Tamba Tourist Board

Today was the last day of school with the kids, and I want to make a big post about the school, but I'm off to Osaka in half an hour to hear Theo Parrish DJ at Grand Cafe! Woo. So don't have time. But I'll start off with this that I meant to post a couple of weeks back but kept forgetting.

As a final fun project for my Sogo Eigo class, I had them make tourism pamphlets about the town. Just simple things, creating a slogan, information about where is a nice area, what to see and what you can do here etc. (In fact one of the students wrote about Miwakare Park which I had never heard of the week before I went.) Anyway they seemed to enjoy it, but the bit they enjoyed most was designing a mascot for the town. We had a little brainstorm in English about what makes a good character, then they all got really into this (including taking it home to finish, which they NEVER do) and got really creative. I present sogo eigo's characters (and also the slogans they wrote for the town) along with the little introductions they wrote for them:

Let's Go Hikami with Sou Chan!

SOU CHAN
He is very busy. He is always running. His name is Sou-chan. He is researching more things about Hikami. He has girl friend and rival. His girl friend call Ayumi chan. His rival call Skipkun. His pet call Jagapet. Jagapet is alien.

Sou chan was far and away the best. And the girls decided to draw the other characters on the back of their pamphlet too. They gave me the pamphlet, and also therefore I assume all the rights to the character. I hope one day to become rich off the back of Sou chan merchandising.

Aogaki: The Konnyaku Is Waiting!


KONNYAKUN (a play on Konnyaku, the food, and Kun, the suffix for young boys)
His eyes made from diamond.
His hobby is dance. His body is soft, but he gets angry when touch. Please be careful.

Konnyakun is awesome. I would like to draw your attention to the small konnyakun in the top right poking his head around the corner. On the other pages of the pamphlet, around the town information and places to see, they drew loads of little konnkyakuns poking out from various places.

Hikami: Frank Town, Come Down

Balloon Chan.
This is Yume Town balloon everyday look to Hikami Town. Name is "balloon chan". This is from "Jamaica". He is afraid of high places. In child hood he was picked up in slum.

I feel Balloon Chan, while not the most visually pleasing character, is a complex creature, with a difficult back story and a fear which is kind of inconvenient given his occupation.

Aogaki - Environment No. 1

He is mountain. The tree is old brother. He makes clean air at town. His hobby is look at stars.

This one was just too cute. The tree on his head is his brother.

Let's Go Tanba! Let's Go Tanbo!

TANBO BROTHERS (means rice field brothers)
Taue man plant is Nae. Taue man will die without water. Inekari man cut is Ine. In winter is sleeping. Tanbo rhythm [musical note] tanbo rhythm [musical note]

These characters are great. There should be a company making Sou Chan and Konnyakun goods seriously. I'll leave you with another picture of Sou Chan.