What you should know about KUMAMON (+ my CRAZY Kumamon story) | Japan Station 188

On this episode of Japan Station, we talk all about Jaan's most famous "local mascot" Kumamon. We cover everything you should know about Kumamoto's most beloved bear. I also share an absolutely crazy story that happened to me when I went to see the Kumamon show in Kumamoto in the fall os 2025.

👉Topics Discussed

• About Kumamon
• How Kumamon was created
• The history of Kumamon
• Who created Kumamon
• How Kumamon used to look quite different when he was first unveiled
• How Kumamon's appearance changed
• About Kumamon's creepy appearance
• About the Osaka press conference that introduced Kumamon to the world
• How much money Kumamon has generated over the past 15 yeas
• What the name Kumamon means
• About yurukyara/local mascots
• About the unique free license system Kumamoto used to help popularize Kumamon
• What the name Kumamon means
• How Kumamoto police are using Warumon (a Kumamon knock off) to raise awareness of scams/crimes
• About the (almost) daily free Kumamon show iin Kumamoto at Kumamon Sqaure
• My absolutely insane Kumamon story
• And much more!

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👉Links, Videos, Etc.

Here is a screenshot of a photo of what the Kumamon suit looked like when it was first created. As you can see, the head appears to be mostly the same but the body is skinnier and has fur. The suit also appears to be baggier. As a result, this gives Kumamon a somewhat unsettling appearance. This image is from this Asahi Shinbun article.

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