#3559

“Promotion Daimyo Character” Ieyasu Kun Rallies for your Success in Hamamatsu City, Japan

"Just Try! Take the Challenge!" alive and well in Shizuoka, Japan

Festooned with Symbols of Success for Japan “Ieyasu Kun” will make you smile and help you feel you can do anything you set your mind to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlwK79Rl3io

His “Chon Mage” hair fashion says it all! Look closely at Ieyasu Kun’s head and you will see it is not a black hair knot typical of Samurai in Edo Japan…no it is an Unagi eel smiling happily atop his big round, wise-looking face.

In Japan, moving up or suddenly rising sales performance is sometimes termed “Unagi nobori” or the eel going upstream. Hamamatsu was the point of super promotion for Ieyasu Tokunaga who spent 17 years (from 1570 to 1586) as head of Hamamatsu Castle and then went on and up to unite the whole country under a single Bakufu rule for almost 260 years. A total of six high ranking members of the Bakufu came out of Hamamatsu and the area thrived as one of two major stops on Japan’s “silk road” termed the Tokaido 53 Tsugi.

Everyone will pass through Hamamatsu as they travel by train between Tokyo and Osaka and the city is easily identified by the expansive wetlands fertile for rice and other agricultural products and wide riverbeds for great fresh fish and Unagi eel. Fertile land and a mild climate year-round is one of the reasons my local friend describes an overriding positive view or spirit translated best “Let’s Try, Let’s Take the Challenge!”

Ieyasu Kun was born on the city’s 100th Anniversary on July 1, 2011 and he has been chosen as one of all Japan’s most loved regional characters in the Yurukyara Grand Prix.

His bright red boots symbolize how he gets excited when he hears the word “Matsuri” or festival and his Samurai attire represents the super success of his namesake in the Edo Bakufu. He will be in Trafalgar Square in London soon for the Japan Matsuri event trying to spread the great fun and welcoming spirit alive and well in Japan to the world.
http://japanmatsuri.com/2014/09/12/yurukyara-show-with-naomi-suzuki/

As with any good leader, he has stepped out of the National Mascot Competition running this year, opting to take back seat to his fellow Hamamatsu born mascot friend named Ecomaikuma- who is a homemaker with one child named Ecomaru. She raises awareness about how we can help save our environment through smarter use (and less use) of plastic bags. She wants to create a living environment where bears do not have to come down from their home mountain to find food. http://ameblo.jp/jinjin711/image-11412847683-12302578879.html

Ieyasu Kun is supporting this effort and putting all his clout behind Ecomaikuma for her message to spread far and wide. Great leadership Ieyasu Kun

If you can take a moment to get off the train in Hamamatsu City, don't forget to drop your business card off at the Station. There is a box near the information corner at the entrance to the Bullet Train where you can drop your card. Over 150 cards per month from across Japan are put in this box as a good luck wish for promotion and success back home. You never know, the promotion power of Ieyasu Kun and Hamamatsu City in general may rub off and you might find yourself movin’ on up just like one of the famously delicious eels in the crystal clear river nearby.

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Former Deep Japan Writer

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