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Donki discount store mascot survives axe after Japanese uproar
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Japan’s largest discount chain has reversed a decision to replace its mascot after outrage from fans online.
Don Quijote, called Donki in Japan, has over 600 stores in the country and is known for selling a huge range of products at cheap prices.
Its mascot Donpen, a blue penguin which wears a Santa hat, has become synonymous with the store.
So an announcement that Donpen would be replaced sparked widespread shock on Japanese social media last week.
The company announced on Twitter it had decided to replace the penguin with “Dojo-chan” - an anthropomorphic representation of the Japanese katakana character “do”.
It did not give a reason for the change.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter
That prompted an outpouring of dismayed reactions online. Some fans posted photos of themselves in Donpen onesies, while others threatened to boycott Donki stores.
Another user launched a poll asking which mascot Donki fans preferred. That attracted more than 33,000 clicks with Donpen winning 93% of the vote.
The change also appeared to have blindsided Don Quijote president Naoki Yoshida. He said on Twitter he didn’t “understand the situation either” and had asked “relevant departments” for clarification.
A few hours later, Mr Yoshida announced that Donpen would remain as the company’s mascot.
“We have taken the opinions of many of you very seriously and have discussed them with our board members. As a result, it was decided that ‘Donpen’ would continue as the official character,” he said.
The company behind Don Quijote, Pan Pacific International Holdings, also apologised for the incident and said they appreciated fans’ support for Donpen.
Donpen was born in Antarctica and raised in Tokyo, according to the official Donki website. He enjoys taking “walks at night” and “it’s rumoured his appearance changes”, the store says.
Don Quijote was one of the few stores in Japan to turn a profit during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: BBC
Ancient South Australia cave art destroyed by vandals
Vandals have destroyed sacred artwork in South Australia thought to be about 30,000 years old.
The Nullarbor Plain art, which are designs carved into the chalk limestone walls of the Koonalda Cave, has special significance for the region’s Aboriginal Mirning people.
The vandals are thought to have dug under a steel gate before scrawling “don’t look now, but this is a death cave” on the walls.
The authorities are investigating.
“This is quite frankly shocking,” South Australia Attorney-General and Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Kyam Maher, told ABC Radio. “These caves are some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country.”
Senior Mirning elder, Uncle Bunna Lawrie, told the BBC he first heard about the “devastating” vandalism from the media and said it was another example of “the constant disrespect” his people had experienced.
“It’s abuse to our country and it’s abuse to our history,” he said. “What’s gone is gone and we’re never going to get it back.”
The Koonalda Cave has been listed as a National Heritage site since 2014.
Mr Maher said that those found responsible for the vandalism could face prosecution, something Mr Lawrie says he would welcome.
Elders and cave experts say they raised concerns about security at the site months ago
But Mr Maher and the federal government have been criticised both by elders and cave experts who say they raised the issue of poor security around the site months ago.
Individuals found to have damaged an Aboriginal site or item currently face a fine of A$10,000 ($6,700; £5,500) or up to six months in prison under South Australia’s Aboriginal heritage laws.
However, the authorities have vowed to strengthen these laws following an inquiry into the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters.
Mining giant Rio Tinto was ordered to rebuild the Western Australian site after blowing the shelters up as part of an iron ore exploration project in 2020. Several senior figures from the company resigned over the incident.
Mr Lawrie said better laws to protect Aboriginal culture should have been put in place a long time ago.
Aparliamentary committee in The Gambia has recommended prosecution of the Indian manufacturer of cough syrups suspected of causing the deaths of at least 70 children in the country.
It said Maiden Pharmaceuticals should be held accountable for exporting what it called contaminated medicine.
The WHO had issued an alert in October advising regulators to stop the sale of the syrups.
Maiden Pharmaceuticals had denied the allegations.
Government labs in India said their tests on the syrups found that they were “complying with specifications”. An Indian official said last week that the WHO was “presumptuous” in blaming the syrups.
But the global health body told the BBC it was only following its mandate and “stands by the action taken”.
After weeks of investigation, the Gambian parliamentary committee has now recommended that authorities should take tough measures, including banning all Maiden Pharmaceuticals products in the country and taking legal action against the firm.
The committee said it “is convinced that Maiden Pharmaceuticals [is] culpable and should be held accountable for exporting the contaminated medicines”.
“The findings remain the same with the previous reports which indicates that Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup were contaminated with diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol,” the parliamentary committee said in its report.
Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol are toxic to humans and could be fatal if consumed. But the panel added that the exact scientific cause of the children’s deaths was still under investigation.
The committee also wanted the country’s Medicine Control Agency to ensure all medicines imported into the country are properly registered and background checks conducted on manufacturers - including visiting their facilities.
The report also revealed inadequacies in the country’s healthcare system urging the government to strengthen it and provide better equipment and medicines to the country’s hospitals.
What happened?
In late July, The Gambia detected an increase in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five. The government later said around 69 children had died from these injuries.
The WHO then identified four of the Maiden Pharmaceuticals’ medicines as potentially linked to the deaths of the Gambian children and issued a global alert.
After the news broke in October, India said that it was investigating the products and ordered Maiden Pharmaceuticals to stop production at its main factory in the northern state of Haryana.
On 13 December, Dr VG Somani, India’s drugs controller general, wrote a letter to the WHO saying that the samples it tested at a government laboratory “were found not to have been contaminated” with the compounds.
“As per the test reports received from [the] government laboratory, all the control samples of the four products have been found to be complying with specifications,” he added.
The test results are being further examined by a panel of Indian experts.
A senior adviser to India’s information and broadcasting ministry told the BBC last week that the WHO had been “presumptuous” in blaming the cough syrups for the deaths of the children.
“Subsequent inspections, tests and studies by Government of India’s notified bodies and technical team have shown that WHO’s presumptuous statement was untrue and incorrect,” said Kanchan Gupta, adding that the health body had “[jumped] the gun without valid scientific reasons”.
India produces a third of the world’s medicines, mostly in the form of generic drugs.
Home to some of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies, the country is known as the “world’s pharmacy” and meets much of the medical needs of African nations.
Maiden Pharmaceuticals: Gambia panel says India firm culpable for cough syrup deaths
