Manga sales might be falling, but manga and anime as well as cute mascot characters permeate Japanese society. The new virtual koban "Keisatsucho Fureai Koban," launched this month by the National Police Agency, has its mascot character "K-ta-kun" answering common questions.
On Oct. 28 the official character was announced for the Sky Tree tower (opening in spring 2012). "Sorakara-chan" has her own blog, and on Nov. 1 she performed her first official duties — at an event for the Sky Tree New Year's postcards being issued this year by the post office.
Local merchants in the area had already created their own mascot character, "Oshinari-kun." And this month a merchant association in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward is celebrating the 35th anniversary of a manga set at a police station in the ward by holding a look-alike contest for the main characters.