lifestyle

Olympic characters face stiff competition in mascot-mad Japan

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By Natsuko FUKUE

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Force-fed mass marketing.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

gintonicJuly 26  01:23 pm JST

"It's just normal for adults to adore mascots" Experts have often suggested Japan's love of mascots is linked to animist religious traditions and beliefs in which inanimate objects can acquire a soul.

Yeah, sure...that must be the reason because no other country or culture had similar beliefs throughout history.

Japanese culture has given us other 'cutesy-wutsey' cool cultural things like Pac-Man, Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, kawaii, Hello Kitty, even Godzilla and more. I don't think past 'animist' traditions have anything to do with that. That's all just what makes Japan so unique today.

DanielsanJuly 26  02:25 pm JST

Force-fed mass marketing.

Unfortunately yes. It's a bit crass. It happens in the USA all the time. Grunge rock 'fashions', belief in angels, Olympic Games, Comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp, Y2K, 'support the troops', 'support the firefighters', 'support the nurses' and lately GLBT Pride - not that these things are bad or unworthy but they get converted into trendy cash cows. That makes me sick, turning every damn thing into a dollar bill.

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