WEBVTT - From the Vault: Yuru-chara: Japanese Mascots, Part 2 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:08.920 Hello, and welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:12.280 name is Joe McCormick. Today is Saturday, so we're heading 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:14.800 into the vault for an older episode of Stuff to 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:19.080 Blow Your Mind. This one originally aired July eleventh, twenty 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.560 twenty four, and it is part two of our series 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.360 on the Yurukiara Japanese mascots. 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:31.479 Enjoy Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, the production 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:33.080 of iHeartRadio. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.199 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:42.560 name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.200 And I am Joe McCormick, and we're back with part 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:50.320 two of our series on Urukiara, the lovable wobbly mascot 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.400 characters of Japan. Now, if you haven't heard part one yet, 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:56.480 you should go back and listen to that episode first. 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.440 In that one, we talked about the origins of the 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:03.480 uru our concept. Rob shared some of his experiences with 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.880 these characters on a recent trip to Japan, and we 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.200 talked about a couple of our favorite examples, including the 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:15.000 Kuma Moto mascot, a real megastar called Kuma Man, which 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.520 looks like a bear but apparently is not a bear. 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:22.280 You'll listen to the episode, you'll understand and then the 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.720 more obscure park associated mascot Hako Geo, and we're back 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:28.240 today to talk about some more. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.800 That's right, Okay, So my last selection was more emotional 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:36.560 than I guess substantially interesting to everybody. But this next one, 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.960 I think is even more fascinating because it does include 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:44.800 ties into mythology and architecture. So this is one that 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.760 I definitely got to observe in the wild. So me 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.000 and my family were big studio Ghibli fans. Of course, 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.280 we made our way to visit Ghibli Park during our 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:55.760 trip to Japan, so we spent two nights in Nagoya 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.960 to do so, and while traveling on the Nagoya Municipal Subway, 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:04.120 we frequently encountered helpful signs that featured its mascot. It's 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:09.600 aficial mascot, Hatchie. Hatchie is well, I would say to 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:15.079 the uninformed Guidjin eye. Hat Schie is a humanoid uniform 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:19.360 Nagoya City Subway employee, but his head is a golden 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:23.440 fish with a human cartoon face, complete with fins on 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.560 the side and an upward cresting tail on the back 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:27.120 of the head. 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.200 So when you say he has a fish head, you 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.239 were not saying his head is the head of a fish. 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.480 You're saying his head is an entire fish. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.959 Right, but like you know, kind of like a flat 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:43.000 face fish with like a cartoon human nose. So there's 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.679 there's something interesting going on here. But at the very least, 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.280 you can say a subway employee with a fish for 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:49.880 a head. 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:52.600 A human bodied subway employee with a fish for a head, 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.680 but the fish for a head has a human face. 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.320 Correct. Yeah, so already I'm on board, right, I mean, 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:00.760 he's cute, he's a bit weird, shown up and given 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:04.920 me helpful advice. You know, it often brings attention to 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.600 important signage or in particular the glass kind of like 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.360 glass paned doors in between subway cars. I found that 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.160 they had stickers on there, I guess to keep people 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.000 from bonking into them if they were you know too, 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.320 if they were free of smudges and so forth. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.000 As someone who has more than once in my life 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.720 walked straight into a glass door, I appreciate that. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.919 But this is where things get even cooler. So it's 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.280 not merely a fish that is serving as his head. 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.760 Hatschi has a shachi hoko or shachi for a head. 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.000 So what is this? Well, in Japanese mythology, this is 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.560 a fearsome sea monster, often described as a great fish 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.040 with either the head of a tiger or of a dragon. 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.680 It's also sometimes compared to a dolphin or an orca, 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:53.760 and shachi actually apparently means orca in Japanese. Now, the 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:57.920 origins of this mythical creature ex seemingly extend back through 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:02.720 Chinese and Vedic influences, namely connecting to the chai Win 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:08.560 and the Makara in those different mythologies, both creatures that 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:13.280 were often used as rooftop guardian sculptures, so comparable in 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:16.839 some ways to like a gargoyle in the West. Okay, 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:21.359 though some sources still when talking about the shatshi go 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.600 with more of a literal. This was modeled after a 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.000 killer whale. But as we often discussed in the show, 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.880 monsters are generally born of like multiple reference points. There 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.039 can be a lot of different things going on when 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:35.039 a monster has created wholesale, or when it makes the 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.440 journey from one culture into another, and then add you know, 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:40.760 one hundred two hundred years or more on top of that. 