Kawaii Domo-kun 1
Posted by: kirin on 
Nov 29th, 2010 | 
Filed under: Tokyo Kawaii TVKawaii Domo-kun
11/APR/2010 on air
Tokyo Kawaii TV has learned that Madonna loves Japanese kawaii from its exclusive interview with her!
Taylor Swift likes deco. Che’Nelle loves Domo-kun.
Speaking of Domo-kun, it’s been 11 years since he was born. Domo-kun has been so popular in the U.S. At a toy store in New York, for example, Domo-kun is the most popular character. Surprisingly, Domo-kun is used as an icon of a major convenience store chain in the U.S! Nintendo DS’s game (for the U.S only) also has Domo-kun inside the game! Actually it’ not only the U.S but around at 150 countries, Domo-kun appears on TV!!
Who created Domo-kun? It’s Goda-san, an animation creator. He however is worried if Domo-kun is well-received by the teenagers in Japan. He wants to know how to promote Domo-kun to the people in their teens. How Domo-kun is received by the people in Shibuya? While some people find it cute, others say it looks like a mole, dowdy, no way to be cuter, and etc. Then how can they make Domo-kun cute enough to make young girls in Shibuya say “Kawaii!!”.
It was in February 2010 that Taylor Swift visited Japan for the first time. She loves deco. Her guitar’s got fully decorated with swarovski stones. 3 Japanese deco artists had a chance to promote their works to her. Watanabe-san, who has Ayumi Hamasaki or Ai Fukuhara (table tennis player) as his customer, made deco hina doll for Taylor. Suzuki-san, a flower deco specialist made flower deco slippers, and Saeki-san made a guitar strap for Taylor.
Che’Nelle visits Harajuku several times incognito. She comes here to shop sneakers of its sales only limited to Japan. She also enjoyed shopping at Atmos Girls.
Which Domo-kun is most kawaii?
Shibuya-kei Domo-kun seems popular in the city.
*The last part is a preview of the next episode.
Kirin’s opinion:
I’ve heard Domo-kun is well-known in the U.S but I didn’t know he was this popular~~! Why only Domo-kun can be so well-received by American people while there are many other cute characters in Japan? They just don’t know the rest of them? Just Hello Kitty and Domo-kun? Or maybe its our fault that we, the Japanese may have failed to market our cute characters in the world. Only Domo-kun and Hello Kitty have so far succeeded in expanding in the world?? (How about Rilakkuma~~?)
BTW, I found cute Domo-kun deco stickers!
Do you know Domo-kun? Why do you think he was so well-received by American people? What do you think of Domo-kun?
Disclaimer: Tokyo Kawaii TV is a TV program owned and broadcasted by NHK Japan, and has nothing to do with this blog.
***There are archives of episodes listed under the page titled “Tokyo Kawaii TV” that is just located under the title banner of this blog.
***If you want to know the music that was used in the episode, please refer to this page and help yourself to find it by selecting the date when the episode was on air in Japan.
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November 29th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Hi Kirin,
My daughter loves Domo Kun because he is super cute. She did not have many collection of Domo Kun. Only a Bag and hand phone strap of Domo Kun.
And of course her favourite is still Cinnamoroll, one of sanrio character.
I think Rilakkuma is also popular in Singapore too. This is my only opinion.
My girl, me and my hubby like Rilakkuma too!!
November 29th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Hi Winnie,
Oh how sweet, the entire family love Rilakkuma! How peaceful. The Cinnamonroll is also very sweet~~. I'm sure your daughter is happy with many cute characters in Japan now. ^ ^
November 29th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Kirin, thanks to your tokyokawaiitv posts I have difficulties to find episodes no more! Domo kun is well known here too, mostly his image more than the name, and of course Kitty and all Sanrio's charcters too. You can't find Rilakkuma unless thery're imported directly form JP and just in big metropolis store.
November 29th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Thank you!! Kirin.
And yes, there are many cute characters in Japan.
As for me, I like most Sanrio Characters and the Animation characters.
