Creating mascots is a national pastime in Japan, so much so that there is a catalogue of thousands of characters. Meet some that champion tea.

Yuru-chara, a portmanteau of yurui (laidback) + character, is the Japanese word for mascots that represent a place, event or organisation. Three key features of yuru-chara are that they must convey a strong message of love for one’s hometown; they must move or behave in a unique and awkward manner; and they are laidback and lovable. Unlike their more sophisticated cousins, such as mascots for sporting teams, corporations or government, or the commercial likes of Hello Kitty, the charm of yuru-chara is in their amateurish nature.

The proliferation of yuru-chara is a fairly recent phenomenon, only a couple of decades old, but its popularity has been linked to Japan’s polytheistic cultural roots and the pantheon of yokai (spirits) in folklore.

The main purpose of yuru-chara is to boost awareness of a place, event or organisation, and many towns use their mascots in marketing material and merchandise. Each character embodies some aspect of the thing it promotes. As Japan is a nation with many tea-producing areas, it’s no surprise that there are plenty of tea-themed yuru-chara. Here are just four of perhaps dozens.

Matcha Prince of Uji

Uji is the ‘capital’ of matcha and the ruling mascot here is the Matcha Prince, the 88th prince of Chacha Kingdom. His crown resembles a matcha whisk and his mantle has the character 茶 (tea) embroidered on it. His dummy tastes like green tea and his favourite food is matcha ice-cream. Despite being a baby, he is a tea sommelier.

Chacha-chan

Also a mascot from Kyoto prefecture is the tea girl Chacha-chan from Wazuka. She’s dressed in a traditional tea-picker’s outfit and also carries a basket, just like an historic tea-picker. With a plodding gait and fingerless hands she doesn’t get much tea-picking done, so good thing her main job is to promote Wazuka and its tea.

Yamechamaru

Born in 2007 to the Fukuoka Prefecture Tea Industry Promotion Council, Yamechamaru is a mascot the colour of tea leaves with a teapot head. Yame is another key tea-growing area of Japan, and the yuru-chara was designed to embody the slogan ‘Yame tea from Fukuoka has a great colour, great taste and great aroma’.

Ocha-murai

Although Kagoshima is a lesser known tea-growing region, it does have a reputation for its strong samurai class (see: Satsuma Rebellion). Combined, this brings us Ocha-murai, the tea samurai who was born on a tea plantation on October 8 (because the character for tea 茶 looks like 108). His hairstyle may be samurai-like, but his headpiece is tea leaves.

This article originally appeared in AUSTCS enews 14 October 2024.