Shiga pt. 6 Hikonyan (ひこにゃん) the castle's mascot

Going back to my blog last week about Hikone Castle.  I mentioned there was a big crowd gathered around the castle's base.  三ー四週末前けど、まだも一滋賀県の旅行のブログが有る！ひこにゃンを知っていますか？僕は彦根城へ行ったとき、面白物を見た：

I pushed forward to see what they were all trying to see,  to find this:

what the hell?  its a giant cat with a samurai battle helmet!

The truth is its the mascot for Hikone Castle, called Hikonyan.  Japanese people apparently love mascots and guys dressed in cutsie outfits ( look here if you don't believe me!) -- cities, companies, amusement parks, fairs, sports teams, shopping malls... you name it, I've seen it.

Hikonyan is quite popular, as you can see in this video,  he/she was surrounded by like 100 people w/ their cameras snapping away...  like some kind of fashion model or movie star posing before a crowd of press:

ひこにゃンは彦根市のマスコートです。彦根市中とても人気ですと思います！僕のビデオを見て！

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLyC92tb6ME&fmt=18

My friend was like "oh, Hikonyan! we are very lucky to see it!"   --  i did feel lucky! :-P

this thing is not just limited to a costume...  no,  Hikonyan is a fully developed piece of intellectual property:

Yes, get your Hikonyan stuffed animal before they sell out!  ;-)

they also had his picture on signs and banners hanging from light posts and at the train station...  crazy.

actually there is a huge number of hikonyan videos on youtube (like 100+!) 

here's just one:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbtgDKL-vpc crazy!　すごいよ！