{"id":32681,"date":"2013-11-11T15:48:43","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T19:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=32681"},"modified":"2013-11-18T20:15:18","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T00:15:18","slug":"kumamonusvisit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/11\/kumamonusvisit\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s #1 Mascot Kumamon and Kumamoto Governor Visit Boston and New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"JET<\/a>

JET alumni from JETAANY meet Kumamon and Governor Kabashima at the Consul General’s residence<\/p><\/div>\n

By\u00a0Mark Frey<\/a>\u00a0(Kumamoto<\/a>, 2002-2006),\u00a0mark.frey@jetaanc.org<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Updated with media coverage of the visit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Boston and New York had the honor of hosting Kumamon’s North American debut last week! Who is Kumamon you may ask? The rosy-cheeked, sack-shaped bear is the official mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu.\u00a0Voted\u00a0the top<\/a> “Yuru-kyara” (cuddly mascot character<\/a>) in Japan, he has taken Japan by storm and sold more than $300 million worth of merchandise in 2012 alone.<\/p>\n

Kumamon’s remarkable success in promoting his rural prefecture across Japan–there is even an\u00a0exclusive “Kumamon Goods” store<\/a>\u00a0in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza neighborhood–is being studied in government offices and marketing departments across Japan. In fact, no less than the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/i>\u00a0has published\u00a0no fewer than three articles<\/a>\u00a0about the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to learn more about Kumamon, including what he does every day, I recommend checking him out online:
\nFacebook page:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kumamotodiary.en
\n<\/a>Home page:\u00a0http:\/\/kumamon-official.jp\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Kumamon accompanied Kumamoto Governor Kabashima during his visit to Boston on Novermber 12-13, which included\u00a0giving a lecture at Harvard<\/a>\u00a0on “The Political Economy of\u00a0Kumamon: A New Frontier in Japan\u2019s Public Administration.”<\/p>\n

Kumamon spent time with the Boston Red Sox’s mascot, Wally the Green Monster, for what was surely an important, high-level diplomatic meeting. The full itinerary of their Boston visit can be found\u00a0here<\/a>,\u00a0here<\/a>, and\u00a0here<\/a>. Media coverage of their visit includes:<\/p>\n

Japan Time article<\/a><\/p>\n

Wall Street Journal article<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos on Boston.com<\/a><\/p>\n

FNN news video<\/a><\/p>\n

Kumamon at Harvard video<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kumamon<\/a>

Kumamon meets Boston Red Sox’s Wally the Green Monster at Fenway Park<\/p><\/div>\n

The lovable bear and Governor Kabashima made their way down to New York on November 14, where they paid back the compliment with a visit the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/i>. Later they visited the Consul General’s residence, as part of a special reception to promote Kyushu. JET alumni from the New York Chapter of JETAA\u00a0representing all of the prefectures of Kyushu were invited to the reception. In addition to presentations on Kyushu travel, tourism and shochu, Governor Kabashima introduced Kumamon. Guests dined on Kumamoto oysters and \u201cekiben\u201d prepared by the chef from Hataka Tonton, and sipped shochu from the region.\u00a0Kumamon and Governor Kabashima’s full New York itinerary can be found\u00a0here<\/a>. Media coverage of their visit includes:<\/p>\n

Photos<\/a> of JET alumni at Kyushu Promotion event at Consul General’s residence<\/p>\n

FNN news video<\/a><\/p>\n

NHK video and article<\/a><\/p>\n

Kumamon dancing at Consul General’s residence video<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Governor Kabashima is an interesting person. He was an “at-risk” student who grew up poor in Kumamoto. Against all odds, through hard work and dedication he ended up earning a PhD from Harvard and becoming a political science professor at University of Tokyo. His launch of the Kumamon public relations campaign is one of the great local promotion success stories of recent times.<\/p>\n

Kabashima has also gotten a lot done in Kumamoto, including making some real headway in repairing Kumamoto’s troubled finances (he started by cutting his own salary), trying to resolve remaining issues<\/a> related to Minamata disease, and\u00a0blocking Tokyo’s plans<\/a>\u00a0to build a huge dam in the prefecture. A very good article about his life can be found\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0in the Asahi newspaper. The governor introduces himself and his views in two videos,\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From the start, Kumamoto Prefecture and local communities have been dedicated supporters of the JET Program. Year after year, the prefecture has been near the top of the list in hosting the most JETs, hosting around 100 this year. I myself was a Kumamoto JET. I grew to love the prefecture while I lived there, and now consider it to be my “second home.”<\/p>\n

\"Aso-Kuju<\/a>

Aso-Kuju National Park, Kumamoto<\/p><\/div>\n

I encourage everyone to take some time to visit Kumamoto while traveling in Japan. The prefecture boasts some of the\u00a0best onsen hot springs<\/a>\u00a0in the country.\u00a0Aso-Kuju National Park<\/a>\u00a0is one of the natural wonders of the world, with its giant ancient crater that is so large that an entire volcano and six towns exist inside of it (I lived in one of them!).\u00a0Kumamoto Castle<\/a>\u00a0is one of the three finest castles<\/a> in Japan. Beautiful parks and gardens, beaches and mountains, history and culture, Kumamoto has it all!<\/p>\n

To explore Kumamoto further, click\u00a0here<\/a>. The prefecture also has a great Facebook page\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

If you are a JET alum from Kumamoto, I encourage you to join the LinkedIn Group for Kumamoto JET alumni\u00a0here<\/a>. In fact, I encourage all alumni to join their prefecture’s LinkedIn Group. You can find yours\u00a0here<\/a>. It’s a great way to stay connected with other alumni from your prefecture.<\/p>\n

I’m glad JET alumni had a chance to welcome Governor Kabashima and Kumamon to the U.S. Congratulations on the great success of their first U.S. tour together!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Mark Frey\u00a0(Kumamoto, 2002-2006),\u00a0mark.frey@jetaanc.org Updated with media coverage of the visit. Boston and New York had the honor of hosting Kumamon’s North American debut last week! Who is Kumamon you may ask? The rosy-cheeked, sack-shaped bear is the official mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu.\u00a0Voted\u00a0the top “Yuru-kyara” (cuddly mascot character) in Japan, he has taken Japan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,305,53,369,379,319,368,20],"tags":[211,1143,1142,1083,190],"class_list":["post-32681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebrity","category-cultural-outreach","category-events","category-japan-local","category-jet-prefecture-round-up","category-local-government","category-traveltourism","category-video","tag-boston","tag-kabashima","tag-kumamon","tag-kumamoto","tag-new-york"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkZ7m-8v7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32681"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32777,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32681\/revisions\/32777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}