From the Vault: Yuru-chara: Japanese Mascots, Part 2
Stuff To Blow Your Mind
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 5.9K Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this classic episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss Japan’s beloved yuru-chara, corporate and governmental mascots that are undeniably cute but with deeper connections to other aspects of Japanese culture. (originally published 7/11/2024)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:10.2 | Hello and welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. |
| 0:13.2 | My name is Joe McCormick. |
| 0:14.9 | Today is Saturday, so we're heading into the vault for an older episode of Stuff to Blow |
| 0:19.4 | Your Mind. |
| 0:20.0 | This one originally aired July 11th, |
| 0:23.2 | 2024, and it is part two of our series on the Yeru Kiara, Japanese mascots. Enjoy. |
| 0:33.3 | Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of IHeart Radio. |
| 0:43.1 | Thank you. Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of IHeart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb. |
| 0:47.2 | And I am Joe McCormick, and we're back with part two of our series on Yuru Chiarra, the lovable, wobbly mascot characters of Japan. |
| 0:56.8 | Now, if you haven't heard part one yet, you should go back and listen to that episode first. |
| 1:01.1 | And in that one, we talked about the origins of the Yuru Kira concept. |
| 1:05.7 | Rob shared some of his experiences with these characters on a recent trip to Japan. |
| 1:10.7 | And we talked about a couple |
| 1:12.1 | of our favorite examples, including the Kumamoto mascot, a real megastar called Kumaman, |
| 1:18.9 | which looks like a bear, but apparently is not a bear. You'll listen to the episode, |
| 1:24.6 | you'll understand. And then the more obscure park associated mascot, Haco, Gio. |
| 1:30.6 | And we're back today to talk about some more. |
| 1:33.0 | That's right. |
| 1:34.0 | Okay, so my last selection was more emotional than I guess, |
| 1:36.9 | substantially interesting to everybody. |
| 1:39.6 | But this next one, I think, is even more fascinating because it does include ties into mythology and architecture. |
... |
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