Popular characters that promote tourist spots, Meet yuruchara!!

“Yuruchara” is a contraction of “yurui character” and “yurui” means something like benevolent and not concerned with minor details. So, many yuruchara are warm, fuzzy, and cute, making us unconditionally feel light at heart. Their main purpose is the publicity of municipal governments and they are used in ideas and plans involving the local history and products for public relations activities. Some such yuruchara are greatly active with this intention and become national characters loved by both children and adults. With Yuruchara products being sold at local souvenir shops in the area, they can often be glimpsed at tourist spots. They also each have their own personalities. As a result of their popularity, there is even a “Yuru-chara® Grand Prix”, a contest where each region’s yuruchara compete for popularity. (Photo was taken at the Gotochi Characters Expo)

Hikonyan (Hikone-shi, Shiga)

The “Maneki neko” (beckoning cat) is loved around the world as a good luck charm. There are various theories concerning its roots, but a dominant theory is of a cat that beckoned to Naotaka Ii, second head of the Hikone Domain, at the shrine gate and saved him from a lightning strike. After that cat died, a figure of a cat raising a paw was created for its grave. Hikonyan is a character that combines that maneki neko and a red kabuto (helmet), the symbol of the Ii army that was based in Hikone. “Nyan” is Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat’s meow. Hikonyan’s name was openly recruited and it is a favorite that instigated the yuruchara boom. (©Hikone-shi)

Shinjo-kun (Susaki-shi, Kochi)

Shinjo-kun is a Japanese river otter character that promotes Susaki-shi. The Japanese river otter had at one time widely inhabited all of Japan, but there have been no eyewitness reports in recent days and they have been designated as an extinct species. ......

Read more for other cutest characters▶︎ https://www.tabido.jp/en-us/article/1006/