While Edo Wonderland does a great job of bring that Edo Period feel to the theme park, a theme park in Japan wouldn’t be complete without a mascot and Edo Wonderland has a samurai cat named “nyanmage”.
To be truthful, I thought it was a dog at first but looking at the photos I took, I can now see the “cat” within the costume.
For the most part, Nyanmage can be seen in the merchandise store, statue and at the opposite end of the theme park, at the theater.
At the theater, there is a short film about Nyanmage and his friends protecting a village and it’s people from evil samurai. In a way, it reminded me of a sentai (think Power Rangers) type series but instead of people with colorful outfits, you have animals who take on bad samurai.
I suppose what is interesting about all this is the fact that its part of the film culture at Edo Wonderland as films are shot in the village. I can see how the actors who are part of the theater group and also are staff at Edo Wonderland would take pride in taking part in a film. But if anything, it’s something that would attract kids and help attach a mascot character to Edo Wonderland in general.
While the mascot portion is important to the park, it’s just a small part of it. So, don’t expect to see a lot of Nyanmage.
More coverage from Edo Wonderland in Nikko tomorrow for Part 8!
