Top thirty cutest corporate mascots in Japan
As well as being suitably silly for your Sunday entertainment, this recent survey from goo Ranking into Japan’s cutest corporate mascot is also an excuse to introduce a new blog, Japanese mascots, which does just what it says on the tin.
Demographics
Over the 21st and 22nd of March 2008 1,036 people from the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.7% were male, 7.0% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 30.1% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 10.9% in their fifties, and 10.2% aged sixty or over. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.
My favourite character is Liyon-chan, but he doesn’t make the list as he’s a Kansai-only character, I think, or perhaps he was wrongly-counted as the Lion Lion-chan? From the list, it would have to be Pinky then Koala no March kun.
Note that characters from companies like Sanrio, Disney, and San-X who are sold as characters in their own right were excluded from this survey.
Oh, and click the character photos to see a video of the animal in action.
Research results
Read more on: goo ranking,mascotQ: Who do you think is the cutest corporate mascot animal? (Sample size=1,036)
Rank Character Product Score 1 Kyoro chan Morinaga Chocoballs 100 2 Lismo kun KDDI LISMO 85.8 3 Namacha Panda Kirin Beverage Namacha 81.7 4 Pon De Lion Mister Donuts 81.3 5 Hiko-nyan Hikone Castle 400 Year Anniversary 80.6 6 Gachapin Fuji Television Hirake! Ponkikki 73.5 7 Bazar Degoza-ru NEC 73.5 8 Koala no March kun, Koala no Waltz chan Lotte Koala no March 72.8 9 Aflac Duck Aflac 69.8 10 Hiyoko chan Nissin Chicken Ramen 67.5 11 Mook Fuji Television Hirake! Ponkikki 53.7 12 Shimajirou Benesse Kodomo Challenge 51.1 13 Kikkoro Aichi World Exposition 48.9 14 Manma chan Kansai Television Sanma no Manma 46.6 15 Suippi JR East Suica 45.1 16 Morizo Aichi World Exposition 38.1 17 Domo kun NHK 37.7 18 Yonda? Shinchosha, Shincho Bunko 37.3 19 Pinky Frente Pinky 34.0 20 Fa-fa Nissan Soap Fa-fa 32.8 21 Kero chan, Koro chan Kowa Colgen Kowa 32.5 22 Hana Koala Sompo24 Accident Insurance 30.2 23 Pi-po kun Tokyo Metropolitan Police 27.2 24 Sato chan, Satoko chan Sato Pharmacuticals 26.5 25 Torakki Hanshin Tigers 25.7 26 Wan-wan NHK Inai-Inai-Paa! 23.5 27 Spoo NHK Together with Mother 21.6 28= Lion chan Lion 21.3 28= Nyan-mage Jidai-mura 21.3 30 Zu-min, Cha-min, Satabo Nippon Television Zoom In!! Super 20.1
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HIKONYAN IS THE BEST!
I have with great interest studied these products and I have been inspired by the design and the basic ideas behind it. No wonder that you apparantly are doing well. Anyhow I wish you good luck
Where’s Pikachu! Or Kirby!
This list doesnt suit my kind of cute but… i still like it!
These are corporate MASCOTS, where pikachu and kirby more qualifies as gaming characters xD Good picks though, just not for this list C;
kiomkiom, the list is only for corporate mascots, not stand-alone characters, so Pokemon and game characters don’t make it. Glad you liked it regardless!
Something seems wrong when an insurance company comes in at #9. I’m surprised the Softbank dog didn’t rank.