A Hokkaido bus company has decided to cash in on the moe boom with these “moekko” designs for its free pass tickets, and was pleasantly surprised when it became a hit, not only locally but even outside the prefecture.
The “Moekko” ticket, which can be used on the coastline bus service of Hokkaido that runs through Rumoi city and Toyotomi town (none too central areas in the Hokkaido countryside) was created in response to falling passenger numbers, and to encourage tourist travel in the region.
As is customary, the characters have trite names and backstories appropriate to bus attendants, with names and design based on kanji wordplay.
The ticket was announced on their website in April, and was officially sold starting on May 1st. They report receiving around 150 applications from everywhere from Hokkaido to Okinawa.
There are two designs, the 1 day free ticket (¥2300) and the 2 day free ticket (¥3200), and curiously most of the applicants bought both.
Via Yomiuri.
The company says “We’d by all means like for the patrons who bought these to visit the region”, which might be taken as a tacit admission that they realise many of these tickets will go unused…
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Moe's power level is over NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAND!
Me likes!
But, if it got used... they might tear it, stamp it, or even take it away. Near-mint no more!
Those eyes show no emotion... Where is the love?
Moe marketing saved yet another prefecture but...
"which might be taken as a tacit admission that they realise many of these tickets will go unused…"
I agree to this XD
ADEAT!
A) What Hokkaido bus company?
B) Where can a foreigner purchase these, especially if one was planning a trip to Japan?
You'll likely need to order in country if they are still selling them.
its the next best card after yugioh.
Great way to promote use of public transport. I'd get it.
Ah, more manipulative moe marketing.
Magnificent.
I wonder how long can it really last...
Either maniac otaku becomes extinct or they run out of money, whichever comes first.
This is one evil scheme to systematically eliminate otaku by diverting their cash flow from daily necessities to these non-essential items. A genocide is in the horizon...
the money will go first =|
I, for one, am eagerly anticipating the day when 'moe sells' supplants 'sex sells' in marketing.
Or the 'boom' will die down after a while. It's probably a simple yet lengthy cycle.
This is a great idea on their part. Kudos to the artists and the people involve.
If only we can have something like this in our country without it having a hidden message as too "being odd is ugly"
In order to get more people to use them, they should make matching moekko stickers that you can only get by riding the bus.
You might want to try to contact them with this suggestion, they probably need all the help they can get..
I'd buy it.
If Mio was on them.
The public transport tickets are pretty crap looking in my city I'd love to see something liek this.
No.
Too over-rated already.
Hmmm...
Well, they're pretty and they're cute, but I wouldn't buy them just of the sake of it.
If the ticket had a detachable portion which the bus company kept when you got on board, leaving you the piece with the illustrations, I'd keep my piece, because they're too nice to throw away.
I'd probably put it in a box with those little ceramic animal figures which used to come in tea boxes.
Since it's a "1 day free ticket" and has space for the date as seen in the image above, I think they'd just inspect the card and not do anything to it when you use it to ride a bus.
This. Mio fails pretty hard.
Mio is god.
Haruhi too. >_>
MOEness is a sin,eh?
Guilty of being the target of an otaku surge of popularity, I guess.
Mio are real
>fails
/b/ is that way ---->
K-on itself sucks.
Mio is a character. A work of fiction. How can "she" be possible be to blame?
It's not her fault..
I bet hardcore otakus will collect them all~ Probably with a dozen same ones just for collection >.<
we can expect someone to post claimed possession of tons of this tickets pretty soon
AWESOME!
"...they realise many of these tickets will go unused…"
Otaku will sure find a use for them...until someone creates an ero doujinshis.
Rule 34
some of those tickets would undoubtly be a tool for jerking off.
Does this mean fan-art of these characters will start popping up? That'd be cool.
Maybe I should head over to Japan and start selling all sorts of moe-merchandises like moe-hairdryer, moe-paperclip, moe-chairs, moe-tenga etc.
I feel like I could make a fortune!
What do you think Hello Kitty is all about?
... okay, it doesn't really have the same target demographic.
This is Japan's answer to their recession. Moe/ita-everything.
Until the fad dies off like shoulder pads did.
That sounds kinda cool actually. Just buy a ticket and bus along the coastline for a day.
So it seems that more and more are realizing that utilizing the 2D girlies, even in a country where "anime is the lifeblood", will almost always fetch extra attention.
"Anywhere from Okinawa to Hokkaido"...haha..that is really smart..to think that the price isn't very cheap too...with only one/two day pass..