The Role of Characters in Japan: Adding Stories to Information
Recently, I’ve had chances to talk about characters with people from different cultures, which made me rediscover the fascinating aspects of Japanese character culture. When we think of characters, famous IP characters from anime and games like Pokémon often come to mind. However, in Japan, characters are everywhere in our daily lives.
These characters seem to function as media that add storytelling elements to information, rather than just being symbols or decorations. Let me share some specific examples to explore this idea.
Animal Guards
At Japanese construction sites, you often see barricades shaped like frogs, rabbits, monkeys, and other animals. These are called “Animal Guards” and were introduced to soften the atmosphere around construction sites.
Construction workers have reported that “after installing animal barricades, we received fewer complaints about noise and dust” and “they bring peace to people’s hearts.” While they were originally meant to soften the negative image of construction work being “dangerous, noisy, and dirty,” it’s interesting that they’ve also helped increase local understanding of construction work.
These characters might be doing more than just being cute — they might be working on our psychology to reduce daily stress.
NHK’s Snowman Character
In NHK’s weather forecasts, they use an expressionless snowman character to show snow. While snowmen are usually cute creatures, this snowman is unique because it has a blank expression instead of a smile.
This expression seems to capture both “the quietness of steadily falling snow” and “the difficulty of snowy days.” Viewers can intuitively imagine the emotions and scenes of a snowy day from this empty expression.
Through this design, the snowman character doesn’t just convey weather information — it creates emotional connection with thoughts like “looks like it’s going to be a tough day” or “seems like this snow will keep falling.”
FamilyMart’s Rice Ball Character
FamilyMart introduced discount stickers featuring a teary-eyed character saying “Please help me” on rice balls and lunch boxes near their expiration date, as part of their effort to reduce food waste.
These stickers appeal to consumers’ emotions and encourage purchases. In a 2024 trial, they reported that purchase rates of discounted items increased by 5 points, potentially reducing food waste by about 3,000 tons annually.
Interestingly, customer feedback included comments like “I picked it up because the teary-eyed illustration made me want to help.” It’s fascinating that the psychology at work isn’t just “buying because it’s discounted” but “buying to help the rice ball.”
Summary
I’ve shared examples of how characters are used to convey information.
What’s interesting is that even without the information providers directly explaining the story, receivers create their own narratives:
- Seeing characters at construction sites makes people think “these cute characters are working hard, so…”
- People sense “the difficulty and quietness of snow” in the snowman’s blank expression
- Seeing teary-eyed rice balls makes people think “I need to help”
In other words, people’s emotions and behaviors change through the “room for creating stories” that characters provide.
This might be connected to Japan’s high-context culture. Japanese culture often values expressions with empty space (“ma” culture), where intentionally avoiding too much explanation leaves room for receivers to fill in meaning and create stories.
Looking at it this way, I feel that Japanese character culture is truly unique — it goes beyond just being cute or well-designed to serve as a tool that conveys information, moves emotions, and changes people’s behavior.
