Talking about Shiga Prefecture, Japan
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Hikone no Yoi Nyanko in Tokyo.
Hikone no Yoi-nyanko and Tanemaru at Yokohama Port Opening Expo.
Another snafu has erupted between the city of Hikone and Moheron (もへろん), the artist who created Hiko-nyan for Hikone Castle’s 400th anniversary celebration in 2007.
You might have noticed some Hiko-nyan merchandise being sold under the name “Hikone no Yoi Nyanko” (ひこねのよいにゃんこ). It looks exactly like Hiko-nyan, but under a different name and in poses different from what we usually see, and credited to Moheron.
In early Aug. 2009, I surprised to see my neighborhood convenience store in Tokyo selling Hikone no Yoi Nyanko dolls right next to the cash register, a very prominent place. (Photo above.) (But by late Aug., it was no longer there. They had either sold out or discontinued the product.) I also saw it sold together with Tanemaru, mascot character for the Yokohama Port’s 150th anniversary when I visited the port festival in Yokohama (photo above).
The city of Hikone has requested Moheron to stop marketing his Hiko-nyan lookalike. Copyright and trademark rights to Hiko-nyan had been obtained by the city, and Moheron was duly paid off (for a reported 1 million yen). Hiko-nyan was originally supposed to be used only for the castle’s celebration. However, Hiko-nyan has proved to be so popular nationally that Hikone decided to keep Hiko-nyan as its official mascot indefinitely. This upset Moheron who sought a court order in 2007 to stop Hikone from continuing to use Hiko-nyan. Both sides then reached an agreement where the city would be allowed to keep using Hiko-nyan as its mascot in three standard poses, while Moheron would be allowed to continue publishing his Hikone no Yoi Nyanko picture books for children. (Not sure if Moheron is male or female.)
But in the eyes of Hikone, Moheron has stepped out of bounds by starting to sell dolls and other souvenirs other than books. On Aug. 10, 2009, the city of Hikone issued a request to Osaka-based Moheron to stop sales of his Hiko-nyan lookalikes (other than the picture books), citing copyright and trademark infringement. He defiantly replied that it was possible for the same character to exist under two different names. Moheron claims that Hikone’s rights to Hiko-nyan are limited to the three original poses (showing Hiko-nyan jumping, sitting, and drawing a sword) adopted for the 400th castle celebration, and that he is freely allowed to create and market other poses of Hiko-nyan.
In late July 2009, the city requested local shops in Hikone to stop selling Moheron’s lookalike goods other than the picture books. But the shops did not comply (especially those in the Yonbancho Square shopping mall), citing that sales were good.
On Aug. 13, 2009, the Yonbancho Square shopping mall in Hikone, where both Hiko-nyan and Hikone no Yoi Nyanko goods are sold, distributed a flyer in the morning edition of major newspapers (circulation 60,000). It essentially said, “Please allow Hiko-nyan and Hikone no Yoi Nyanko to get along!” Yonbancho Square is actually a third-sector project, run as a joint venture by the city of Hikone and private companies. Hikone owns about 40% of the mall’s stock. The city’s own little baby rejected requests to stop selling Moheron’s goods. This embarrassment has prompted three city officials serving on the mall’s board of directors to resign, including a Vice-Mayor who served as Vice-President of the mall.
Everyone calls it “Hiko-nyan,” and I don’t see anyone (except Moheron) calling it anything else. You cannot call the same character two different names unless one is for Japan and the other is for overseas markets. Hikone does have the upper hand since they own the “Hiko-nyan” name (created by a naming contest) and everyone knows the name. Hikone no Yoi Nyanko is just too long as a name. (More apt as a picture book title which it is.) But Moheron is showing strong marketing skills with a national presence.
Hikone will either have to take Moheron to court or hope that the Hiko-nyan “imposter” will fizzle out naturally when people recognize that it’s not the original Hiko-nyan. It might be best to let the buying public decide whether they want only the real Hiko-nyan or both the real and “imitation” one.
*Hiko-nyan was created as the official mascot for the 400th anniversary celebration of Hikone Castle held in 2007. The city of Hikone accepted mascot proposals from professional illustrators and selected Moheron’s entry which was called “Kabuto-neko” (Helmeted Cat). The name “Hiko-nyan” was decided following a nationwide calling for a mascot name, and “Hiko-nyan” was selected.
During this rainy season, I’m staying at home to sort through the thousands of photos I took in Shiga during spring. Here are a few more festivals in Shiga which I photographed during spring.
Sanno Matsuri held by Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu (Part 1 and 2):
Sanno Matsuri photos: Sanno-sai Festival 山王祭
Minakuchi Hikiyama Matsuri is a festival of floats paraded during April 19-20:
Minakuchi Hikiyama Matsuri photos here.
