#domokun

oh i actually know this!! :D どーもくん or Domo kun is a mascot for japan’s NHK tv network. they made him in the late 90s as a character in stop motion animated shorts. he was pretty popular, so they started using him in those little “you’re watching disney channel!” type things in between shows ☆link: example domo short foar u! ☆

the name domo comes from the greeting ど—も、こにちは which is kinda like “hello everyone/hello there!” like people would say when greeting a tv audience, but can also be understood as “hello Domo!”

domo was pretty big/well known in japan where they were actually broadcasting his media and spread outwards via the internet, the biggest impact being this old ass meme:

yeah weird af i know xD this was around the time the internet really stated growing and japanese media was becoming more accessible + well known to the average internet user. pop culture trends at the time began taking cues from anime style ‘cutesy’ mascot characters and art, stuff like hello kitty, tokidoki (not japanese but took heavy inspiration) pikachu, etc. so i guess our little guy was kinda in the right place at the right time guy and he sort of went viral? anyway yeah however it happened domo became super popular, purely based on him being a weird lil guy/memes of him made on the western internet. he got a stop motion tv show made by NHK and nickelodeon and a manga was published and everything

as the trend for kawaii style mascots and media faded so did domos popularity outside of japan but ofc a lot of people still recognise him even if they have no idea where he comes from :3

ANYWAY that’s my short-ish history of domo!! enjoy? i hope?? xD

snapback hats x3