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Nara’s New Mascot

Nara, a city of famous historic Buddhist temples and tame deer, recently unveiled a new mascot character to commemorate the 1300th Anniversary of Nara Heijo-kyo Capital:

nara mascot

Its creators believe that the character matches well with the city of Nara, but many have been criticizing the mascot for being un-cute. It was originally thought that this new character could rival the ultra-cute mascot of Hikone Castle, but maybe that was wishful thinking…

Your reaction to this mascot:

[Hat tip to KokuRyu]

Update: Nara might want to consider one of these alternative mascot designs.

29 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 3, 2008 at 6:49 am

Categories: Odd / Strange Tags: design, history, japan, mascot, nara, tourism

http://nonplayercharacter.blogspot.com/ NPC

It’s… kinda creepy.
Back to the drawing board.

The_Iron

It’s not THAT bad.
Does a mascot absolutely have to be considered “cute” in order to attract visitors?
Seems to me that too many people are obsessed with everything being cute.

The Overthinker

“Does a mascot absolutely have to be considered “cute” in order to attract visitors?”

Yes.

The Overthinker

In that case it is not the mascot attracting the visitors, but the attractions. For the mascot to be attractive, in Japan at least, it must be cute. Even the army (sorry, the SDF) uses a cute mascot. Check out the wonderful Prince Pickles, and imagine that at the head of the invading forces….

Zanibas

When you combine baldness with uncute chibi style, flab, and being half-naked….

Urgh….

majiimeaussie

If they put chest hair on the mascot, it could then be sexually harassing as well.

Colin

It’s like death
Codexus

I think キモカワ sums it up very well.
Level3

This is probably the first time in history that a mascot will:

A. Actually have an influence on people’s decision to travel.
B. Cause that decision to be “No! I don’t want to see that abomination ruining my experience.”

Just stick with a cute deer, and get a refund of the “artist”‘s commission.
Kevin

I know the deer are quite famous in Nara, but they are so overly aggressive at this point I’m not sure they are worth focusing on in the mascot. When a child gets mauled by a deer and they have to start euthanizing them all, this mascot isn’t going to look quite so great, will it?
Also, is it just me or does the face not look happy?
http://www.gaijinbash.com Brian

I predict 1300 years of nightmares… this thing is freaky!
http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Other: Dude’s got antlers sprouting from his head, and I think he’s doing the Macarena.
The Overthinker

Nasty. Too realistic, which might sound odd for a Buddha with antlers, but this isn’t a simple and instantly-identifiable symbol – it’s not cartoony enough.
cindy

ohh it’s not cute at all. i think kids will be scared of it.
Klauscore

It’s cool. But I hope that the huge buddah will never awaken and become as pushy for food as the deer are, that would be dangerous.
Ryry

He needs to be more jolly… at the moment he looks kinda pissed off.
And he appears to be chopping his hand through the air, rather casually. He is not full of win. ¬_¬
Gragra

Utterly hideous. I hope never to see it again. Nara is one one of my fav places in Japan but I ain’t going whilst this is a mascot.
http://tofusando.blogspot.com Akoua Doffou

Uh….no comment -_-
morningstar

Why does most cartoon pictures seem to look like anime. Is this my imagination ?
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kat

I went to Nara and saw the plush mascot, saw the deer saw the buddhas, I want a plush mascot!!! why cant i get one on the interwebs???? whyyyyyyy?????
OsakaGuy

http://begthequestion.info/
Kevin

From wiki:

In recent decades, the term has also been used to mean raising the question [7]. This meaning describes a rather broad fallacy (or incomplete explanation) that occurs when the evidence given for a proposition is in as much need of proof as the proposition itself. The more accepted classification for such arguments is as a fallacy of many questions.

No soup for you.
OsakaGuy

Yes, it’s used that way, so what? That same Wiki page also has this section (with lots of “citation needed”):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begs_the_question#Modern_usage_controversy

It’s a controversy. (Check out the discussion section of that Wiki page.) I side with the prescriptivists. You might have another opinion. There is no right answer, but I think it’s better not to dilute the meaning of a useful phrase when “raise the question” works fine.

Nara’s New Mascot

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