the good inspiration from something meaningful (the place where the company is from, or its personality etc.)

Companies don't have to think that mascots are for children, they have to think that adults will also be concerned by it. So it can be childish but meaningful for both adults and children, such as Cony and Brown* who are cute mascots but who are also in couple, which means that they u act » like adults: romantic diner stamps, jealousy from Cony etc.

To finish, I can tell you that mascots may have a huge economic potential, not only in Japan but also in other countries. (LINE stickers market is a good example of it)

Appendix 8 : Interview of German SAA -
Kyodo Deputy Director of International Operations

GFR		A	SAA

KYODO PR

K Y000 PUBLIC REtAr'Oh9

Hello German, could you introduce yourself? My name is German Saa and I have been living and working in Japan for the last 23 years since I carne here In early 1992 from my hometown in Los Angeles. I have been involved in the marketing and PR field for about 20 years, with the last 13 years at one of the biggest and oldest domestic PR firms in Japan.

My main duties are to provide strong support to the business development operations of the agency and drive the marketing strategy and communications needs of our clients. My major areas of expertise include gathering and analyzing relevant info from all media sources, event planning, implementing and follow-up PR operations.

Currently I run the International Operations division supporting all of Kyodo`s multinational clients where I plan, implement and follow up on localized communications programs for major corporations such as EMC, LSI Logic, Cisco, Guam Tourism Bureau, Singapore Airlines, Shangri-La Hotels and among other well-known global companies.

Could you tell me 5 different ways that Japanese companies/institutions use to promote themselves?

Based on my experience, major Japanese companies promote themselves to the general Japanese public in the following five

ways : through marketing campaigns, since they can be used accross all sectors of

through TV commercials, through consumer events, through strategic PR programs targeting media; and through community relations programs such as sponsorships of community social programs or ecological activities.

As a regular consumer I actually do because it helps me identify a brand, a product, a company or even a service much quicker than if just a 'name' or a logo is thrown at me. And I believe in a market where females (20 -50) are usually the strongest audience that every company targets because they are usually the ones with the income, the time and the willingness to become the shopping trend setters, then it makes sense to come up with these kinds of cutesy mascot characters to familiarize the target audiences to whatever a company is trying to push into the market.

As a PR professional, I think these mascots are an effective tool -if properly used- to quickly establish awareness about a client's product, service or even the entire organization. They are also multi-functional

a comrns program, i.e. in a TV commercial, in a series of consumer events, as background in media events and most importantly, they are pretty cost-effective compared to the expensive alternative, which is celebrities.

In Japan, these types of "mascots" are usually referred to as "Yuru kyara," which roughly translates as 'wobbly characters." I would say they are one category below the more well-known mascots of famous companies such as Mickey Mouse for Disneyland, Mummy for Finnair, Singapore Girl for Singapore Airlines, Sanrio's Hello Kitty cat which now it turns out its creator said it wasn't a kitty cat but a little girl; the white duck for AFLAC, the Alnu white dog for Softbank, etc.

These yuru-kyara mascots, which are made mainly for promotional purposes, have three main traits:

* Funashii is supposed to unofficially represent Funabashi (a city in Chiba prefecture) and I like him because he is so wild

and unscripted. The
audiences don't really know what crazy acrobatic stunt he will do next I Actually right now he is one of the top mascots on nationwide as well as local TV.

(official). He is extremely
popular with the ladies and his main point is the fact that there are so many products sold based on his features, from candy to t-shirts, coffee-mugs, blankets, you name the product and he is on it for sure (or will be soon)!

prefecture. He is quite old
actually in terms of when he first appeared in Japan, and seems to represet some fungus at the bottom of rivers and oceans. His male genitalia shows clearly but still nobody seems to mind, especially kids. In other countries I am sure it would be banned as an `improper' mascot. What I like about this character is the fact that kids, especially male boys seems to be infatuated by having all kinds of collectible items branded by Marimokkori. Even some high school girls have him as a keychainholder on their bags.

Why do you think that Japanese companies use it to promote themselves amongst Japanese customers?

Simply because they are easy to identify with for all audiences and are sort of cheap to produce, maintain and keep reusing as many times as the campaign requires them to. Just like 'Marimokkori,' they can last for decades ! At the beginning there were a few companies and organizations using them but now it has spread to cities, prefectures and

even the government uses them for some of their programs. In actuality, they have always been there but for the last few years, there has been a clear boom where these characters are all over the place, on TV, on posters, at events, etc.

If your company (Kyodo) uses/used mascots, what can you tell me about the using? (facts, numbers etc.)

As an agency we do not use these mascots to promote ourselves but we do have clients that have used them as part of their overall promotions programs. One thing we often recommend our clients though is that if we plan and execute a media event, we make sure to tell clients to bring out their mascot to the event. Not necessarily as the main part of the event's program because media is there for newsworthy information and not to see a yuru kyara, but to be part of the signage and branding. That way, the corporation's name is easily recognizable besides also bringing color to the event itself.

Mascots have been rated as the 2nd preferred trend in Japan in 2014 whereas they were 12d in 2013, why?/what do you think about that fact?

Academically speaking, the popularity of yuru kyara can be linked to the Japanese affinity for local bonds to non-human characters and their tendency to humanize groups and blur the boundary between human beings and nature. These tendencies can be seen in the traditional "Yokai," strange apparitions from Japanese folklore such as the 'tengu' and kappa.

In terms of their adoption by local entities and agencies, yuru kyara are less likely to cause image problems that can arise from human sponsors, i.e. celebrities (controversies, etc.). Also, the cute and lovable aspects have been a hit with the Japanese public and have defined some of Japan's most popular brands and normal characters (such as Hello Kitty). In Japan, both the yuru (wobbly-Hess or slackness) and kawail (cute/lovable) aspect have become very popular trends in both fashion and art, so much so that it has already transcended to outside markets, especially USA and Europe.

Do you think that western companies should use it to implant themselves in Japan? If yes/no why?

I did some research on this and read that Japanese intellectual Kenichi Mogi believes that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be the

perfect opportunity for Japan to introduce Japanese culture naturally, is portrayed

and spread even more these characters correctly and how it could be well-received).

extremely difficult and dangerous for western How is it possible to create a link between

companies to create a Japan specific yuru the use of mascots and other tools? (ad, PR

prefectures, and goods. It would be very Well, first of all a specific campaign would

difficult for most western companies to pull have to be created first for the mascot itself

this off in its current form, as many of their to become well-known among target

products have originated or started outside audiences. Once a clear and direct link

products that were specifically made for organization that it supposedly represents is

Japan and for Japanese needs that have a established, then it can be used in the same

strong effect on local towns, cities, regions way a logo is used for all sorts of promotional

A more effective method for most western sure that the mascot is used regularly,

trend would be to create yuru kyara's that represents, no matter the platform (N, online

relate to their companies' original country or or print). Last but not least, the mascot must

city. After this is done, introduce these be protected just like a logo would, about

characters into Japan, which is how yuru copyrights and making sure it is not overused

kyara's work in their current form (one city's for other purposes than to promote the

character becomes popular in different company or organization. If the mascot gets

locations around Japan). If the cute and involved in other activities, then confusion

lovable aspect, creativeness, and original would reign and its popularity will decrease

a 'hit' inside of Japan as well (AFLAC's white duck, while not an exact yuru kyara, is an example of a mascot that has adapted to