A new PR character selected through a public contest was unveiled to raise awareness of Iwami Airport in Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture.
The new character is named "Toby-kun" and is based on the motif of a bee, based on the history of Iwami Airport, which was the first airport in Asia to start a beekeeping business on its premises.
In addition to featuring a hat in the shape of Iwami Airport and airplane feathers, it was designed to match the retro townscape of the area, with key colors such as the yellow of the locally produced summer mandarin oranges and the reddish brown of the Sekishu tiles.
In an effort to raise awareness of Iwami Airport, a council formed by Masuda City and other organizations put out a call for new PR characters, and received 115 applications from all over the country. ' was selected.
Mr. Ohno said, ``I would be happy if more people would feel closer to the airport because of the soothing characters.I would like to promote the charm of the area to people visiting from Tokyo.''
Iwami Airport had more than 130,000 passengers last year, a 12% decrease compared to 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic, and the challenge is to recover the number of passengers. We hope to strengthen the PR of the airport by creating a