Japanese kangaroos

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    How A Kangaroo Helped Japanese Game Shows Get Charitable

    Tokyo Broadcasting System ran the very successful TBS Kangaroo Fund from 1976 to 2010, first to help children orphaned by traffic accidents, people with disabilities and the elderly before moving to help other social causes. TBS never publicly explained its choice of a kangaroo to symbolize the fund, but the marsupial infers a friendly, protective image with its pouch equating to encompassing care, which signalled that donations would carry and protect vulnerable children The TBS Kangaroo Fund collected viewer donations and corporate gifts and channelled grants to vetted charities and disaster relief. TBS used on-air drives, dedicated donation numbers and tie-ins such as using cash for quiz and game shows…

  • Jill Who Put The ‘Roo’ Into Frugal Promotes Award-Winning Environmentalism

    Mrs. Roo was a core character in the award-winning The Eco Zoo online pop-up picture book in the late Noughties and early 2010s. Mrs. Roo is the kangaroo character in The Eco Zoo story world. She is depicted as a thrifty, practical kangaroo who carries a shopping bag, which is a visual symbol encouraging reusable bags and careful consumption. The Eco Zoo began as a children’s picture-book project around 2006 and was developed into an interactive Flash web project around 2007–2008 by creative boutique Enjin together with McCann Erickson Japan. The web/popup-book version became widely noticed and won creative-site attention, including recognition through the Favorite Website Awards. The Eco Zoo…

  • An Award-Winning Concrete Pouch For Backpackers

    Outside of its name, Kangaroo Hotel has got absolutely nothing to do with bloody kangaroos or marsupials, and doesn’t even provide nominal acknowledgement of its macropod connection. But the name alone is enough to give a blog post to the tiny, design-focused guesthouse in Minami-Senju that opened in 2009, has about 18 private rooms across three floors, and positions itself as an affordable, stylish stay for backpackers and budget travellers. The sole connection the hotel seems to have to Australia is a eucalypt outside its front door. Kangaroo Hotel is divided into the A side original hotel and B side annex, and operates as a guesthouse and hostel with a…

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    Jumping At Chances Through A Yen For Kangaroos

    Vacel Inc. is a Tokyo company with a yen for kangaroos, literally and figuratively speaking, as well as a track record with marsupials that leaps from sporting fields to dining tables. The trading and manufacturing company specializing in kangaroo derived products started off in April 1980 as a specialist in kangaroo leather products mostly for soccer boots and then expanded over the subsequent decades to encompass all sorts of businesses including marsupial meat. Vacel imports, manufactures and sells kangaroo leather, develops FabRoo 0.3 mm ultra-thin leather, operates the RooMeat brand for kangaroo meat for human and pet consumption, and provides market-entry and liaison services for overseas companies in Japan. Vacel…

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    Little League Laps Up Kanga Clout

    Kangaroos play a prominent role in encouraging kids to take up baseball in the Aichi Prefecture city of Kota. Kosuke the Kangaroo is the marsupial mascot of the Aichi Kota Boys youth baseball club that runs age-group squads including its Kangaroo Kids for first and second graders new to the game. The club has been around since 2009 but has not given a public explanation for why it chose the kangaroo as the animal to promote its game. It’s possibly because youth teams often pick animal names to sound friendly and energising. A kangaroo fits a young-players programme because it suggests bouncy energy, protection and youthfulness — easy, family-friendly branding…

  • Perfect Pose Sees Kitakyushu Kangaroos Idolized

    A mob of kangaroos caught on camera in a perfectly timed shot at a Kitakyushu zoo remains incredibly popular in Japan for its resemblance to the typical formations in which girl idol groups pose. Roos from Hibikinada Green Park were captured peering at the lens in an October 2024 photo that soon went viral. Millions saw the photo, which has since been removed from the park’s social media account but remains widespread online after it went viral. Netizens throughout Japan and across the world noted how the roos lined up in a manner almost perfectly resembling Japanese girl groups like AKB48, Nogizaka 46 and others of that ilk. Hibikinada Green…

  • Aichi Says Ouch! Roos Key To Oral Health

    Kangaroos are key to oral health in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi. The Aichi Dental Association uses kangaroos as its mascots, focusing on the close relationship between generations symbolized by joeys in a pouch to encourage dental care from infancy through to old age. The ADA chose the character following a competition among students from HAL Nagoya vocational school in 2023. Competition winner Yuma Furuta made three kangaroo characters to represent the ADA. Aishii, the jill, is named through an anagram of Aichi and shika (the Japanese word for dentist). Boomer Ken is meant to symbolize kenko, the Japanese words for oral health. Their joey, Smile, has a self-explanatory…

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    Venerable Kangaroo Bakery Jumps At Its Chances

    Kangaroo is a small, and well-liked bakery in Kawasaki that has been operating for 38 years and has grown more recently to include a cafe, gallery space and architectural office, all in the same building called House Kangaroo. Kangaroo bakes natural yeast, organic flour breads, and sells weekend-only loaves and sandwiches, but also accepts reservations for bread as its products frequently sell out fast. Adjacent to Kangaroo is roo cafe, which opens only on Fridays and Saturdays, selling an array of beverages and treats. In the same building is roo space, which is a rentable gallery and pop-up space area used for exhibitions, shows and workshops. Architectural firm On is…

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    Kangaroo FC’s Kids Turn Hops Into Large Leaps

    The littlest joeys from the Kangaroo FC youth soccer club in the Chiba Prefecture bed town of Matsudo have won regional tournaments, going from tiny hops to large leaps befitting the team’s monicker. Kangaroo FC’s team of first graders have taken home the Yachiyo Okamura Cup in the past. Kangaroo FC has been around since 1981 and looks to be a youth team powerhouse. Nor do I know why a club from a city best known for being a bed town community for commuters to the capital chose to be the kangaroos. It’s possible the team chose the kangaroo because it evokes jumping, speed, and protecting younger players. And the…

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    Mall Marsupial Puts Kangaroo In The Bag

    Kangaroo-do K.K. has bagged itself a position as a position as a mall retailer mainly in regional areas, but also in some shopping centers. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise because Kangaroo-do’s business is bags, which it sells from low price offerings to quality accessories from brands such as Porter and Dakota. Kangaroo-do hasn’t offered a public statement about why it chose to use a marsupial for its company name and logo, but it’s pretty obvious considering the link between its business items and pouches. Kangaroo-do is a retail chain that also sells wallets, travel luggage and small leather goods. It operates mall and specialty-shop outlets across Japan and…