Kenketo Matsuri in Ryuo (Photos here):
Naginata Odori in Moriyama (Photos here):
Taga Matsuri (Photos here):
I have more spring festivals to show and a full update will be posted soon on my home page (shiga-ken.com).
Hiko-nyan (file photo)
Hikone’s official mascot Hiko-nyan will be off to Honolulu, Hawaii this weekend during June 5-7, 2009 to appear in the 30th Pan-Pacific Festival (also called “Matsuri in Hawaii”). This festival celebrates and promotes relations between Hawaii and mainly Japan. Numerous events are held during the weekend with hula dancing, arts and crafts fair, stage performances, concerts, parties, and the grand Pan-Pacific Parade on June 7, 2009 from 5 pm to 7 pm along Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki.
Hiko-nyan will appear in the Pan-Pacific Parade on June 7. It will be his first overseas trip, and a great opportunity to promote Shiga in Hawaii.
If you’re in Hawaii and can see the parade, please take pictures of Hiko-nyan send it to me.
More info and a map of the parade route at the official Web site:
http://www.pan-pacific-festival.com/E_Parade.aspx
A highly unusual auction occurred last month when Enman-in temple (圓満院) in Otsu went on the auction block held by the Otsu District Court. It went to the highest bidder for 1.07 billion yen on May 26, 2009. The winning bidder is a religious group in Koka, Shiga. The name of the group was not revealed. (I hope it’s not some weird cult.)
What makes this highly unusual is that the temple includes a Japanese garden and Shinden hall designated as Important Cultural Properties. The temple was established in the 12th century. The Shinden hall was moved from the Kyoto Imperial Palace in 1647.
The temple has had major financial problems with its cemetery business. The temple did go to the auction block twice before, but the winning bidder failed to come up with the money both times. Let’s see if this time the sale will go through. I’d like to know who bid. The only religious group I know in Koka who could afford it would be the one operating Miho Museum. Well, it certainly gives us an idea of how much an Important Cultural Property is worth. I wonder how much it would be if it were a National Treasure.
Well, if or when this temple is open to the public, I will visit it and upload photos here.
Japan Times article here:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090602a5.html
From June 2 to late Oct. 2009, Nagahama will host about 7,500 fifth graders from 147 elementary schools in Shiga for rowing lessons as part of the Lake Biwa hands-on experience program (体験学習). This is the first time rowing has been added to the program.
They are using a 5-meter boat seating 8 people to row off the shore of Nagahama. On June 2, the first day, 160 students from four schools rowed while trying to coordinate their rowing timing.
I think they should also start singing Biwako Shuko no Uta (Lake Biwa Rowing Song) either during or after the rowing.
The news about Shiga which I present here are gleaned from various Japanese sources. When I’m in Shiga, I always try to watch NHK TV news at 6:10 pm on weekdays which is when the local station in Otsu broadcasts Shiga news. I also check for Shiga news online issued by major newspapers like Asahi Shimbun, Kyoto Shimbun, and Chunichi Shimbun. (I’m bilingual enough to read a Japanese newspaper.)
I wish I could add the link to the original Japanese news article for my news entries, but those links usually disappear after a month or so. (In the case of NHK, it disappears the next day.)
Here are a few links to Shiga news online in Japanese:
NHK TV Shiga
http://www.nhk.or.jp/otsu/lnews/
(The news changes daily.)
Asahi Shimbun Shiga news
http://mytown.asahi.com/shiga/newslist.php?d_id=2600000
Chunichi Shimbun Shiga news
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/shiga/
Kyoto Shimbun
http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/index_shg.php
Renovation of the old Toyosato Elementary School (豊郷小学校), housed in a building designed by William Merrell Vories in 1937, has been completed and a ceremony was held on May 30, 2009 to mark its completion.
At a total cost of 650 million yen, the old building was repainted, reinforced against earthquakes, installed with an elevator, and preserved as much as possible.
The three-story building’s first floor has a public library and small play area for infants. The second floor with classrooms is preserved as it was originally. The old library next to the main building will be used a gallery.
During 1999-2002, Toyosato gained national attention when this old elementary school building was going to be torn down by the mayor in opposition to activists who wanted to preserve the building.
On May 27, 2009, the swine flu was found to hit a third person in Shiga, a 36-year-old male company worker who works in Kyoto and lives in Otsu. He has a wife and child who so far shows no signs of the flu.
Shiga is no longer taking drastic precautions against the swine flu, as the spread seems to have subsided and flu patients have been recovering well. Much fewer people are also wearing surgical masks on trains, etc. The period of panic and paranoia is passing.
Schools in Shiga reopened on May 27 as scheduled.
Meanwhile, hotels, ryokan inns, and other tourism-related businesses in Shiga and Kyoto have been hit hard by numerous school trip cancellations. As of May 23, about 63,000 visitors canceled trips to Shiga. This translates to a loss of about 1.2 billion yen (1,200,000,000) in business. Businesses are seeking financial help from the prefectural government.