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.040 So the sashi joko, this golden fish with upturned tail 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:50.599 is frequently found as a traditional Japanese architectural flourish, so 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:55.000 great golden fish upward tail generally gleaming gold in appearance, 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:59.120 and traditionally employed as a means of supernatural fire prevention, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.200 because because the mythical fish here was said to hold 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.120 water in its belly and it could control the rain, 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.000 So you know, you can think of this as an 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:12.360 invocation of a protective spirit while you're doing other things 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:14.320 as well, of course, to try and keep fires from 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.400 getting out of hand and burning down buildings or districts. 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.880 Almost like a symbolic sprinkler system. 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.520 Yeah, but why on the subway, you might ask. Well, 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:29.039 the main reason is because Nigoya's historic Nigoya Castle, originally 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.320 built in sixteen ten, partially destroyed in nineteen forty five, 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.520 and sort of continually restored since nineteen fifty seven, prominently 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.679 features a golden satchi on the roof, and I included 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.479 a picture of one here for you, Joe and everyone 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.039 out there. You can look these up as well. The 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:49.600 English for this word is shachi. 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.920 Oh okay so am I understanding this image correctly? If 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.080 I'm looking at it right. The fish's face is not 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:59.440 facing out from the roof. It's turned inward along the 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.039 roof line, and the fish is sort of waving its 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.279 tail out toward the rest of the world. 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.080 That's correct, yes, and pretty much. I think all the 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:12.159 times that I saw it utilized while I was over 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.440 there and just looking around at various pictures, that that 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:15.480 seems to be the standard. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:20.160 Interesting. I guess when I imagine artistic conventions of representing 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.160 like an animal or a creature on the outside of 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:23.960 a building, I would always have thought of it as 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.200 having the face facing out. But there's no reason it 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:28.000 has to be that way. 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.120 Yeah, And the front half of the creature is very impressive. 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.359 Again in these statues, it's very much of like a 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.719 dragonoid sort of head. You know, even I can see 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.400 the tiger associations, and also you can sort of see 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.840 roughly okay, I can imagine an orca or dolphin standing 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.120 in for this creature. Now on top of that, you know, 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.840 I guess we can also acknowledge that subway fires are 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.280 certainly always a possibility, So I imagine you could also make 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.760 a case for employing a mythological creature associated with fire 0:06:55.800 --> 0:07:00.920 prevention against subway fires, or maybe more generally again unwanted 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.760 safety related scenarios in general, you know, like it's employed 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:09.000 on buildings as a protective spirit to help protect against 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.320 like sort of worst case scenarios. And likewise, in the subway, 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:18.400 our friend here, the mascot hot sheet is here to help. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.520 Just looking at this fellow, I cannot help but feel assured. 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.000 Yeah, he's very lovable. I highly recommend if you're interested 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.239 look him up. It's generally spelled h A t chi 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.600 I in English, or just look for Nagoya Municipal Subway 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:35.320 mascot and you'll find him. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.559 Okay, you ready to talk about my next selection? Yeah? 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.080 Yeah, here you got a very interesting choice. Is not 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:42.680 one that was that I was familiar with? 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.800 Well, so, I think the most interesting thing about the 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.840 uukiara I'm about to talk about is that it is 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.840 the only one I'm aware of. There may be others 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.160 that have escaped to my attention. That is a successful 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.720 usurper king so I mentioned in the last episode coming 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:01.960 across Awesome mascot who was said to be a big 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:06.080 fan of heavy metal music, which it seems incongruous with 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:10.640 the vibe of most of these mascots, Like what soft 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.360 toddling character of this kind could be a metal head. 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:19.120 The answer is it's Funasi, the unofficial mascot of Funubashi, Chiba. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.440 Now you might wonder unofficial. How does a city end 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.200 up with an unofficial mascot? So I was reading about 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.840 this in a couple of blog posts, one on a 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:34.000 Kawhi culture site called You May Twins, and also on 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.199 the Mondo Mascots blog. WHEB, I think you name dropped 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:38.640 this one in the last episode, didn't you. 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.640 Yeah. It's a great resource, especially if you just want 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.960 to overload on images of various mascots and eventually like learn, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:47.000 like what they represent. 