News On Japan

Japan's mascot competition ends after nine years

Oct 04 (Japan Times) - The winner of this year's annual mascot competition will be hoping they attract as much international attention for the prize as Kumamoto Prefecture's Kumamon black bear-like mascot did after winning the inaugural event in 2011. The competition wraps up for the final time after nine years on Sunday.

Audience members who made the trip to Takizawa, Iwate Prefecture, as well as those who are eligible to vote online are likely to find it tough to choose from the more than 690 contenders who lined up in the final vote.

The mascots, or yuru-kyara, began vying for national honors almost a decade earlier in an attempt to boost the profile of the country's ailing regional economies.

The winner typically attracts international attention. Products bearing the image of Kumamon racked up sales of almost ¥158 billion ($1.5 billion) last year, another record-high for the character.

Numerous families attended the finale in Takizawa this year, despite concerns over large gatherings as a result of COVID-19.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Prime Minister Takaiichi’s first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Trump drew high praise from officials at the Prime Minister’s Office, who described the atmosphere as friendly and open. According to government sources, the two leaders addressed each other by their first names, “Sanae” and “Donald,” a gesture that one senior official called “120 points,” underscoring the success of the meeting.

Emperor Naruhito met with former U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time in six years at the Imperial Palace on October 27th. The two exchanged greetings in English, with the Emperor saying, "I’m pleased to see you again," as he welcomed Trump to the Imperial residence around 6:30 p.m.

An elderly woman was found dead in a roadside ditch in Akita City on October 27th, with police investigating the possibility that she was attacked by a bear. A local resident discovered the woman lying face down in a drainage channel around 11 a.m. and called emergency services.

The Nikkei Stock Average closed at 50,512 yen on October 27th, surpassing the 50,000 mark for the first time in history and setting a new all-time high. The benchmark index rose 1,212 yen from the previous trading day, driven by strong gains across sectors.

McDonald's Japan announced it will phase out the use of paper straws and introduce new lids that allow customers to drink directly from the cup without a straw starting on November 19th.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A 43-year-old former employee of Tsuda University has been re-arrested by Tokyo Metropolitan Police on suspicion of vandalism for spraying his bodily fluid on female students’ clothing on campus.

A 38-year-old man was arrested near the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on October 24th after attacking a riot police officer with a knife, injuring the officer’s right leg.

A group in Sapporo achieved a Guinness World Record on October 25th for creating the world’s largest sentence made entirely from plastic bottle caps. The artwork, composed of around 80,000 caps, was officially recognized under the category “Largest Sentence Made from Bottle Caps.”

A Tokyo District Court has ruled that addressing a colleague using the 'chan' suffix constitutes sexual harassment, ordering a male employee to pay 220,000 yen in damages.

A 47-year-old man accused of possessing cannabis in Nagoya has been acquitted after the Nagoya High Court ruled that the procedures used to seize the evidence were illegal. The decision, handed down on October 9th, became final after prosecutors decided not to appeal.

A 38-year-old man was killed on October 24th in the village of Higashinaruse, Akita Prefecture, after attempting to rescue a couple in their seventies who were being attacked by a bear.

A memorial service marking 80 years since the end of World War II was held in Shari, a town in Hokkaido’s Shiretoko region, on October 22nd to honor those who perished in the Northern Territories and other areas.

Police in Osaka arrested a 48-year-old man on October 22nd after a tense 14-hour standoff in which he allegedly held a woman at knifepoint inside an apartment. A special tactical unit forced entry into the residence late at night, ending the standoff without injuries.