801-chan

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801-chan (やおいちゃん, yaoi-chan) is the character mascot of the Misono Bridge 801 shopping center in northern Kyoto.

The mascot, resembling Kyoto's well-known Kamo eggplant, was designed in late 2005 by a student at Kyoto Seika University. The shopping center itself was named for its 800-meter length, adding 1 to represent future expansion.

Because the numbers 8-0-1 can be read in Japanese as ya-o-i (yaoi), the strange character soon became an Internet phenomenon.

In April 2006, blogger Ajiko Kojima started drawing manga with the character, and on December 14, 2006 released a book titled "Tonari no Yaoi-chan" (となりの801ちゃん) published by Ohzora Publishing. The first edition sold out at 25,000 copies, and as of June 2007, 150,000 copies have been printed.

[edit] External links

• Kyoto kita-ku home page (Japanese)
• Misono Bridge 801 shopping center (Japanese)
• Tonari no 801-chan page at Ohzora Publishing (Japanese)
• Original Tonari no 801-chan blog (Japanese)