Manga characters for railway stations

Noichindonman

   Did you know that each station along the Gomen-Nahari line has its own manga character? Each character was designed byYanase Takashi – who is famous as the creator of Anpan-Man – and reflects something of the culture or produce of the area around the station. Let’s take a look at two characters that I find interesting. First is ‘Noichindonman’ at Noichi Station.

 

   Chindon is a traditional form of advertising, where a small group of performers dress up in colourful costumes, bang drums and cymbals, while walking around the town trying to drum up business for the local shops. Noichi is home to a Chindon Contest.

 

Wajiki Kappa-kun

   The character at the station in Geisei Village is called ‘Wajiki Kappa-kun’. A kappa is a mythical animal that lives in rivers, but the interesting thing is the reading of this station’s name. People from out of Kochi are likely to think this station is called washoku, or ‘Japanese Food’ Station! But actually it is read wajiki.

Taken from vol.30 PDF