Funamania

Funassyi was in fine form as he threw out the first pitch at the Rakuten Golden Eagles baseball game this afternoon. 

You can see a video of Funassyi in action, not to mention Funyassyi and Funagoro cheering their big bro…Pear on, here. His pitch did er, drop a bit too early - Funassyi quipped that his “Nashi-nker (na-sinker)” sank a bit too much. 

A number of Funassyi x Golden Eagles merchandise went on sale at the stadium and online too. (As of this writing, about half the items are already sold out online.) Funassyi’s portion of the proceeds from the merchandise, i.e. his licensing fee, will be donated to Tohoku region charities. 

A gotouchi chara cruise?! Unfortunately it sold out in the blink of an eye, but as far as I know this is the first such cruise. It departs  from the port of Oarai in Ibaraki prefecture  on July 6th, going up to Tomakomai in Hokkaido. The cruise includes two night’s stay on the boat plus one night’s stay in a hotel in Tomakomai, where participants can enjoy the Friend Festival In Tomakomai gotouchi chara event on the 8th and 9th. Cruise participants also get special seating for the Funassyi Stage at the festival. Funassyi will not be on board, but the two little Pears will be, as well as Friend of the Pear Family Kappa no Kotaro (the official chara in a sense of Rapiit, one of the makers of Funassyi merchandise) as well as Tomachoppu, the official chara of the city of Tomakomai, and for some reason Omoigawa Yui, a chara that represents a train in Koyama, Tochigi prefecture - which is no where near any place the ship passes by. (Maybe the train she represents is connected to the company that operates the cruise? I don’t really know.) It should be pretty hard work for Funagoro and Funyassyi, but I hope they won’t get seasick at least. 

The festival itself will have 80 chara present, including Funassyi, as well as Hikonyan, Iisa King, Melon Kuma and some other well known mascots. 

The newest addition to the Funacolle collectible Funassyi plushies is the Statue of Libernassyi*, with the Pear holding up a beacon Pear welcoming all weary souls to the happy world of Pear Fairies.

Via the Funassyiland web store Twitter account.