The year 2010 marks the 1,300th anniversary of Heijo-kyo, the capital city of Japan for much of the Nara period (710-794), and home to the remains of the Imperial Palace, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The city of Nara has big plans to celebrate this anniversary, with 12-13 million people expected to attend the events, which will cost an estimated 10 billion yen according to the Yomiuri. It seems the organizing association hopes to raise the money from corporate sponsors.
This is where it gets really interesting. There were 21 proposals made for the anniversary’s mascot and this is the one that was chosen…
The copyright for that image cost 500 million yen, and to make matters worse, everyone hates it! Much like the logo for the 2012 Olympics, this mascot has drawn complaints from all over the place. Already there are over 1,000 comments on this blog, and among other Japanese blogs I found this mascot which some people prefer…
…and these mascots to show disapproval for the chosen one:
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The deer with the Buddha on the head is better, but it looks a little tanuki-like. However, the real mascot is AWFUL!
If the good people who were around during the Nara Period had been able to look through a little window in time into present-day Japan and see its abundance of cutesy, annoying characters, they’d have all committed seppuku on the spot.
Why do they need a mascot anyway? Oh, that’s right… this is Japan.
File this mascot in the same place as the official London 2012 logo. Yikes.
That mascot sucks! What a waste of money!
Why should all the mascot comes with horn? Does it mean something?
Yes, Nara is famous for its deer.