Explore everyday life in Japan
I first learned about Anpanman, the cute little superhero that you see pictured above (whose head is made of bread), when I came to Japan in 2009. At that time, I was working at an English conversation school for children. Many of the students I worked with were between the ages of nine months and three years old, and all of them were mysteriously drawn to this character and his cast of friends.
I don't know what it is about Anpanman, but since his picture book debut in 1973, he has become, without a doubt, the first obsession of three or four generations of Japanese children. So much so that Anpanman, or simpler variations like Pan-Pan and Appa, are some of the first words that many Japanese children speak, along with Mama, Papa, and a variety of onomatopoeic words like Bu-bu for car and Wan Wan for dogs (Bu-bu is the sound of a car horn and Wan Wan is the sound that dogs make in Japanese when they bark).
Regardless of where you go in Japan, you will almost certainly see this character somewhere, whether on the sneakers of children you pass on the street, on the shirts and toys you find as you shop, on the fronts of shopping karts you pass in the supermarket, or among the plastic masks being sold at various festivals. Anpanman is literally everywhere in Japan, as are the children whose faces light up at the sight of him and yell out, Mama, Mama, it's Pan-Pan. It's Pan-Pan.
This character is such a phenomenon in Japan that I think it is safe to say, without exaggeration, nearly everyone here between the ages of three and forty have drawn this character at least once in their lives. Please watch the following video and try drawing him yourself. The words to the song you will hear are sung in Japanese, but they are directions for how to draw Anpanman easily, and they have been set to the animation's theme song. Enjoy!
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.