On this episode of Japan Station, we talk all about Jaan's most famous "local mascot" Kumamon. We cover everything you should know about Kumamoto's most beloved bear. I also share an absolutely crazy story that happened to me when I went to see the Kumamon show in Kumamoto in the fall os 2025.

👉Topics Discussed

About Kumamon
How Kumamon was created
The history of Kumamon
Who created Kumamon
How Kumamon used to look quite different when he was first unveiled
How Kumamon's appearance changed
About Kumamon's creepy appearance
About the Osaka press conference that introduced Kumamon to the world
How much money Kumamon has generated over the past 15 yeas
What the name Kumamon means
About yurukyara/local mascots
About the unique free license system Kumamoto used to help popularize Kumamon
What the name Kumamon means
How Kumamoto police are using Warumon (a Kumamon knock off) to raise awareness of scams/crimes
About the (almost) daily free Kumamon show iin Kumamoto at Kumamon Sqaure
My absolutely insane Kumamon story
And much more!

👉Subscribe to the Podcast!

👉Support on Patreon & Ko-fi

Support for as little as $1 a month to get early access to episodes, ad free versions and occassional bonus content
- Support on Patreon https://patreon.com/japankyo
Support via a one time donation!

👉Affiliate Links

Use my Mobal affiliate link to get a 10% discount on their voice & data plan. Their voice & data plan is perfect for those who want a Japanese phone number while in Japan. Using this link gets you a discount and it provides me with a small commission which I use to fund JapanKyo.

Get 10% off of Mobal's Voice & Data plan: https://www.mobal.com/tonyjapan

👉Links, Videos, Etc.

Here is a screenshot of a photo of what the Kumamon suit looked like when it was first created. As you can see, the head appears to be mostly the same but the body is skinnier and has fur. The suit also appears to be baggier. As a result, this gives Kumamon a somewhat unsettling appearance. This image is from this Asahi Shinbun article.

👉Follow on Social Media

What you should know about KUMAMON (+ my CRAZY Kumamon story) | Japan Station 188