OSAKA (Kyodo) Providing a good education for one's children is not an easy task.
But in Osaka, one can get a little help from famous drum-beating mannequin Kuidaore Taro, the long-standing mascot doll of a popular, but now closed, restaurant in the Dotonbori district and regarded as a city landmark.
A pudding with the illustration of Taro on the package will hit the shelves in mid-April, and a part of the sales will be donated to an education fund set up in December by the Osaka Prefectural Government, sources said.
The Osaka Education Dream Fund was set up at the initiative of Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto.
The fund will be used to help education-related measures of municipalities in Osaka and to pay for the training of teachers.
The prefectural board of education is now calling for donations, as only ¥9 million has been raised so far, and hopes the Kuidaore Taro puddings can help boost its funds.
Although the restaurant closed last July, the ever-popular mannequin can be rented for advertisement purposes.