Donpen No More? New Don Quixote Announcement Perplexes Japan Users

Japan’s most popular discount retailer announced a major change to its branding this week. And Japanese users are not happy. Here’s why the public is upset at the threatened extinction of Japan’s most famous penguin.

The Deets on Donki

In 1978, businessman Yasuda Takao founded a little store called the Thief’s Store (泥棒店舗; dorobo tempo) in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward. Over the next few years, he evolved his business into a wholesaling company named Just.

However, in 1989, Yasuda’s company returned to its roots, opening the first-ever Don Quixote[1]. According to a company FAQ, they chose the name because “we wanted to create a new type of merchandising business that, like Quixote [the titular character of the famous novel by Spanish author Cervantes], doesn’t bow to authority or common sense.”[2]

And indeed they did. Don Don Donki – known more affectionately as just Donki – is famous for its rock-bottom prices. It’s also renowned for the absolutely gonzo layout of its stores. Merchandise is packed in tight-knit aisles and sometimes piled up in small heaps throughout. Yes, everything is loosely organized. But finding a specific item is often akin to embarking on a treasure hunt.

The quirky combination’s paid off handsomely. Donki is now run by parent company Pan Pacific International Holdings, which operates some 170 stores worldwide. You can even find dozens of Donkis in Hawaii and California.

And while Donki’s discounts may be steep, its profits are no slouch. Pan Pacific has recorded a profit for all 33 years of its existence. That’s impressive considering how many retailers took a dive during the pandemic.

Goodbye, Donpen; Hello…whatever the hell this new thing is

Every great brand in Japan deserves a great mascot. For years, Donki has had one of the cutest: a little penguin mens named Donpen. (You can see him in the head of this article, celebrating the arrival of same-sex partnerships in Tokyo.) Donpen has his own little loyal following and is pretty much synonymous with Donki.

But people in Japan and Japan lovers got the shock of the week when the Donki official account tweeted that it’d be replacing Donpen with a new mascot. The monstrosity, dubbed Dojou-chan (ド情ちゃん, “Extreme Zeal”), is supposedly based on the company’s “zeal for value” (情熱価格; jounetsu kakaku). Rather than being an actual cute or attractive character, the new “mascot” is the Japanese katakana “do” with some legs and arms carelessly thrown onto it. A Franken-Do, if you will.

Reaction was swift and merciless. You’d have thought Donki had announced they were going to execute puppies in front of the Hachiko statue. “It’s not April Fools yet,” one user commented bitterly[5].

Unseen Japan’s English-speaking reader base was also aghast. “Whoever did this clearly never shops at donki, ” said user Turrosky, and they should be prosecuted for crimes against decency and first degree cringe.”

It’s a bit right? (Yeah, it’s a bit)

This decision is so bad that it has to be a bit, right?

Fortunately, all signs point in that direction.

First, as several users pointed out, the official Donki account had tweets earlier in the day from “Donpen” saying, “What are they thinking, change the mascot? Plus the new character’s broke af lmao”. That tweet was deleted and replaced with an “apology” for the “inappropriate tweets”[6].

Then, later in the day, Donki re-tweeted tweets from a brand new account claiming to be the company CEO, Yoshida Naoki. Yoshida claimed he was in the dark about these changes and vowed to hold an emergency company meeting. Hours later, Donki tweeted out an official “apology” saying that Donpen would live on.

ITMedia also notes that there is no trademark registration for “Dojou-chan”. Furthermore, Pan Pacific International Holdings had an announcement about “Dojou-chan” that makes no mention of this aberrant mutation replacing the character we all know and love[5].

So yes, the whole thing was a publicity stunt and we were all played. But it was an effective publicity stunt. Donpen was the #1 Twitter trend in Japan briefly, knocked out only by the news that Satoshi (Ash) would be saying sayonara to the Pokemon animated series[7].

In the end, Donki got precisely what it was looking for – free publicity fueled by outrage. And we all went along with it because we’re suckers for a cute bird guy hawking merch at discount prices.

Well played, my big gay penguin friend. Well played.

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Sources

[1] ドン・キホーテ (企業). Wikipedia JP

[2] よくいただくご質問. Pan Pacific International Holdings

[3] グループ店舗網NOW. Pan Pacific International Holdings

[4] 33期連続増収増益のドンキ親会社PPIH 中長期計画で掲げるPB強化・DX推進戦略とは. Diamond Chain Store Online

[5] ドンキの看板「ドンペン」引退“撤回”　一時Twitterトレンド1位、社長も参戦などSNSでは騒動に. ITMedia

[6] KanaiHina on Twitter

[7] The Pokémon Anime Is Leaving Ash And Pikachu Behind After 25 Years. Kotaku