The character replacing Suica’s longtime penguin mascot was never going to have it easy. So it wasn’t too surprising when the initial online reaction to JR East’s three replacement candidates amounted to “Can’t we just keep the bird?”
The three hopefuls vying to represent the Suica smart card system are a cheerful squirrel, a purple rabbit … thing, and an orange creature carrying a tiny mole in a sling bag. Social media users responded to them with predictable knee-jerk outrage, where even professional designers as bad “design objects.” Others that the current penguin mascot, who officially “retires” at the end of March 2027, might reconsider.
Then, the internet did what it increasingly does: It began siding with the weird one.
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