Fukuppy

Fukuppy (フクッピー, fukuppī, pronounced [ɸɯ̥kɯꜜppiː]) was the short-lived English name of a mascot of the Japanese company Fukushima Industries. The mascot has the form of a genderless anthropomorphic egg with red feet, little blue wings, and a happy smiling face.

The mascot, with text saying "Nice to meet you, I'm Fukuppy!"

Fukushima Industries (now known as Fukushima Galilei) is based in Osaka, and manufactures industrial cooling systems, particularly for the food industry. It has offices throughout Japan and in many parts of Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.[1][2]

It launched its new mascot in April 2013, to little attention.[3] The name "Fukuppy" was a portmanteau of "Fukushima", the surname of the founder of the company, and the English word "happy". According to Fukushima Industries, Fukuppy says,

I fly around on my awesome wings, patrolling supermarket showcases and kitchen refrigerators. I can talk to vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish and can check on their health! I was born in a Fukushima refrigerator! I love eating and I'm full of curiosity. I think of myself as kind, with a strong sense of justice, but my friends say I'm a bit of a klutz. But I'm always working hard to make myself shine! I'm still an egg, so I don't know which [sex] I am! But I refer to myself as boku.[lower-alpha 1]"[4][lower-alpha 2]

In mid-October 2013, Fukuppy was noticed by English-speakers who spotted the inadvertent[1][3][6][lower-alpha 3] similarity to the English word "fuckup". Fukuppy rapidly attracted publicity not only in English[8][9] (including in Japan),[4][10] but also in Afrikaans,[11] Catalan,[12] Dutch,[13] French,[14] German[15] and Swedish.[16] Some early reports wrongly associated Fukuppy with Fukushima Prefecture, or with the cleanup efforts after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.[1][8][17] Fukushima Industries speedily published an apology and announced that it would be withdrawing the English name of its mascot.[1][10]

Fukuppy has been cited as an example of the risks associated with wasei-eigo, Japanese-language expressions based on English words that do not exist in standard English.[18]

Explanatory notes
  1. Boku, a romanisation of 僕 or ぼく, is a first-person Japanese pronoun with implications of boyishness.
  2. As of November 2020, the Japanese original remains on Fukushima's website.[5]
  3. A version of the Japan Today article by Preston Phro had been published in Rocket News on 12 October 2013,[7] and that seems to have been the first mention of Fukuppy in English.

References
  1. McCurry, Justin (15 October 2013). "Meet Fukuppy, the inadvertent Fukushima mascot". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  2. Agence France Presse (15 October 2013). "A Japanese Refrigerator Company Can Now Claim The Title For Branding Blunder Of The Year". Business Insider. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  3. Besant, Alexander (15 October 2013). "Shut the Fukuppy: Fukushima Industries' new mascot has an unfortunate name". Public Radio International. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  4. Phro, Preston (15 October 2013). "Fukushima Industries unveils new mascot with an unfortunate name". Japan Today. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  5. "コーポレートキャラクター紹介 [Corporate Character Introduction]". Fukushima Galilei (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  6. Guilford, Gwynn (14 October 2013). "Fukushima Industries just made a very unfortunate branding choice". Quartz. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  7. Phro, Preston (12 October 2013). "Fukushima Corporation unveils new mascot with an unfortunate (but hilarious) name". Rocket News. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  8. Morse, Felicity (16 October 2013). "Fukuppy, Fukushima Industries new mascot, is branding disaster". The Independent. Retrieved 20 November 2020.; Ryall, Julian (14 October 2013). "Fukushima attempt at rebrand – Fukuppy – gets lost in translation". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  9. Asian News International (16 October 2013). "Japanese firm reconsidering mascot's name 'Fukuppy' following online ridicule". Big News Network. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  10. Otake, Tomoko (16 October 2013). "Japanese firm's mascot name earns ridicule". The Japan Times. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  11. "Dis nou 'n regte...flater". Netwerk24 (in Afrikaans). 17 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  12. Garcia Soler, Jordi (26 November 2013). "Fukuppy: naming i malentesos". neimik.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  13. "Maak kennis met Fukuppy, het ei met de ongelukkige naam". De Standaard (in Dutch). 16 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.; "Nieuwe mascotte 'verkloot' het voor Fukushima Industries". De Volkskrant (in Dutch). 17 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.; "'Fukuppy' niet de ideale naam voor mascotte Japans bedrijf". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 17 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  14. "Fukuppy, une mascotte de firme japonaise provoque la risée pour son nom mal choisi". Le Petit Journal (in French). 15 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.; "Fukuppy, une mascotte de firme japonaise provoque la risée". Le Point (in French). 15 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.; Fouquet, Claude (15 October 2013). "Fukuppy, la mascotte victime malheureuse de l'accident de Fukushima". Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 19 November 2020. By Claude Fouquet.
  15. "Ein totales Fukuppy". tabibito.de (in German). 22 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  16. "Fukushimamaskoten – dagens skämt på nätet". Sveriges Television (in Swedish). 16 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.; "Maskoten 'Fukuppy' ett misstag". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). 15 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  17. Stout, David (14 October 2013). "Look! It's Fukuppy to the Rescue". Time. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  18. "Eggsactly the right name". Stuff. New Zealand. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2020.; Agence France Presse (1 April 2016). "Japan's Kinki University ditches saucy name". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 21 November 2020.; "Fukushima's Fukuppy Lesson". FleishmanHillard. No. 12. August 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2020.; McCurry, Justin (18 November 2020). "'Hello work' or job centre? language experts spell trouble for Japan's mangled English". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
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