The "lad" is Buddha (hence his style of clothing), a reference to the daibutsu or giant Buddha in the temple, Tōdaiji. So really it's a combination of two things Nara is famous for. And I'm sure there's an element of kawaii intended.
He's more controversial than I was aware of though. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2074689/Manto-kun-the-blob-takes-on-Sento-kun-the-Buddha-boy-in-Nara-mascot-battle.html Eric On 4 June 2015 at 17:26, Daniel J. Matyola <[email protected]> wrote: > I'me certain you are correct, Eric. The display next to the lad had > railroad brochures, but other than the word "railroad" I could not > discern any meaning in them. Nara is the most popular day trip from > Kyoto, and we considered going there but ran out of time. > > Why not a deer for a mascot, instead of a boy with deer antlers? I > guess that would not be "kawaii" enough. > > Dan Matyola > http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola > > > On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 11:19 AM, Eric Featherstone > <[email protected]> wrote: >> On 4 June 2015 at 15:35, Daniel J. Matyola <[email protected]> wrote: >>> This was in the lobby of our hotel in Kyoto. >>> Some things in Japan simply defy explanation: >>> http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18033024&size=md >>> K-5 II S, DA 18-135 zoom >>> Comments are invited. >> >> Nice. >> >> It's sento-kun, the city mascot of the ancient captial Nara, about >> half an hour south of Kyoto. Nara being famous for its deer, hence the >> antlers. It seems to be an advertising campaign to get tourists to go >> there. >> >> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sento-kun&tbm=isch >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sento-kun >> >> There are odder mascots; Funabashi (Chiba prefecture nr Tokyo) has a >> banana called Funasshi. >> http://www.japancrush.com/2013/pictures/unofficial-mascot-funasshii-elected-as-japans-no-1-mascot.html >> >> -- >> Eric >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- Eric -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
