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The mayor of Misato, a remote (xa xôi hẻo lánh) village of 4,700 people in rugged western Japan, laid down an ultimatum (tối hậu thư) early last year: The local mascot (linh vật) character, Misabo, must prove his worth. Or else.

Misabo, a gloomy (buồn rầu, u sầu; u ám, ảm đạm) boar (lợn lòi) with a mountain on his head who wears whale overalls hiked up to his snout (vòi), has the daunting job (nhiệm vụ khó khăn) of promoting the village as a tourism destination (xúc tiến làng là điểm đến du lịch) He waddled (đi lạch bạch, đi núng nính) into the world in 2013, as a mascot craze (cơn cuồng loạn) swept Japan and hundreds of the country’s graying and shrinking towns turned to colorful, often wacky (dở người, chập mạch; lập dị, mất trí) characters (nhân vật) to lure visitors and investment (thu hút du khách và đầu tư).

Now, as their tax bases (cơ sở thuế) dwindle (nhỏ đi, teo lại; thoái hóa) along with their populations, communities (cộng đồng) like Misato are increasingly questioning (đặt dấu hỏi) whether the whimsy (bất thường, đồng bóng, kỳ quái, kỳ dị) is worth (đáng giá, xứng) the cost in public spending (chi tiêu công). In the absence of much evidence that the characters are delivering economic benefits (mang lại lợi ích kinh tế), the answer for many towns in the grip of Japan’s demographic crisis (khủng hoảng nhân khẩu học) has been to quietly mothball (viên băng phiến; bỏ xó, gác bếp) them.

“It was a boom (bùng nổ, thời kỳ phát đạt, thời kỳ phất) without any reality,” said Akihiko Inuyama, an author and designer who wrote a book about the mascot industry.

...For a select few, the Grand Prix has been a springboard to riches. Kumamoto, a sparsely populated prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu, reaped a $1.2 billion economic windfall in the two years after its mascot, Kumamon, won the first Grand Prix, in 2011, according to a study by the Bank of Japan.

Bài trước: Bước nhảy vọt vĩ đại