November 30th, 2010 at 2:01 am
Konnichiwa Kirin! I am from the USA, & I remember when I was in 7th grade I had this friend who loved Domo-Kun so much he even bought a Jacket of it and I was like :O XDD He was pretty obsessive over Domo-Kun! To be honest, a lot of people in the USA love Hello Kitty so much, that whenever we see something of Hello Kitty we immediately say KAWAII! Trust me, from my own experience I seriously love Hello Kitty so much that whenever I see something of Hello Kitty I immediately began to say KAWAII. I'm pretty obsessive with Hello Kitty that I have a Piano sharpener,eraser,mirror,backpack,mini backpack,purse,pins,stickers,necklace and etc! ^-^ Also, people in the USA know about Kuromi,Chibimaru, Choco-cat and other Sanrio characters, but since Hello Kitty is the Sanrio character that is so main streamed that even in the big stores in the USA they sell products of Hello Kitty, people don't really buy anything from the other Sanrio characters cause of that. In order for us to buy something with the picture of another character that is not Hello Kitty, we have to go to a store that sells Japanese goods like anime and etc! Even people who aren't into Japanese stuff and etc know about Kuromi too! Like for instance, today I was talking to my friend about Japanese music and etc and shes not into it though. But then she began talking to me about the Kuromi anime episodes and etc and I was really impressed!
November 30th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Ing I’m 11 and me and my bestie are obsessed with Domo kun mashi maro ponyo howls moving castle spirited away tottoro and he cat returns. We are already working out prices and times for travel to shibuya and are working out our clothes
November 30th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Domo-kun is really so popular! lol I also hear Japanese anime is very popular in Italy and France. ^ ^ It's like I would recover from home sick when I see Domo-kun or Japanese anime characters there, ahaha~~ ^ ^;
November 30th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Wow…Thank you for sharing what's going on with Hello Kitty in the U.S! It's more than I imagined!! LOL at Domo-kun jacket! Haha, I guess you know other Sanrio characters much better than I do. I don't know what's Kuromi, Chibimaru, or Choco-cat. lol Maybe… one of these characters? -> http://www.sanrio.co.jp/characters/index.html
November 30th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Thank you Ashlee. Domo-kun is popular among kids there?! Wow…in Japan I don't think it's that popular among kids…Interesting~ ^ ^
November 30th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
It was an interesting video. I had not known Domo-kun was that popular in the US and other countries.
December 1st, 2010 at 11:41 pm
You're welcome! ^-^ Oh really? Yeah I know. I was like OMG! when he bought it xD Yup, that characters that I mentioned are there! ^_^
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:02 pm
I know Domo-kum from a image that says "Every time you do(anything) domo kun kills a kitten", it's too sad!!!! poor kittens they're inocents, they aren't guilty of anything!!! Becouse of that I never think in domo-kum as a cute doll, as you know I love cats.
I'm agree with you, rilakkuma is absolutly cute, if people would know about it, the shops will be full of merchandising of it and not only with hello kitty things.
Do you know Pucca ? I love too, she and her lover Garu are so kawaii ^^
December 4th, 2010 at 12:24 am
Oh I didn't know that story. It's really bad, I don't know why a kitten must be a victim??
Pucca? I only think of Japanese snack from that. http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/chocolate/pucca/
But I guess you mean something different, haha! ^ ^;
December 10th, 2010 at 8:27 am
jajaj no Pucca is that: http://www.puccaclub.com/ I think it's corean but I not sure. There're a lot of merchandising of Pucca, a few years ago everybody had something of it, now is not fashionable, but I still like a lot ^^.
December 12th, 2010 at 12:01 am
Thank you Lore for the link. I see it for the very first time. I think Koreans are better at marketing. Even though Japan has so many great things, we are not good at promoting them overseas after all. I was shocked to see LG or Samsung were everywhere at the electronics shops in Europe. No Panasonic, Sharp, Sonny, Toshiba, and etc.
December 15th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Kirin-san !
I love these Kawaii TV episodes ! I love Domo Kun ! CX When I first saw the cartoon/show, I thought he was kind of scary, with his mouth open like that all the time, and how he walked. But, i began to love Domo Kun, cause now I think of him as a brownie XD . I think maybe because we like cute things from Japan ? Thats one reason i like him,i like the cute character. Oh, and i've been wondering why cell phone charms are so popular. I've seen both girl and boy with alot of cell phone charms . XD Thanks you !
December 16th, 2010 at 2:47 am
Thank you for your comment.
Why cell phone charms are popular in Japan? Hmmm…most of young Japanese people spend more time with cell phone than with computer. Online activities such as shopping, social networking and emails are done from cell phone on the way to/from work or school. Some young people don't know how to use PC or mac but they only know how to use cell phone and browse internet from it. I think cell phone is the gadget that Japanese people use more often, spend more time with than anything else, which is why we like to have cute charmes as well. ^ ^;
That's only my opinion, though… :p
April 19th, 2012 at 6:28 am
I’m a big fan of domo Kun and my niece has big collection of domo Kun and we know domo are very popular between kids. I usually gift her domo kun items on her birthday which she likes a lot.
April 26th, 2012 at 9:11 am
Domo, being a cartoon character is not just kid’s favorite but like by everyone now. People like to have domo products. Even I have a domo bag and cap too.
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