แนวคิดการออกแบบมาสคอตประจำเมืองเพื่อส่งเสริมภาพลักษณ์ การท่องเที่ยวของญี่ปุ่น

Abstract

We probably cannot deny that Japan is a small city that is very attractive in art, cultures, nature, people and technologies. Perhaps it is because the population of Japan are quality, well-educated, well-behave or others. But how many people will understand the forms of attraction that conceal in tourists unexpectedly, such as a variety of mascots.

 The design of mascots in Japan is considered as a main strategy to promote the image of tourism that has been being practiced for a long time. It is a presentation of viewpoints against good stuffs and highlights of each province to be known by using anime characters or mascots which represent unique and medium with perfect features. For example, if the city looks ancient, a mascot may be designed to look solemn with stories and academic matters, etc. Japan does not create mascots of the city to stand for selling products like doing in Thailand and do not shout to persuade tourists to come visit their city. Conversely, they will have clever strategies to attract tourists or nearby provinces to be interested and would like to visit Japan as will be discussed in the following article.

The author would like to represent the study from documents and resources in order to: 1) Describe the history and the importance of designing mascots for Japan tourism 2) Describe a case study of ‘Kumamon Bear Mascot for Promoting Image of Tourism’ 3) Describe the strategies that contribute to success in the use of mascots.