Military mascots with or without a hidden agenda

Mascots are so popular in Japan, that even the military in Japan has mascots. They are Prince Pickles and Miss Parsley. Prince Pickles and Miss Parsley have large faces with big eyes. Prince Pickles is most often depicted in the khaki uniform, but the pair do frequently change their outfits to represent different faction of the military. In the photo in this post, they are wearing one of the uniforms of the air force.

When the mascots were first created in the 1990s there were some comic books written featuring the mascots. There were some whispers about the appropriateness of the comics. It would seem there were a few who saw a hidden agenda, as such, to creating cutesy characters to distract from a tainted military past while propagating a military future. I have no idea if there is any truth in that. But I do know that Japan's loves its mascots and highly doubt that a couple of cutesy characters are going to sanitize a history and / or normalize militarization.

Mascots are a common tool of public relations in Japan. Therefore, to me it makes perfect sense that the military also have mascots. Moreover, it's not like they are overly promoted or forced on to the population. Personally, I would never have even known about Prince Pickles and Miss Parsley had I never attended a military event. While many children were delighted to meet with the mascots at the event, it's not like they were greatly influenced by them either. They are quite benign, with or without an agenda.