Yunaiku-chan
Kagoshima didnot have an official mascot when it first joined the J3, but in early 2016, a local blogger posted information suggesting that the team had submitted a patent request accompanied by the above illustration, and some supporting documents. The rumour generated a great deal of excitement, and clearly this accelerated the formal decision.
At the start of the 2017 season their new mascot was unveiled. "Yunaiku" is probably the most appealing of all the recently created mascots -- certainly far better than some other J3 entries. The mascot is supposed to be based on a local breed of dog, but it certainly looks more like a cat than a dog. The club points out that this is because he is "Yunaiku" (unique). This sort of dissonance is pretty typical for J.League mascots, though. All in all, Yunaiku is a good choice for an ambitious club from the far southwest of Japan.
Old Uniforms
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