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.959 Yeah, and so the short story is that in the 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:54.480 year twenty thirteen, Funubashi City decided to get in on 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:58.920 the mascot hype and created its own official character. This 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:03.800 character was called Funeimon, who was widely considered by locals 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.720 to be excruciatingly bland and boring. Rob. I will let 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.640 you judge for yourself. Here I've included a picture. This 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.720 is a Funeimon on the right. He is described in 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.280 most of the sources I could find as an Edo 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:22.120 period salaryman or Edo period merchant. He's wearing typical clothing 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.839 for the period and glasses, and I have to agree 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.800 it is not a thrilling design. It's also not even 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.240 super cute. It's just like an adult guy. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.120 Yeah, it just looks like somebody's dad. Who's you know, 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.920 I'm pretty cool dad. But as a mascot for the city, 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:39.400 I don't know. 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:45.720 Yeah. So, in rebellion against this uninspiring official mascot, the 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:51.160 people of Funabashi City elevated I think a pre existing character. 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:57.040 This character is a hyperactive sentient pair named Funasi, who 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.440 was born in a pair orchard and loves headbanging Ozzy 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:06.199 Osbourne Fvnasi seems to have an appetite for extreme experiences 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:10.600 and thrill seeking, and also allegedly sustained an injury while 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:15.480 participating in a luchador exhibition in Mexico in twenty sixteen. Now, 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.920 for whoever's writing this character's sort of backstory, As we 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.400 mentioned in the last episode, a lot of these mascot 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:26.800 characters have more extensive personal histories and backstories and sort 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.600 of storylines than you might expect. You know, we talked 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:31.560 last time about the ones that were falling in love 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:36.079 with each other and all that stuff, but so this 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:41.640 one really likes getting into extreme experiences and you know, 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.680 the loud headbanging and all that. And I wonder if 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.240 that is, in fact a reaction to the fact that 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.280 this character filled the void of a character who was 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.120 perceived to be too boring. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.959 Hmmm, yeah, I can see that being the case. Maybe 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.760 combine that with some of this sort of attention seeking, 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:07.040 arguably at times out of control, enthusiasm for these various mascots. 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.760 You know, I was reading about about one the other day. 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:11.640 In fact, it was the one that was prominently featured 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.600 on John Oliver. How that particular mascot kind of got 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.280 into a little bit of trouble based on just sort 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.440 of being a little bit too aggressive and a bit 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.920 too extreme and it's stunts. 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.000 That's not the same one, is it. 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:25.679 It was different one. 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:27.520 Oh okay, yeah, yeah. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.760 Different one. But I'm saying it seems like there's there 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.920 is a line somewhere in there where you could go 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.880 too far. But I guess Funasi's doing it right. I 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.400 looked up Funasi and wrestling to see, okay, well, what 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.800 is he doing? Where has he been engaging with like 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.200 Lucha Libre or whatever? And I couldn't find many immediate answers. 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:46.720 But I did see some clips of him being like 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.760 thrown and flung around by some pretty big name Japanese 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.240 professional wrestlers, So you know he's he's getting out there. 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.760 I mean, I don't think he's having official matches. He's 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:10.040 getting out there carpet m all right. The next one 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:14.439 I want to cover here is terreb tosin Aka Father 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:20.000 Television a Kaido Prefecture. This guy. I included a picture 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.240 of him before you here, Joe, tell me what you 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.800 get off of just an initial look here at terreb Toasin. 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:27.640 What do you say? What do you think he is? 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:34.319 He is a red thing almost maybe like an upturned 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.400 flower pot for a head, a sort of a slightly 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.360 you know, like a upside down flower pot with a 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.880 little bit of soft corners on it, with a face. 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:48.160 The face looks very jolly hit, you know, a big, 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.640 big smile on the face. It has the best kind 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.800 of mustache, which is just four hairs, and then has 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:59.240 a sort of I don't know, a black spike reaching 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.440 up from the top of his head, which almost suggests 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.640 a piece of fruit, you know, like an apple has 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:06.599 a stem. Maybe it's a piece of fruit with a 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.800 stem poking off and then oh, also, so if his 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:13.360 head and body is an upturned clay flower flower pot, 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.120 he has two legs underneath that are right side up 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.439 clay flower pots of a smaller size, and then sort 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.200 of a green loin cloth. That that's what I get. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.880 Yeah, yeah, I looked at him and I instantly thought 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.920 like maybe pepper, like, maybe he's a hot pepper or 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:33.200 other kind of a yeah, vegetable or fruit. I showed 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.640 a picture of him to my wife and she was like, 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.000 I think he's a traffic cone. Also, I think a 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:38.760 valid guess. 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:40.560 Yeah, that's that's good. