New Delhi: Japanese famous character Kumamon met His Excellency Mr. Sanjay Kumar Verma, Ambassador of India to Japan, introducing his first Hindi video recorded in Delhi NCR and Kumamoto prefecture in Japan. The video disclosing ceremony was held in the Embassy of India in Tokyo with the attendance of Mr. NAKAZAWA Keiichiro, Senior Vice President of JICA. For this ceremony, Mr. KABASHIMA Ikuo, Governor of Kumamoto prefecture in Japan communicated to everyone through a video message for celebration. The video has been produced as part of Achhi Aadat Campaign initiated by JICA India Office promoting hygiene practices including handwashing, nail cutting and so on. The video is now available on JICA YouTube Channel “JICA Channel2” and KUMAMON TV Channel respectively. In the video, Kumamon tries dancing to the music in Hindi style together with children and dancers in India
Kumamon is the official character of the government of Kumamoto prefecture, which is located in the western part of Japan. Kumamon was originally produced to increase visibility of Kumamoto prefecture, but thanks to his unique looks and behavior, he has gradually become popular in Japan and its neighboring countries including China, South Korea, Thailand and so on. Since the pandemic of COVID-19 started, Kumamon has conveyed the importance of handwashing to children in Japan. Based on his wide influence, JICA and the government of Kumamoto prefecture have determined to produce the video where Kumamon tells his messages to people in India, contributing to improvement of hygiene practices and better relations between both countries.
Mr. SAITO Mitsunori, Chief Representative of JICA India, commented after watching the video, “Hey Kumamon! You can dance harder, can’t you? Practice hard for becoming an Indian film star!! There’s a long way to go! Come to India!! Learn how to dance enthusiastically from, let’s say, Mr. Tiger Shroff by applying for becoming his apprentice… By the way, Kumamon will play a significant role in inspiring children and the youth in India to enjoy learning hygienic practices. According to his official settings, Kumamon is the top administrative officer of the government, Director of Happiness and PR. He is willing to come to India in the future. We also would like to support him to realize his dream of coming to India, after his great contribution to our hygiene promotion activity, Achhi Aadat Campaign. And, if anyone in India wants to see this mysterious character more, please call out to KUMAMON with love!!”
About “Achhi Aadat (Good Habit)” Campaign
JICA India has launched a campaign, “Achhi Aadat (Good Habit)” to raise awareness among 10 crore people about the importance of hygiene practices for preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, in collaboration with NGOs, government authorities and Japanese companies. The campaign’s objective is to introduce a simple and practical approach to hygiene and sanitation related issues by promoting handwashing, nail cleaning and other hygiene practices such as wearing mask in a correct way.
JICA India provides awareness programs at select project sites located in rural communities, schools and hospitals of India, using the Educational Materials. Their partners, LIXIL, Kai India and Unicharm India contributed by donating their hygiene related products to enhance the campaign activities.
