The town of Nara is a beloved tourist destination, thanks to its historical importance and a few four-legged friends (or fiends if you don’t give…

Andreza Giant Panda crushes Japanese mascots with pro-wrestling power. There seems to be no limit to the variety of Japanese mascots, affectionately known as yuru-kyara…

On the surface, Chiitan☆ (the star is a necessary part of the name) is your everyday super adorable Japanese mascot. This bright-eyed otter of unclear…

Japan’s yuruchara have become indispensable to promoting tourism in remote areas. Yuruchara are mascots which represent certain regions of Japan and will be present at…

Japan loves a mascot. Called ‘yuruchara’, these characters help promote cities or prefectures for tourism or PR purposes. Companies, sports teams and other institutions often…

You may have noticed that Japan has a fondness for mascot characters, so much that they hold an annual competition to crown a national champion…