goo Ranking posed an interesting question, asking its monitor group to select the characters that best represent Japan. The criteria for selection were not clearly stated, but the main aim seems to have been to find the character that is most popular with the average person on the street.

From a foreign perspective, I’d have selected Pikachu and Mario, plus perhaps Godzilla as internationally recognisable symbols of Japan.

Anyway, here’s a whole gang of Doraemons:

Ranking result

Q: What are the representative characters of Japan? (Sample size=500, multiple answer)

Rank		Votes
1	Doraemon	186
2	Pikachu	160
3	Mario	145
4	Anpanman	116
5	Hello Kitty	112
6	Son Goku (Dragon Ball)	109
7	Totoro	89
8	Gundam	84
9	Godzilla	83
10=	Sailor Moon	72
10=	Ultraman	72
12	Lupin the Third	69
13	Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy)	68
14	Monkey D Luffy (ONE PIECE)	66
15	Edogawa Conan (Detective Conan)	64
16	Hatsune Miku	60
17	Licca-chan (Japan’s Barbie)	48
18	Sasae san	47
19	Momoko Sakura (Chibi Maruko chan)	46
20	Kitaro (Gegege no Kitaro)	41
21	Kumamon	40
22	Funasshi	39
23	Oozora Tsubasa (Captain Tsubasa)	33
24	Rilakkuma	30
25	Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion)	29
26	Hajime Kindaichi	27
27=	Gachapin	25
27=	Peko chan (Fujiya)	25
29=	Arare Norimaki (Dr Slump)	23
29=	Link (Legend of Zelda series)	23
31=	My Melody	21
31=	Ram (Urusei Yatsura)	21
33	Gudetama	20
34	Sonic the Hedgehog	19
35	Mukku	18
36	Tony Tony Chopper (ONE PIECE)	16
37	Jibanyan (Yokai Watch)	15
38=	Cutie Honey	11
38=	Peanuts Kyoro chan	11
40	Monchhichi	8

Demographics

goo Rankings asked iBRIDGE’s Research Plus to conduct this survey, where between the 10th and 12th of January 2018 500 members, 50:50 male and female and aged between 20 and 39 years old, of their monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. No further demographics were given.

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