Japan's Super Mascot Bear Earns Millions of Dollars

TOKYO, JAPAN – FEB. 29: Sales of various products featuring "Kumamon" black bear mascot, the official image character of western Japan Kumamoto Prefecture, surpassed 100 billion yen ($874 million) in 2015 for the first time, the prefectural government said on March 2. The figure represented the fifth straight year of record sales. The bear mascot was created in 2011 for the promotion of Kumamoto and the mascot has gained wide popularity in Japan and abroad. The full-body living doll bear is "employed" as an official clerk of the prefectural government. On Wednesday March 2 Kumamon visited Minister in charge of Regional Revitalization, Shigeru Ishiba, in Tokyo. Trains featuring the pictures of the mascot, sponsored by the governments of Kumamoto Prefecture and its capital Kumamoto City, are also running in Tokyo and neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture until late March.