One of the things I'm really interested in
Is Ja-
We're going to get run over!!
One of the things I'm really interested in
Is Japan & it's culture of cute
As a designer
I love designing cute characters
I love how you can spot them everywhere in Japan
Now we all know
Japan is the home of kawaii
But despite all the "crazy Japan" things
You see online
It is very much a normal place
Where people live their everyday lives
Godzilla isn't roaming the streets
It's not anime everywhere
And not everything is kawaii
But I do think there is a lot of cute
I'm going to take you around with me
We're going to spot
All the cute characters we see
On things like signs
Or on the train
Or on leaflets
Places you wouldn't expect them to be
Like on logos for companies
And things like that
And we're going to see
If Japan really does have a culture of cute
Today we're in Ueno
In Tokyo
Which is kind of an everyday place
It's not like Harajuku or somewhere
That's particularly known for being kawaii
If you want to see more of Tokyo
There's new Japan videos every Thursday
If you want to subscribe
Here's the first one in my character hunt
This is a map of Ueno Park
In the corner
There's this little... looks like a sakura - cherry blossom mascot
I wonder if that's the mascot of the park
It says "PR Character"
Uenon
I wonder if that's her name
Uenon
Here's the Ueno mascot again
It's on a sign on the floor
Telling you which way to go
For this cute character hunt
I'm only including characters
That you spot on things in everyday life
And we're not going to make it too easy
By going to Akihabara
Or somewhere where there's loads of characters anyway
This is about cute characters
Where you wouldn't normally expect them to be
Here's a cute squid
On this ikayaki food stall
I wonder if it's closed because of the rain
Or if it was part of a cherry blossom festival
That's finished now
No squid today!
We're at a shrine
In Ueno Park
They're doing a bit of construction work
On the cones
There's a little character on there
Also a whole character for the no entry sign
Not just a little silhouette
Or a symbol
It's a whole cartoon
Just here on the vending machine
I've spotted this strange vending machine character
He's very muscly!
Why's his heart beating like that?!
He's shooting the cans out of himself
I'm not sure what this means
It just says "Get"
And also on this vending machine
We've got some foreign language guidance
Do you want a male or female voice?
Wow!
That's advanced!
It's quiet
I'm assuming it said put money in
"Give me your money"
Oh what do I want?!
If you like cute things
That's what I do!
I design t-shirts
Cute dresses
Hoodies
Cushions
And you can get all of these
On cakeswithfaces.co.uk
There's shipping to any country in the world
Here on the ground there's a no smoking sign
With a cigarette character
He looks kind of depressed!
Do not smoke while walking
Just spotted a penguin
On this kakigori sign
He's got himself a bowl of kakigori
You see these flags around quite a bit as signs
Waving in the breeze
Down here there's this depressed cigarette as well
And there's another mascot who's joined him
"Prohibit barker"
No selling things on the street
See that's Bandai
I wonder if that's one of their characters?
I don't recognise him
But I'm sure they've got loads of characters I don't know
On this shop sign
There's this cute little guy
WIth a lock of hair
Giving us a wave
It says Sweets Outlet
Some sort of sweet shop
The next one's just here behind me
On this bus stop
I've seen this one before
I think he's so cute
It's a mascot for the Tokyo Bus Service
He should be on more things
Very cute!
Last week when we went to Fukuoka
We went to the Fukuoka Tower
Like a lot of places in Japan
It's got a character mascot
When we went into the foyer
They had a guy dressed up in the mascot outfit
Which is a pretty common thing
So we just decided to look up
And see if the Shard in London
Has a mascot
And it turns out it does!
I never knew that
You never see it anywhere!
And it's a fox
Because -
Apparently they found a fox living in the Shard
On the top floor
I don't know if it was during construction or not
But still-
A fox living like -
How did it get up there?!
Top the skyscraper, just chilling out up there
So they have...
I don't know if it's the official mascot of the Shard
Or of the hotel within it
I thin kit's called the Shangri-La Hotel
But that is actually quite a cute mascot
You never see that anywhere though
I've been to the Shard & I didn't see any sign of it
By contrast, that's Fukuoka's mascot
He's a very happy chap, isn't he
He was!
Very cheerful!
And if you're interested in Japanese character mascots
You should definitely follow Mondo Mascots on Twitter
He's an English man who lives in Japan
He's always tweeting pictures
Of character mascots
He goes to places where you can find them & takes pictures
And posts them, it's very entertaining
This is on the door of an izakaya
There's this little guy
Pointing at the door
I think he's saying something about watch out for the doors
I can't read that sign so I'm not sure
They've also got a panda on their sign
There's a lot of pandas around this area
In Uneo
Because of the panda they have at the zoo
Here, this is an estate agents
Look at how they put the floor plans of the apartments outside
For you to have a look at, that's useful
And the logo on the door
Has a house giving you a cheeky wink!
This is one you might have seen before
It's a logo for a delivery company in Japan
It's so cute with the cat holding its baby!
Here's a sign for a gelato shop
Gelato Mamma Mia
It's not just a scoop of ice cream - it's a cute one with a face!
And below that -
This little kid's dropped his ice cream
He looks weird!
I recognise this guy!
I've seen him before
I wonder who he is
There's a family all roped together
We're at the entrance to Ameyokocho
It's a famous street in Ueno
There's pandas again on the sign
Always the pandas
So many pandas around here
Look there's one on the sign on this phone shop as well
We're at the station
Here's a cute sign for the priority seats
These little guys are on the train
To warn you about getting stuck in the doors
Heart-breakingly cute!
We're just outside a Post Office, I think
There's a noticeboard
With some cute characters on it
Look at this kangaroo!
They're on the poster as well
Here's some more character mascots
I'm not sure what they're for - the JP Post
And some other delivery service maybe
Look they even have a plushie version of the kangaroo as well!
We're in Asakusa now
Just on the side of this building
Is a big poster
With a cute kappa
That's a sort of monster in Japanese mythology
Finally here's some characters I spotted at the airport
At the Animal Quarantine Service
So what do you think
About Japan's culture of cute?
Let me know in the comments
And you can send me all your pictures
Of cute characters you've spotted
On Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
I'm Cakes with Faces on all of them
And I'll see you next week
On Thursday