Characters (line drawings, not humans) are everywhere in Japan. They've been around for a long time - artists like Kuniyoshi used to put crazy animals in his drawings to get around censors:
More recently, they've been redone to be more kawaii , a term that loosely translates as 'cute'.
Needless to say, the Japanese never use a picture or words where a cute character could be placed instead.
Here are a couple of government posters:
This also goes for products as well:
There are also many products that are sold on the basis of an anthropomorphized character. This one's roach-be-gone:
Orange juice:
While we're at it, why not make construction site pylons into cute characters too?
Every single instructional sign should include at least one cute character if at all possible:
This one's just baffling:
Cops have pretty characters for their dogs:
And even your local bus has a character:
Hell, you want some pork for dinner? How about this cute and tasty little guy?
In fact, tonight when I sleep I think I'll be dreaming of characters. Maybe one of the ones from this crazy wall outside the Takadanobaba subway station:
