Learn the meaning of Yuru characters
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Hello, and welcome to the Culture Class: News and Current Events in Japan, Season 1 - Lesson 10, "Yuru" Characters. |
| Japan’s culture is constantly evolving, and mascots are a sign of the ever-changing face and identity of Japan and its people. |
| In this lesson, we'll learn about this news story. |
Lesson focus |
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| Since ancient times, Japan has built its culture on animism. |
| In flora and fauna, as well as stones and utensils, spirits exist in everything, and everything that contains a spirit can perform actions just like human beings, from talking and thinking to having emotions and feelings. |
| Even now, the Japanese have many habits and annual events based on these ideas. There’s not only traditional culture, but new culture is also being born every day. |
| A remarkable example of this is the idea of a "loose character," or "Yuru-Kyara." |
| Yuru-Kyara is an abbreviation in Japanese and stands for "loose mascot character." |
| This name is thought to have been devised by cartoonist and essayist Miura Jun and has spread rapidly since 2008. |
| Mascots and other characters created for the PR of companies, local governments, and other entities have been around for a long time, but this movement rapidly accelerated as the "Yuru-Kyara Grand Prix" was held in 2010. |
| When the positive economic effects of Hikone castle’s "Hiko-nyan" and Kumamoto’s "Kumamon" were revealed, municipalities across the nation began to compete in developing unique characters, regardless of their size. |
| An entry condition for the Grand Prix is to be "a character working hard for its municipality," and more than 1,400 "Yuru-Kyara" were entered into the 2016 Grand Prix. |
| According to the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the total number of current municipalities in Japan is about 1,700, so almost every local government has a "Yuru-Kyara." |
| The economic effect brought about by the "Yuru-Kyara" that wins the Grand Prix is great; therefore, both public and private associations conduct their election campaigns for the Grand Prix to try to win votes. |
| In other words, "Yuru-Kyara" are not just mascots, but are creatures that carry the hopes and expectations of the locals from their regions. |
| Behind their lovely appearances, they face fierce competition, where winning and losing is a matter of survival. |
Outro |
| Those are the key facts about the Japanese "Yuru" characters. |
| If you want to find the related Japanese keywords, make sure to check out the lesson notes. |
| Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and keep listening for more of the most talked about news stories in Japan! |
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