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.440 But the reality here, and this makes sense once you 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.520 see the images side by side, is he's designed to 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:52.440 resemble the Supporo TV tower, and once once you see it, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.000 you're like, okay, I can see it now. With the like, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.439 he's very vaguely tower shaped. The tower in question has 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:04.080 this kind of like green band structure around the lower 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.400 portion of it that has been transformed into a belt 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.959 in his mascot form. And then that black apparatus on 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:12.600 the top of his head, well, that's those are the 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.000 upper extremes of the television tower itself. 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.120 I see, yes, now, so I like that. 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:21.520 You know, there's like a journey to for at least 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.680 for someone like me to figure out what he is. 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:26.600 But I was looking into it more, and I think 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.760 part of the appeal of this guy is that his 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.000 name in Japanese also has there's like a pun involved here, 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.680 like mister television tower, which does not translate all that well. 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.400 But I was instantly amused as well because someone's for 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.760 me ideas of TV as this kind of like stand 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.920 in parent or teacher, you know, father television. And it 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.320 also reminds me of that old Simpson's line from Treehouse 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.520 of Horror Television teacher mother, secret lover. 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.680 Yeah, are you kids hugging the TV? 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.240 Yeah, I mean it's father television. He just has the 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.080 best of intentions for us. Yeah. 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:08.760 I like this one. He seems sage and redolent with pleasure. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:11.480 Yeah, and there's not a lot to him, I admit, 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.960 But it's another example of like what they can be 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:19.000 born of. They can be born of local landmarks, you know, 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.080 architectural touches and so forth. But the next one I 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.360 want to mention is interesting because it seems to be 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:29.600 very mission oriented, Like this is a Yuri kiara that 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:33.640 was dreamt up that was designed in order to fulfill 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.760 a particular objective in reaching the masses and conveying some 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:39.360 very important safety ideas. 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.520 Oh, I'm intrigued. Who is it? All right? 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:46.680 This one is Zukimi moriy So this is another one. 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.080 I'm fairly certain that I got to see this one 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:53.280 in the wild because we were in Osaka. That's where 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:55.640 this one is utilized. Osaka is a really fun city though, 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.080 but and we had a little harder time navigating ourselves 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.200 on the public transportation, so I wasn't as on the 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:06.160 ball about like getting pictures and chronicling him. But basically, 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:12.960 this is a large, slightly scary purple and pink creature 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:17.320 with a single glowing eye with a yellow pupil, and 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.760 he lives in the gap in the subway stations. 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:25.800 Oh my lord, Rob, I was trying to think, what 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.120 does he remind me of? And he looks like a 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.680 purple version of the monsters from the Green Slime. 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.000 He really does. Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a sense of 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.720 the Green Slime to him. If we were to see 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.240 him animated, I bet he would have some very Miyazaki 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.760 esque elements. He kind of reminds me of cat bus 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:47.120 a few times, but like a darkness cat bus. And 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.040 so his mission here is And there are a lot 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:55.880 of I think objectively cute signs warning people of all ages, 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.800 but especially children, about the dangers of closing doors and 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:04.320 the gap on Japanese trains and subways. So gaijen may 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.879 be more used to you know meor mind the gap 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.160 and watch for the closing doors announcements, but Japanese subway 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.640 and train systems are generally more proactive on this. Oftentimes 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.159 there are automatic gates in front of the gap that 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.879 help you know, that help make sure that people are 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.840 not getting too close, and then you have initiatives like this, 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:26.119 and uh yeah, I love him because Sukima Moury isn't 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.720 just a cute lax fellow to make you feel chill 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:32.720 about public transportation. He is very cute, but he could 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.680 also be mistaken for one of the darker pokemon, perhaps 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.720 you know some of the ghost types. But again, his 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.200 whole deal is about reminding you of the dangers of 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.640 the gap, so he needs to be a little bit scary, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.080 even if he is not malicious. Like I want to 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.479 be clear, Soukima Moury is not here to grab your 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.080 children and pull them into the gap. 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:54.960 I gotta say it looks like that in some of 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.320 the pictures you've supplied below, like he's peeking out below 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.000 the train with his like fingers ready as a child 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.480 is wandering by. It looks like he's going to snatch 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:05.560 the child, right. 