Musubin, the Health-Advocate Cute Cartoon Character in Fuji City, in Japan

Musubin Is the Character for Fuji City

One of the things I love about Japan is the cute Yuru Kyara characters they have for so many cities. Almost every city in Japan is adopting the Yuru Kyara promotion plan to publicize what is special and unique about their City or maybe to raise awareness about something the citizens of that area value.

So today I would like to introduce you to Musubin who is the Yuru Kyara for Fuji City in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Here is Musubin being cheered towards the All-Japan Contest. Go Musubin!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpbarpu1UFs&list=UUo8Lww1fcj-g87cpydueCIA

Known for offering the Fujinomiya Route up Mt. Fuji (there are actually four routes for climbing the mountain) the City is super busy from July 1 to August 31 when the Mountain opens up for climbers. If you go up the Fujinomiya ascent it will take five hours to go up and 2.5 hours to get down.

Here is some info on the mountain for you:
http://www.fujisan-kkb.jp/english/index.html

Well, with that kind of walking, what do you need? FOOD!! Particularly, if you need food in Japan…the basic food is RICE! Welcome Musubin, the character of Fuji City. Created after a citizen contest focused on developing a good and healthy food education culture in the City, the idea for Musubin took the prize.

http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/yuru_character/imgs/b/b/bbec6ac8.png

Combining an iconic image of a Musubi rice ball that conjurs up nostalgic feelings of comfort food (the musubi is something a loving parent will make a child for field trip lunch boxes, or snacks after school) and healthy carbos to produce good energy and good growth with the image of Mt. Fuji, the character represents Fuji City at country-wide events and celebrations.

Vital statistics on Musubin are:
He is a boy. His birthday is Feb. 23, 2010. He is from Fuji City. He is about 1.8 meters tall. He weighs 70 kg. and his hobby is to make O-musubi in the shape of Mt. Fuji. The bite taken from the upper right of Musubin represents the largest volcanic vent on Mt. Fuji called Hoei which can be viewed clearly from Fuji City.

Musubin ranked 367 out of 1245 entrants at the recent all-Japan Yuru Kyara contest and we are hoping that this cute little musubi will move up in rankings as time goes by. Funasshi who is the unofficial mascot of Funabashi City is kind of the Elvis Presley of Yuru Kyaras in Japan with his funny moves and happy style. At the moment, and in the minds of most Japanese and in terms of marketing results, Funasshi is the one to beat. We will keep you posted about how the rankings change with breaking Yuru Kyara news here on Deep Japan. Stay tuned.