Design
Meet the Fearsome Imaginary Monsters of Japan
There’s one for every prefecture.
An online crowdfunding contest is giving Japanophiles an opportunity to vote for their favorite “local monster.” Japanese municipal mascots may be no more, but the “Gotuchi Kaiju” characters and toys were created to represent the regions from whence they came. There’s one for each of the country’s prefectures.
These local monsters are working for a nice cause: the environment. The Japan Times reports that the monster with the most online votes come December 18 will win money for green causes for his or her prefectures. The winning monster will also be used in a video game.