This time of year is tough for Japanese students looking to enter universities, marked by lots of intense exams. It also sees a lot of companies marketing services that ostensibly assist and support these suffering scholars.
If you’re preparing to take tests in Sapporo you might want to pay a visit to the station and view the latest “power spot”, which is dedicated to good fortune in exams. Phone carrier au has created what is apparently the world’s largest version of an omamori, the talismans that students (and others) customarily buy at Shinto shrines for luck.
Usually an omamori, which looks like a kind of flat pouch, is small enough to fit easily in your hand and often attached to your phone or bag. This giant red amulet, though, stands at 2.3 meters tall and there’s even a mammoth ema plaque — the small wooden boards that people write wishes on and leave at shrines — measuring 1.5 meters.
[Images via WalkerPlus]
au has made the talisman to promote their mobile phone services for students, which include providing free pop music ringtones. This may be a marketing set piece but there has been an attempt to add authenticity to proceedings, with the talisman even being blessed by priests from Hokkaido Shrine (pictured above). There’s also a bit CSR going on here; au will donate money to Sapporo City’s sakura park based on the access rate to the campaign website.
The amulet on display until the end of February, surrounded by fake pink cherry blossom, in the Paseo mall at Sapporo station, so if you’re in the north of Japan be sure to check it out…and maybe make a wish for good fortune.
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
World’s Biggest Lucky Charm for Student Exam Fortunes
