#hikone2017

[gotouchichara]

Fukkachan (ふっかちゃん) from Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture - manning their merchandise booth.

At the Gotōchi Chara Haku in Hikone (ご当地キャラ博in彦根), 2017.10.21

[gotouchichara]

Kakitan (かきたん), mascot of Kihoku-Kawakami Agricultural Cooperative, based in Hashimoto, Wakayama Prefecture - a persimmon bear.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakihokukawakami/

[gotouchichara]

An unexpected guest at Hikone - Kōta (こーた), mascot corgi of the Hirai Ekimae-dōri shopping street in Edogawa, Tokyo. He was not listed on the website or poster, so was a nice surprise. One of the few to have his own raincoat, and not just some assortment of plastic bags.

At the Gotōchi Chara Haku in Hikone (ご当地キャラ博in彦根), 2017.10.21

Twitter: https://twitter.com/p_welsh_corgi

[gotouchichara]

Kurawanko (くらわんこ) from Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture. Dogs aren’t known for their modesty, but this one wears a loincloth.

At the Gotōchi Chara Haku in Hikone (ご当地キャラ博in彦根), 2017.10.21

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kurawanko1110 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kurawanko1110/

[gotouchichara]

Not a gotōchi chara (local character), but one of the few business-related mascots at Hikone last year - Cas-kun (キャスくん) of TwitCasting, a popular live video streaming platform in Japan. There’s also Twi-kun (ツイくん - the one with green headphones), who was hiding somewhere at the time. They both have smartphones permanently attached to their wings.

They were created by Asako Hashi, who also designed Jingisukan no Jin-kun and friends. The event in Hikone was their physical debut.

At the Gotōchi Chara Haku in Hikone (ご当地キャラ博in彦根), 2017.10.21.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/caskun_moi

(Illustration source)

[gotouchichara]

Ponpoko-chan (ぽんぽこちゃん) is the mascot of the Shigaraki Town Tourist Association, in Shiga Prefecture. She is a tanuki (raccoon dog) - Shigaraki is well known for their pottery, in particular tanuki statues which are popular good luck charms found all around Japan.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ponpokohot

At the Gotōchi Chara Haku in Hikone (ご当地キャラ博in彦根), 2017.10.21

[gotouchichara]

Usapon (うさぽん), a black rabbit and mascot of Cheki Pon, a free newspaper distributed in Shiga Prefecture.

At the Gotōchi Chara Haku in Hikone (ご当地キャラ博in彦根), 2017.10.21

[gotouchichara]

Sabanyan (さばにゃん) from Sabae, Fukui Prefecture. 

He was the cat of the child Sugimori Nobumori, from a local samurai family. At one point the family left for Kyoto, leaving the cat behind. Years later, Sabanyan found out Nobumori had changed his name to Chikamatsu Monzaemon, a successful playwright - he was very happy to find this out, and decided to read all of his work. Unfortunately all this reading had a detrimental effect on his eyesight, but the friendly people of Sabae gave him some glasses. Sabae city is known for its manufacturing of eyeglass frames.

At the Gotōchi Chara Haku in Hikone (ご当地キャラ博in彦根), 2017.10.21