William A bit more about Kumamon’s profitability. I’d stated before that cumulative profits have reached Y1 trillion. This article states a figure 810 billion yen since 2011, when the prefectural government began tracking figures (Kumamon was “born” in 2010), and 157.9 billion yen in 2019 alone - so close to a trillion, though perhaps not quite. Still, that’s a whole lotta yen, much of which comes from licensing fees by Taiwanese, Chinese, and Korean companies, where Kumamon remains quite popular. No wonder he (she?) always looks so content. English-language article at the link.