You don't steal Pikachu. You just DON'T.

Gee, did they think they were going to get away with that sort of copyright infringement? Ube City has a new eco-mascot, and it looks on heckuva lot like that ever-cuddly, thunderbolt-tailed icon we all (well, not all of us...but if you want to fit in with the younguns, just agree with me here) grew up with. Just take a look at the plushy below.
More pics after the jump.

I'd vote for a Cosplayer

I spy a politician. Don't see him? He's the blue guy, and he's got my vote for Mayor if I ever go to Nagoya, Japan. Apparently, Takashi Kawamura has been hosting the World Cosplay Summit's international cosplay events since 2003. Ironically, as an article from io9 points out, we in America have come to expect our politicians should always look like car salesmen or important businessmen. If you ask me, we should have a yearly tradition where our politicians have to run around in fuzzy foot pajamas. Forget cosplay, pajamas prove you have a soul.