Back in the early stages of this blog, I was still "discovering myself" and trying to identify who and what I was in this world, and getting a job was part of it. I was pretty dedicated to finding a job or at least getting as many jobs as possible, which is what the guy from "50 states 50 jobs" did, finding an odd job in every state of the US that matched with the identity of the state. Odds jobs are interesting in the sense that they take one out of their normal comfort zone, give one a new experience to do something that they wouldn't do, and go to new places, break out of the normal cycle, something that's definitely welcome when one is going through the motions or when they don't have a job.
Mascot- is an odd job. They don't get that much recognition outside of major sports teams (Benny the Bull for Chicago Bulls, Traveler (a horse) for USC). Usually they have to be energetic in a large onesie costume outside on a hot day, doesn't seem great for most people. But in Japan, mascots are huge- every company and public facility seems to have a mascot. I noticed this on my visits: the fire department has a mascot, the Tokyo Tower has a mascot, the train system has a mascot, almost everyone has a mascot, maybe because the Japanese are so into manga and cartoon characters. There's bears, birds, pigs, all kinds of cool animals, and they all dance around and wave and do things that mascots are trained to. That's because there's apparently a mascot school similar to a real educational facility in Tokyo that trains all these mascots. Their rules are: 1.) don't talk to people, 2.) don't let any of your own skin show, 3.) Don't be violent. Out of these No. 1 seems hardest, not interacting with kids who are asking questions, but apparently they don't want to disillusion people who believe in the mascots.
I've dressed up in one of those costumes though, and the problem is: it gets hot. Depending on the material of the costume, and if it's one piece, it can get really sweaty in there, especially if one has to move around a lot and seem energetic. And the costume gets sticky from the sweat; I hope they have dry cleaning to wash it every time. Count me out on the mascot business.
A place that could use a mascot is downtown Chinatown- a nice area, lots of great restaurants, gonna be very boisterous with the Chinese New Year parade tomorrow......but it seems like they need some sort of combining factor, something that unites all of them together and shows off the culture, gives energy to a place despite it being 19 degrees and freezing all the time through a tough winter. I guess the dragon where various people hold up a long dragon in a line qualifies as a mascot of the Chinese New Year every year .
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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