Cuddly mascots set for the chop in Osaka

holy cr@p that will be almost impossible, from the first week I arrived in Japan the addiction to cuteness was everywhere. itll be like asking a 20year heroin addict to go cold turkey. going to take a long long time to wean the cuteness stimulant from the Japanese masses.

Sure. How about a mascot for victims of bullying? And a mascot for people who die from overwork. Maybe a mascot for people who refuse to pay NHK. One more: A mascot for people who get terrible transfers.

Mascots are Japan's substitutes for patron saints. The Church occasionally does a cull of its saints. So maybe this cull is all in the nature of things. Like stoning the medicine man when his magic no longer works.

They should do a mascot for rheumatic pain and another for osteoporosis in old women planting in the rice fields .

Thumbs up again for me , 25 will do

They should create a yuru-kyara that encourages positivity and has social benefits for certain segments of the population. How about one to cater to the hikikomoris to get them out of their slump. Call him, say, komorimon or something. NEETs should have their own one as well, though can't think of a fitting mascot name right now.

We need a new mascot: Choppo-kun, which executes the other mascots by hanging them. Choppo-kun can also serve as a "cute" way to promote the benefits of capital punishment.

I don't like that creepy-looking, smug-faced, loud one. What's it called, Matsui?

The entire point of romanization of Japanese words is so foreigners can pronounce them. Regardless of it being written how Japanese people type, "Funassyi" looks ridiculous and should be written as "Funasshi".

I' m not interested in these characters at all but one day we just happened to stumble across a Yuru-kayara festival near Nagahama Shiga-ken and I have to say it was really fun. Thats all.

Not only should they get rid of these silly things: they should be publicly incinerated in their respective city squares.

Obsessed with childishness to the extreme, sometimes makes you wonder what, if anything really goes on inside the heads of some doesn't it?

I really like Okazaemon from Aichi. I saw this article about him last year and he has really taken off since then. Last week I saw he had his own line of branded goods on sale at Lawson all over Japan. He is a mascot for people who usually hate mascots.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/04/04/aichi-prefecture-citys-new-mascot-character-scares-local-children-haunt-your-dreams/

I've always been perplexed by the number of characters in Japan.

Even juice bottles have faces. And castles which represent the feudal history of Japan now have cartoon dog mascots with swords.

I think the sheer volume of characters takes away from the message they provide, if there even is one... I think it's just to sell merchandise a majority of the time...

It's extremely unlikely that Kumamon will be phased out anytime soon--not only is the licensing for the character highly profitable for the Kumamoto Prefecture government (who likely has the copyright), but it has been a huge boon for tourism into that Prefecture, too.

I do think some mascots will still be around, though. Gunma-chan (Gunma Prefecture's mascot) is fairly well-known throughout Japan, and Shimanekko (one of two official mascots of Shimane Prefecture) has become very popular in the last few years.

The saddest part about getting rid of many of these entirely unnecessary and embarrassing mascots is not that he thinks there are too many, but is angry Osaka is "being beaten" in popularity. I mean, really, how do you believe his reason is that there are too many when he thinks "Moppy" should procreate and have more?

Definitely get rid of them, but do so because they are simply ridiculous.

Except for the wonderfully inaptly named "Fukuppy", I say get rid of them all. None of these officially funded mascots are fun, interesting or worth the tax yen spent on creating and maintaining them. Instead, create a set of symbols indicating guranteed origin and guranteed radiation free products and I'll support you. But perhaps that is asking to much of those in charge? Better to detract from real issues by creating some infantile mascot. Panem et Circenses.

I hope the don't get rid of kumamon...

There's a roughly 0% chance of Kumamon going anywhere. That bear is insanely profitable right now and it would take a perfect storm of stupid to get rid of him.

As for the other mascots, it will be sad to see some go but I don't think many people realize the sheer number of these mascots in Japan. A good number are never even seen - let alone remembered - beyond small groups of attendees at local events.

Gov Matsui has suggested...Moppy's wife could assist with women's employment issues.

I have a crazy idea. How about you, Gov Matsui, do your job and assist with women's employment issues instead?

I think 50% of the reason why people come to japan is because of all of the cuddly mascots. Kind of sad... I hope the don't get rid of kumamon...