Japanese bear to take on Cannes in bid for mascot world domination
|
Version 0 of 1. He has lectured at Harvard University and featured on the front pages of a global newspaper, now a Japanese prefecture’s paunchy mascot is to grace the red carpet at this year’s Cannes film festival. Kumamon – a stylised creation with red cheeks and a fixed grin – will be promoting its own films at the festival, which it opens in the south of France next week. Related: Character assassination as Japan's mascot ranks are trimmed The mascot of Kumamoto, south-west Japan,will appear at the Japanese Pavilion at Cannes where the country’s cinema and culture will be featured on 18-19 May. “Kumamon will promote short films titled Waiting in Kumamoto (Kumamato de matteru) and Forever in Hometown (Furusato de zutto), in both of which he plays the lead,” said the prefecture. Even by the standards of cute-obsessed Japan, the klutzy bear, whose name means “bear-person” in local Kumamoto dialect, has been an eye-popping success for his home prefecture, rocketing to international stardom and inspiring awe among marketing experts. Since debuting in 2010 to mark a new bullet train service, the mascot has decorated everything from bread and keychains to aeroplanes and purses. Related: Kumamon leads Japan's mascot craze, but don't mention Pluto-kun The Bank of Japan has estimated that Kumamon-related products have generated 123.2bn yen (£680m) in the past two years. Cannes will see the kickoff of the Japan Day Project – a campaign produced by Kumamon’s creator, Kundo Koyama, to promote Japanese films, music and other creative media over the coming months. The bear is used to the glare of publicity, and regularly graces Japanese newspapers, with one feted appearance on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. It also appeared at Harvard University with the governor of Kumamoto, Ikuo Kabashima, who was giving a lecture at his alma mater. |