The Mondo Mascots’ Biggest Fits

A woman with a “mischievous young bamboo whisk bathing” in her tea bowl head. “A hollow-eyed, booze-loving dog made of tofu.” A blob of melted cheese wearing a fedora and eating a slice of pizza, whom a friend once unironically referred to as “hot.” Yes, these characters are manifestations of the deepest parts of my psyche. They’re also actual Japanese mascots that Chris Carlier, a British writer and illustrator based in Tokyo, has been painstakingly chronicling on the account Mondo Mascots since 2016.

Mascot culture is huge in Japan, where there are adorable anthropomorphic symbols for everything from cities to schools to massive corporations. Per a CNN article on the craze, several mascots originated because smaller towns wanted to boost tourism. Crucially, they’re all expressions of “kawaii,” the national obsession with cuteness, which is taken to truly impressive lengths—check out this hybrid penguin-enema, for instance.

Though I’ve been following Mondo Mascots for the past few years, it wasn’t until I recently saw a photo of Suna Q—a finless porpoise dressed as a sea captain—that I realized how many of the mascots are impeccably dressed. (The others aren’t wearing any clothes.) “Sometimes they have an outfit that displays something from the town,” Carlier explained to GQ over Skype. “If there’s a town where they have a lot of squirrels there but it’s also known for apples, it’ll be a squirrel wearing an apple for a hat. If they want to add something to the mix, they sometimes have it as a fashion accessory.”

In light of that, here are the Mondo Mascots’ biggest fits.

Sanomaru

“That’s a samurai puppy and instead of samurai swords it’s got a couple of these potato skewers which are a local dish around Sano City,” Carlier said. “This one’s kind of a trendsetter because it’s got a bowl of noodles for a hat.”

Shinjo-kun

“This is another one with a bowl on its head. It’s an otter from Susaki city. He’s kind of kept the noodles in there so it’s made a blonde wig. There’s some vegetables and an egg too.”

Chiitan

“That one’s got a turtle for a hat. Chiitan has wardrobe malfunctions because the turtle falls off all the time,” Carlier explained. Chiitan is also on this list because he’s an influencer who loves drama: he’s known for feuding with John Oliver and was suspended from Twitter.

Bari-san

“It’s a giant chick that’s got a tiara in the shape of a local bridge from that character’s town. That’s from Imabari and that place is famous for towels, so this one has a sash around its waist which is made from the local towels. And there’s a little ship wallet, because it’s famous for ship-building as well.” A king who prioritizes accessorizing with local brands!

Black Bancho

The mascot for Itoigawa City, Black Bancho is a squid with a pompadour who styled himself in Bella Hadid’s tiny sunglasses and a school uniform with the collar popped. “That’s what juvenile delinquents used to wear in the 70s and 80s,” Carlier told me. Vintage bad boy...

Harajuku Miccolo

The bee mascot for Harajuku, Tokyo’s most fashion-forward district, Miccolo is seen wearing a bespoke raincoat here. “A lot of them don’t wear stuff but when it rains they put on customized raincoats in the shape of their bodies,” Carlier said.

Suna Q

Suna Q knows the importance of finding a good tailor.

Open-chan

7-Eleven’s “rainbow-headed magic dog from space” also got the big shorts memo.

Mori-ken

A dog dressed as a frog, which is perfectly on trend for mascots. “There’s a bunch where they’re an animal dressed as another animal. A lot of these animals have these kind of identity crisis,” Carlier told me. “There’s one which is a deer dressed as a more realistic deer.”

Ebinya

“Ebinya city farms strawberries and the name of the town sounds kind of like ‘shrimp’ so that’s why it’s got a shrimp,” Carlier explained of the color-coordinated shrimp hat-strawberry onesie look.

Gosshi

“It’s the mascot for Goryokaku castle,” Carlier said. “They’ve got koi carp in the moat around the castle and I think there were battles there in history and the mascot is a ghost of a dead soldier possessed by koi carp. For some reason it’s wearing stockings and high heels.” Sexy possessed carp, but make it fashion.

Shirasuu

Shirasuu, a small hip hop-loving fish, is airing out his summer whites. “In the summer they have all these beach bars there so there’s kind of a bit of a club crowd that go there. They play a lot of hip hop and reggae and I guess he’s a part of that scene,” Carlier said. “He’s a city kid who likes hitting the beach.”

Murapper

“Murapper is part of the same kind of scene.”

Coco Nee-san

There are only three words to describe the “hula-dancing, palm tree-haired fairy mascot of Hawaiians Spa Resort:” Hot girl summer.

Usuko

The “wine-loving mascot” of Urausu. Are those No. 6 clogs?

Hyakuman-san

“A floral-patterned traditional doll with a mustache” who serves as the mascot for Ishikawa Prefecture, or what happens when the Pringles guy goes to Online Ceramics. (When he was unveiled, he was criticized for being ugly, so you know he’s ahead of his time.)

Wakamushamaru

I’m pretty sure Jonah Hill has the exact look as this middle school’s “blushing dog with a tree vest and a ceramic bowl hat.”

Kobe Weston

Give Kobe Weston, the “cowboy pig” mascot for Kobe’s west side, his own “Old Town Road” remix.

Originally Appeared on GQ