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Mar 17 2008 5 Comments

Japanese character contravention?

Cute and cuddly characters are seemingly essential for almost every service in Japan, no matter how serious it may be, with the so-called Self-Defence Force securing Prince Pickles,

japanese self defence character prince pickles

and the police, perky little Pipo.

japanese police character pipo

In fact, the law is apparently so in love with young Pipo, that he is rather prominently plastered over some police boxes.

Tokyo police box

So, with this in mind, it’s not exactly surprising then that other, less serious services, are equally served, with one of the more memorable being the Suica penguin, who proudly boasts the benefits of combining telephones and train tickets.

mobile suica penguin

However, as the commercial below amply proves, the fiery little fella’s axe-god inspired acrobatics mean that he has rebelliously rejected strict character requirements — sensationally swapping the customary cute for the more controversial cool.

Or, at the very least, a sort of cute-cum-cool compromise.

Categorized: Culture, Television

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jonathan says

    3/17/2008 at 9:33 am

    Thats cool Lee, I don’t think we have any characters related to services over here, possibly a phone company or something along those lines.

    Reply
  2. Neil Duckett says

    3/17/2008 at 11:01 am

    I had never noticed how often characters were used here, i will make a point of looking for them now …. the chick in the clip was cute too.

    Reply
  3. Todd says

    3/17/2008 at 12:54 pm

    I got a picture of Pipo (i didn’t know that was “it’s” name) on a police car too

    http://japan.vrillusions.com/gallery/v/2006-05-26/japan-day06-065.JPG.html

    side shot of car:
    http://japan.vrillusions.com/gallery/v/2006-05-26/japan-day06-064.JPG.html

    Reply
  4. Paul says

    3/17/2008 at 7:23 pm

    The self defence force logo is class.

    Reply
  5. Zach Harden says

    3/18/2008 at 3:24 am

    I remember from looking at documents from Customs Japan and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they have mascots plastered all over them. There is event a cutesy mascot for the Japanese passport, which has a top-hat and suitcase (http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/passport/index.html).

    Reply

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