Kamonohashi and friends are mascots developed for the Hanazono ski resort in Niseko, Japan.

An Australian platypus was chosen as the main character due to the resort being a joint venture between Australian and Japanese companies as well as the Japanese fascination with the strange marsupial.

His back story is that he is a travelling warrior who has skills in all snow sports as well as the Japanese martial art of Kendo. His friends are Kumaro the bear and Saneko the mountain cat, both indigenous fauna from the region. These characters were developed for the resort to populate the Winter Wonderland area in Hanazono. This area has a number of geographic features unique to the region that make it a fantastic place for children and beginners to learn the skills of skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing and other snow sport activities.

The fantasy environments were created to loosely mimic the actual area at the base of Hanazono and were used as large backdrops for the magic carpets and the children’s ski school facility as well as marketing collateral and digital media. The characters were also made into highly accurate costumes which were used to entertain the children during the daily lessons and activities.