Japan’s phallic mascot characters

With the much trumpeted Tokyo Skytree finally opening this week (on a rainy, miserable day, no less), we thought we’d look over some of Japan’s bizarre mascots characters for landmarks and tourist sites.

On the other side of the capital and at that other famous tower, namely Tokyo Tower, there is a pair of dungaree-wearing characters called the Noppon Brothers and they are, well, nothing less than the most phallic “innocent” mascots we’ve ever seen.

This got us thinking: Where did all this phallic mascot malarkey come from?

We reckon it can be traced back to good old Tengu, the mean and naughty goblin of Japanese mythology. Tengu has a very large nose and red countenance, and anyone who denies that he’s an erotically charged creature must surely be living only in the rose-tinted Christian universe.

And as we know, there are plenty of mascots who like to grope girls too!