The Japanese Blood Drop
By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin’s Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center
Meet Kenketsu-chan (“blood donation girl”), Japan’s most well-known blood donation mascot. She is a little pixie with big shiny drops of blood for ears. Kenketsu-chan is the official blood donation mascot of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which maintains a website devoted to the character. It is said that Kenketsu-chan’s ears shrink when she runs low on blood, but return to their original size when people donate (see the different images above). She comes from Tasuke Island (Help Island), which features a heart-shaped spring at its center. The spring shoots forth rainbows that carry Kenketsu-chan to wherever people need blood.
Hmmm, what should we use for our official mascot?? Any ideas?