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:07.840 This has led to some comparisons in the West to 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.400 Penny Wise, the dancing clown, you know, the lur king 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.720 and the sewer to pull children down. That is not 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.880 what Suki memory is about. Okay, he is here. He's friendly, 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:22.720 but he is scary because he is scaring you away 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.399 from the danger dangerous part of the train, or one 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.000 of the dangerous parts. Because again remember he is a 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:32.639 creature of the gap. His name quite literally means the gap, 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.200 get go. And he was created by j R. West Railways, 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.760 again largely to serve as a reminder for children and 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.840 adults and parents, kind of a nursery bogie, you know, 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.720 to scare kids away from from the danger zone. And 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.480 this was in response to apparently troubling stats at the 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.639 time about gap related accidents with kids. So you know, 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.520 there is a real reason to roll out this mascot. 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:01.760 It wasn't just situation where wouldn't it be cool if 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.080 we had a cute mascot. This again seemed to have 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:05.800 been a very mission first scenario. 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.359 We need a jinny green teeth of the subways exactly. 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.879 Yeah. He's also really down on cell phone use on 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:16.080 the train and on the move, especially among parents who 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.080 should be helping their kids navigate that gap, and you know, 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:22.399 not get a footstuck or anything. We're told that he 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.520 does love to dance, and I love this detail. He 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.520 sleeps among the many lost things in the gap, so 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.280 there are various images of him like sleeping around like 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:36.439 lost shoes and lost cell phones and so forth, like 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:38.760 sort of sleeping in the junk down there, his own 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.199 treasure trove. He loves declaires, So you know, you do 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:44.439 have some just sort of like neutral information about him, 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:45.720 and we can we can relate to that. 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.800 I guess, huh is that like a thing people drop 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:50.399 a Claire's through the gap? 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.480 I don't know. I mean maybe one person dropped in 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:55.120 a Claire and he was like, this is good. I'm 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:57.600 a fan. Now I wait other Eclaires to be dropped 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.480 into the gap. So again, it would be unfair to 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:05.080 classify Zukima Moury as a malevolent force, but he's at 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:09.080 least adjacent to dangerous realities and as such, you know, 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.440 he reminds me a bit of past discussions of things 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:15.159 like Jenny Green Teeth and indeed like the Kappa, you know, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:20.240 a superstitious, supernatural monster to warn people away from water 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.320 related dangers. And in this case it's it's subway oriented. 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.000 Yes, But though as soon as I said Jenny green 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.560 Teeth a few moments ago, I did realize, no, that's 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.880 still not quite right, because Jenny green Teeth does want 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.679 to snatch the children and Sukima Moury does not. 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.879 That's right. Yeah, The the the energy here seems to 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:41.080 be to amuse, to entertain, but also to be a 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:43.840 little bit scary, because he is a scary but cute 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:46.119 creature that comes from a place that you should be 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:48.840 more aware of and you should have a little more 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:52.040 uncertainty about, because it is like a dangerous in between 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.399 zone when boarding the train. So look him up. This 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.120 one's There are a lot of interesting posters and images 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:02.439 of this guy, and so interesting reactions to him. But 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.000 he's doing good work, so I applaud him. So say 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:09.119 we all all right now, this brings us to some 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:12.679 more cultural connections that we can make about our euro kiara. 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:17.640 So most cultures have their various mythological and folkloric creatures. 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:19.480 Obviously we talk about a lot of them on the show. 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.040 We're always trying to drag them in from different parts 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.080 of the world, and it is, but it is often 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:29.520 observed that Japanese culture offers a particularly powerful trifecta of 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:33.800 cultural influences that may help us understand some of the 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:38.000 energy underlying the appeal of their mascots, of their euro kiara. 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:41.080 You know, why are they such a big deal compared 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.359 to other parts of the world that also have cute, 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:47.560 you know, imaginary beings that may be invoked in various 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:51.320 ad campaigns and public awareness and typical mascot work and 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:55.159 so forth. And on one hand, that there is certainly 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:56.760 and this is you know, sit in a a lot 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.200 of sources we're looking at. There is the polytheist stick 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:05.560 nature of Japan's Shinto religion and the presence of supernatural 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:10.480 kami in all things in Shintoism. So this absolutely can't 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:14.920 be overlooked. You know, it's a traditional worldview in which 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.000 there are multiple supernatural agents of power, that can reside 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.359 in pretty much anything that's very sort of like fast 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.600 and loose. There's a lot more to Shintoism than that, 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:29.159 but basically, like in terms of like the key points 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:33.560 we might reference in understanding something as far far more 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.639 simple as Japanese mascots, essentially, you can look at that 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:42.560 Shintoism as one possible leg of understanding them culturally. Now, 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:44.720