A cuddly and ultra-kawaii pink fluff ball to encourage young people to get married? Only in Japan could it happen! Alarmed by sharp declines in the number of marriages, and by association, falling birth rates, the Japanese government has decided to “fight back” with a very cute mascot that’s truly Japanese.
Sporting adorable dark pink circles on her cheeks and a heart-shaped halo, one could easily mistake Miawoo-chan for a character in Pokemon. Although we’re not sure if this super kawaii character is a teddy bear or rabbit (or even just a giant pink fluff ball!), she does have an extremely important political task: To promote marriage. Launched by the Japanese government, Miawoo-chan’s task is to bring the metropolitan country out of their marriage crisis. This comes at a perfect time, seeing as Japan has an increasingly ageing population, with falling birth rates exacerbated by the sharp drop in marriages.
According to a recent research done by the Japan National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, almost 50% of Japanese women and 60% of men between 18 to 34 are neither married or in a relationship, and this general celibacy is halting reproduction rates. With a current birthrate of 1.4 children per woman and a quarter of the Japanese population over 65 years of age, the country could lose about a third of its population by 2060. As this is a pressing issue, we see why Japan is willing to spend a pretty penny to fix falling birthrates and marriages, even resorting to the usage of cute mascots to help change the mindset of the public.