Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Ollie Barder covers Japanese pop-culture and gaming from Tokyo. Kumamon is the mascot for Kumamoto Prefecture and it initially ...

Representing everything from prisons to safe sex, Japan has literally thousands of mascots, ranging from the uber-cute to the frankly disturbing. As Tokyo 2020 organisers unveil the mascot for the ...

MIYAZAKI, Japan — For some of Japan’s most adored celebrities, the journey to fame starts in a converted Internet cafe above a bowling alley in Miyazaki. This is where Hiromi Kano runs her unlikely ...

A consortium of Japanese media companies is partnering with U.S. animation studio Tonko House to make an animation series starring Kumamon. The hugely popular character is the mascot of Kumamoto, a ...

Japanese students had to select from three pairs of mascots. — -- Voting for the selection of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic mascots ended Thursday. Japanese elementary students had 73 ...

Last year, Japan’s Finance Ministry made the difficult decision to crack down on the number of mascots in the country, ordering officials nationwide to cut back on the use of the life-size yuru-kyara ...

When the organizing committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics released images of the Games’ mascots, few people blinked – after all, mascots are standard fare for the Olympics. But in Japan, mascot ...

The importance of dogs should never be understated. One town in Japan is taking this to heart — its appointed its area’s official mascot as Yukimaru Skywalker, a mechanical drone puppy who flies above ...

World, it’s time for you to meet Ippei the frog. Ippei-kun is Japan’s World Cup mascot, and he is, in a word, everything. He arrived in Russia on Sunday, and we know that because Ippei-kun has a ...

For a sport renowned for bruising runs and thumping tackles, the mascots for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan are on the softer side. Described as mythical, lion-like creatures that “bring happiness ...

(TOKYO) — The schoolchildren have had their say: A pair of futuristic digital characters will be the mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Organizers unveiled the winning designs at a ...

Japan has pulled a mascot representing a cartoon tritium atom happily floating around in wastewater. People said the cuteness of the mascot undermined a serious issue, local media reported. Japan ...