Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Japanese Superhero goes from Fighting Villains to Promoting Tourism

Iwaki's local hero Jangara (Photo by Takemichi Nishibori)

Jangara, the local superhero of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, has had to switch from fighting costumed villains to the fear that the area is unsafe to visit after the earthquake and tsunami disaster that triggered meltdowns at the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March last year.
The Jangara character was first introduced in autumn 2010 amid a nationwide boom for community-based superhero characters, but his show was stopped after the disaster, officials saying the character was "suffering" from a few injuries in the catastrophe, before restarting this October.

Jangara's costume reflects the traditional Jangara Nenbutsu Odori (Jangara Buddhist prayer-chanting dance), a set of long "tasuki" sashes trail from his shoulders, and his mask was inspired by the head of a coelacanth, a fish that was long thought extinct, from the city's Aquamarine Fukushima aquarium. His emblem is a stylized い, the first hiragana character for Iwaki (いわき市) to let people know where he`s from.
Jangara appears at local events for children to confront the masked villains, Deresuke (a sloppy person in the dialect of Iwaki) and Horosuke (a fool), and discipline them, and since his comeback has appeared on television and around Japan to promote not just his original mission to deliver "dreams and courage" to people, but also to "spread the word that Iwaki is a vibrant and fun place".
"The worst enemy now is Fuhyo (negative reputation)," Jangara says, "It will likely be a long battle, but I won't lose."
You can read more about Jangara here,

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