Sales of Kumamon mascot goods hit record 158 billion yen in 2019

Products bearing the image of "Kumamon," the black bear mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, racked up sales of at least 157.9 billion yen ($1.4 billion) in 2019, the local government said Friday.Sales have hit fresh record highs every year since 2011 when the prefectural government began conducting the survey. Total sales since that time are upwards of 810 billion yen."Products supporting Kumamoto earthquake reconstruction efforts, and those using illustrations (of Kumamon) overseas have grown steadily. I hope people will continue to support the mascot," Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima told a press…READ FULL ARTICLE