JR East has announced that the new image character for the transportation IC card “Suica” will be decided by a general public vote to be held around summer. The current “Suica Penguin” will “graduate” at the end of fiscal 2026, and the new character will be selected on November 18, the 25th anniversary of Suica’s launch.
The new character will completely renew Suica’s image and be positioned as a symbol of Suica’s evolution from a “device for transportation and small payments” to a “daily life device” that connects more broadly with users and local communities.
Toward the decision, a selection committee chaired by Kundo Koyama will be established by the end of February. The committee will commission young creators it nominates to produce initial design proposals. The committee will narrow the candidates down to three, after which a public vote targeting general users will be conducted from summer 2026. The results will be announced on November 18, and the nickname for the character will then be solicited from the public, with the new character set to make its debut in April 2027.
In addition, leading up to the “graduation” of the “Suica Penguin,” JR East will roll out the “Penguin Years” campaign. A special website will launch in March, offering event and merchandise information and content looking back over the character’s history. From summer, limited-edition goods will be released in stages. At the end of March 2027, a “baton-passing ceremony” with the new character is planned.
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
