Behold Hello Kitty – Cheburashka is coming!

Cheburashka first appeared in the year 1966 in the book of soviet writer Eduard Uspensky. It is a small brown, furry creature with big ears and eyes and a small fluffy tail. It was living somewhere in Afrika but by accident ended up in Soviet Russia.

Its best friend there became the crocodile Gena who was working in the local Zoo as a… crocodile.

Cheburashka was always present in the background usually on the cover of children books or as fluffy mascot. In recent days though a real invasion of Cheburashka labeled products was spotted in a number of local combini shops:

The number and variety of Cheburashka products is so high that it easily outnumbers the Hello Kitty ones and even starts to approach the first place so far reserved for HeartCatch PreCure (Porikiia) ! Even Naruto can’t feel too save on the shelves of Japanese shops:

The exact reason for seemingly unstoppable progress of Cheburashka in Japanese subculture is not precisely known. It seems though that one huge advantage in the cuteness “arsenal” of Cheburashka (vs. Hello Kitty) are its huge eyes. In general the bigger the eyes the cuter is the creature. Maybe after all that’s precisely the secret weapon of the Soviet mascot.

Whatever is the reason though one is for sure – a new powerful contestant for supremacy enters  the scene of Japanese cute mascots. And only the future will show who will have the upper hand (in cuteness of course).