All prefectural public schools which have been closed due to the swine flu scare will reopen for classes on May 27 (Wed.). Nursery, elementary, and junior high schools in the six southern cities centering on Otsu will also reopen on the 27th.
That is, if the swine flu does not further spread in Shiga.
On the morning of May 20, 2009, Shiga’s first case of swine flu has been confirmed. A 23-year-old male student at the Biwako-Kusatsu campus of Ritsumeikan University has been confirmed as the first patient. His symptoms are not serious and will be hospitalized. None of the swine flu cases in Japan have proved to be fatal. It seems to be similar to seasonal flu.
The student lives in Otsu and was visiting his parents’ home in Kobe during May 15-18. In Kobe, he worked part-time at a fast-food place where a high school student also working there was later diagnosed with swine flu.
He attended university classes in Kusatsu on the 18th. They are now contacting his classmates who had classes with him at the university.
Ritsumeikan University and most of Shiga’s public schools (especially in Shiga’s six southern cities) will be closed for seven days starting today. Many public and sports events have also been cancelled. Shiga is Japan’s third prefecture hit with swine flu.
School trips to Shiga are being canceled one after another. One school switched its trip from Shiga to Kyoto which I cannot understand. Matter of time before Kyoto gets it too.
Watch all the surgical masks sell out in Shiga from today.
Due to the spread of swine flu, the Shiga Prefectural Board of Education has decided to cancel all high school student exchange trips to sister cities in Michigan, USA. Some 20 students from Michigan were scheduled to visit Shiga next month for home-stay visits, and 20 students from Shiga were to visit Michigan in Sept. 2009.
Earlier, eight junior high school students from Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA postponed their trip to Omi-Hachiman scheduled for May 8-16, 2009. Due to fears of swine flu, the Grand Rapids people decided to postpone the homestay trip. As part of their sister-city relationship, Grand Rapids and Omi-Hachiman have been sending students to each other for homestay visits.
It is very unfortunate these trips had to be canceled. I’m sure the students are all very disappointed. Taking overseas trips during the formative years of high school brings much mutual unerstanding and experiences, besides lasting memories. Hope they will somehow eventually make the trip somehow, someday soon.
The new Mandala is in this Kongorinji Hondo Hall (National Treasure).
Kongorinji temple (金剛輪寺), one of the Koto Sanzan temple trio of Tendai Buddhist temples (National Treasures) in eastern Shiga, lost its precious Mandala about 140 years ago during the Meiji Era (it is now owned by Nezu Art Museum in Tokyo and designated as an Important Cultural Property). They tried to get it back from the museum but to no avail.
So in April 2005, they set out to create a duplicate Mandala and it was recently completed after four years of painstaking art work. A service was held on May 10, 2009 at the temple to transfer a spirit to the Mandala and to install it in the temple. The service was officiated by the 91-year-old Tendai Zasu abbot (the sect’s top priest) as well. The Mandala, called Kongokai Hachiju-isson Mandala (金剛界八十一尊曼荼羅), is now open for public viewing in the temple’s Hondo hall until May 31, 2009. Public viewings of the Mandala will be held only once a year.
Buddhist art lovers will marvel at the Mandala’s depiction of 81 buddhas in the cosmos, with natural pigments brought in from China. Kamakura-Era techniques for the pigments and silk were used to create the 2-meter square painting on silk. The silk came from silkworms (in Ehime Pref. 愛媛県西予市) still creating the old type of silk used during the Kamakura Period. The pigments were also from crushed natural minerals like cinnabar for red, azurite for blue, and malachite for green. The Mandala cost about 30 million yen to make, made possible through the donations of almost 2,000 people.
*The temple is accessible by bus on weekdays from JR Inae Station on the Biwako/Tokaido Line. Buses leave at 9:17, 11:32, and 15:00. Buses do not run on weekends.
http://kongourinji.jp/image/flyer_090510.pdf
Kongorinji Web site: http://kongourinji.jp/
I’ve been informed that Aisho town in eastern Shiga will form the Aisho International Association in April 2010 and preparations are currently underway.
They have an interim Web site here:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/aishointernational
Email address: aishointernational@yahoo.co.jp
On March 29, 2009, I saw the Saio Princess Procession in Tsuchiyama (あいの土山斎王群行). It was very nice. The Saio princess was an unmarried, young Imperial princess, often the Emperor’s daughter, who was appointed (by divination) to be the High Priestess of Ise Grand Shrines in Mie Prefecture from the 7th to 14th centuries. Whenever there was a new emperor, there would be a new Saio princess appointed. She would travel in a procession from Kyoto to Ise, taking 5 nights and 6 days. She lodged in a special temporary palace (disassembled after she lodged in it) called the Tongu, and one Tongu was in Tsuchiyama. So this festival reenacts this procession. It’s also a continuation of Kyoto’s famous Aoi Matsuri.
I shot both video and stills:
