Mican Center, a lovely spot for Mican fans

[Introduction]

I traveled to Matsuyama, the capital of Ehime Prefecture, for 4 days and 3 nights. The main purpose of this trip was to watch Yuru-chara Grand Prix 2016 on the last 2 days. My favorite Milan, which is the mascot character of Ehime Prefecture, did not participate in the contest, but entertained other local mascot characters and the audience as a host of the event with Barysan, Imabari city’s mascot character. I also participated in a PR event for the Grand Prix and did some sightseeing. In this article, I will write about Mican Center as part of Day 2.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1 (1) Yuru-chara Grand Prix PR event 1 (Okaido and Gintengai) 
* Day 1 (2) Yuru-chara Grand Prix PR event 2 (Ropeway street and Dogo Onsen) 
* Day 1 (3) Dogo Onsen (Light up)
* Day 2 (1) Mican Center at Ehime prefectural government office [This article]
* Day 2 (2) Ninomaru Historical Garden and Matsuyama Castle
* Day 2 (3) Matsuyama Castle (Light up)
* Day 3 (1) Yuru-chara Grand Prix 2016 1st day part 1
* Day 3 (2) Yuru-chara Grand Prix 2016 1st day part 2
* Day 3 (3) Okaido (Bansuiso Villa and Saka no Ue no Kumo Museum etc.)
* Day 4 (1) Yuru-chara Grand Prix 2016 2nd day part 1
* Day 4 (2) Yuru-chara Grand Prix 2016 2nd day part 2
* Day 4 (3) Matsuyama City Station (Tram, Matsuchika Town etc.)

[Travel Date]
2016.11.03-06

[Main Part]

The 2nd day of my Ehime Matsuyama trip started. To begin with, I visited “Mican Center” at Ehime prefectural government office.

Walking to Ehime prefectural government office

It was not so far from the hotel I stayed to Ehime prefectural government office, so I walked to Ehime prefectural government office while taking pictures.

I stolled along a moat.

Along the street.

Trams.

Ehime prefectural government office and Mican caravan car

I arrived at Ehime prefectural government office. There were a panel for souvenir photos and a caravan car of Mican.

Mican caravan car was provided by Toyota group in September 2015 and its license number was 1111, which came from Mican’s birthday (November 11).

The left side of the caravan car. The car was decorated with Mican’s orange color and I found the wheels were also colored in orange.

From the right side.

There were several Mican’s accessary goods in the car.

The side mirror was designed with green color in accordance with Mican’s ears.

There was a box of tissue with Mican.

Mican Center

Now I moved to Mican Center.

Mican Center was opened in April 1 2016 to promote Ehime prefecture. About 200 Mican goods and local craft products with Mican are exhibited.

When I entered Mican Center, I found there were so many Mican goods in front of me.

Now I realized lots of Mican goods were marketed.

I use this eyeglass cleaner.

I somethimes buy this Mican juice.

In addition to general Mican goods, there are several local craft products with Mican.

For example, “HIME PEARL”, Ehime prefecture’s brand pearl.

Tobe ceramics.

Mizuhiki-zaiku and Hime-daruma.

“Mican BOX”, which is used at Ehime Co-op.

There were also a variety of stuffed Mican from smallo ones to big ones.

“Matsudai Mican”, colloborated with Matsuyama University.

Three Mican brothers?

The number of Dark Mican goods has been increasing recently.

Illustrated Mican on the wall.

This poster seems to be made on an early days of Mican.

These Mican and Dark Mican seals were for free.

Then, I left Mican Center.

Preview of “Yuru-chara Grand Prix 2016” site

After Mican Center, I just dropped by the site of “Yuru-chara Grand Prix 2016”, which will start from the next day, to check the venue.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Mican Center as part of Day 2. According to a news, Mican has generated economic effects for about 18.8 billion in Japanese yen as of June 2016 (- the sales of Mican goods is 14.3 billion JPY and advertising effectiveness due to media exposure is 4.5 billion JPY). When I knew Mican for the first time in 2013, Mican was not known so much. However, Mican has become famous across Japan 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Ninomaru Historical Garden and Matsuyama Castle, which I visited in the afternoon of the 2nd day.

[Map]

[Related Link]
The official Website of Tourism Matsuyama