Course
Asian Studies Senior Thesis
Document Type
Student Paper
Publication Date
Spring 2017
Disciplines
Asian Studies | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | International Relations | Japanese Studies
Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement
The concept of yuru-kyara, a mascot character designed by towns and prefectures to boost tourism, has been a trend in Japan for two decades. Overtime Japanese police adopted the trend and created their own mascot characters to improve public relations. For the decade since the first police mascot was created only male police mascots were created and it was not until the late 90s early 2000s that female police mascots were being made. These female mascots were not original characters, but rather female counterparts of the already existing male police mascots. This paper explores the cultural, political, and social aspects of why this occurred and what it means for Japanese police departments going forward.
Augustana Digital Commons Citation
Meyers, Gage. "Hello Keikan-chan: The Implications of Female Japanese Police Mascots" (2017). Asian Studies: Student Scholarship & Creative Works.
https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/asiastudent/1
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, International Relations Commons, Japanese Studies Commons