Source: PARUS
Summary:

Earlier today, anime series “The Eccentric Family” was inaugurated as a Kyoto Special Goodwill Ambassador. With the award, the series is tasked with “develop[ing] the brand of Kyoto and its tourism.”

A ceremony was held at Kyoto’s Shimogamo Shrine (noh stage), in which Kyoto mayor Daisaku Kadokawa presented a certificate of inauguration to series producer Kenji Horikawa. As a celebration, Kadokawa and the show’s cast and crew hosted a sake-opening ceremony to reveal new key visuals for the upcoming Eccentric Family 2.

Furthemore, Eizan Electric Railways will launch a branding campaign, which will see The Eccentric Family branding appear on numerous trains within Eizan’s fleet. The promotion will rumn from February 1 through May 30.

FOR RELEASE ON JANUARY 12TH, 2017 12:00PM NOON JST (JAPAN STANDARD TIME)

“UCHOUTEN KAZOKU” TO BE INAUGURATED AS KYOTO SPECIAL GOODWILL AMBASSADOR!

Inauguration ceremony, “Tanuki Gathering At The Forest Of Tadasu”, to be held at Kyoto’s World Heritage site, Shimogamo Shrine, with the Mayor of Kyoto and the show’s cast and crew.

KYOTO, JAPAN – Jan. 12th, 2017 – Television animation series “Uchouten Kazoku,” (also known as “The Eccentric Family”) based on novel by Tomihiko Morimi, will be inaugurated as Kyoto Special Goodwill Ambassador.

Television series “Uchouten Kazoku” will be inaugurated as Kyoto’s newly developed Kyoto Special Goodwill Ambassador, with the mission to “develop the brand of Kyoto and its tourism.” “Uchouten Kazoku” is the first of animation project to be inaugurated as ambassador of Kyoto. The fact that contributed to this inauguration is for raising the world’s awareness of Kyoto’s attractions, which lead to an increase in tourism and improving of the Kyoto brand. At the event, the Mayor of Kyoto, Daisaku Kadokawa, will hand the certificate of inauguration to Producer Kenji Horikawa, representing the “Uchouten Kazoku” production committee. To celebrate the inauguration, the Mayor and the show’s cast and crew will hold a sake-opening ceremony and reveal a new artwork and logo to commemorate “Uchouten Kazoku” as Kyoto Special Goodwill Ambassador.

Event Proceedings:
11:00~ Event begins at Shimogamo Shrine, noh stage (Important Cultural Properties)
11:30~ Kyoto Special Goodwill Ambassador Inauguration Ceremony by Mayor of Kyoto
12:00 End of Inauguration Ceremony
12:30 End of Ceremony

At this Shimogamo Shrine event, there will be also a shrine ceremony held to wish for the success of “Uchouten Kazoku 2” with the fans. This will be the first time for an anime event to be held at the World Heritage site, Shimogamo Shrine (official name: Kamo-mioya Shrine). With the support of Shimogamo Shrine, original author Tomihiko Morimi and the anime’s cast and crew will attend the wish ceremony. Along with the ceremony, a series of announcements starting with opening & ending theme song artists, main visual and other information will be announced. Fans who were participating will be wearing “Fluffy Tanuki Ponchos” and disguise themselves as “tanuki from the Forest of Tadasu” and participated in the event. There will be also an area to introduce the corporate sponsors of the event and hand out sake from the sake ceremony.

“A fun city is a good thing” campaign with the characters from “Uchouten Kazoku” is also beginning. “Uchouten Kazoku” is a story about tanukis, humans and tengus running around modern-day Kyoto, with a theme of “A fun thing is a good thing.” The show is loved by many fans as a show that bring laughter and tears. With the inauguration as Kyoto Special Goodwill Ambassador, the campaign involves the characters of “Uchouten Kazoku” introducing various parts of Kyoto. Please look forward to the further announcements.

“A fun city is a good thing” 1st campaign: Eizan Electric Railways “Uchouten Kazoku Train” will begin operation! From February 1st, “Uchouten Kazoku” will be collaborating with “Eizan Train” that appears in multiple Tomihiko Morimi works. The 1st collaboration is the operation of an “Uchouten Kazoku” train, where the train “Komorebi” will be transformed into a gallery train displaying “Uchouten Kazoku” characters and production artwork. Visitors will be able to enjoy the winter to early summer scenery of Kyoto by riding in the world of the show. “Uchouten Kazoku” and Eizan Train will do more collaborations as season 2 comes out.

Operation Period: February 1st ~ May 30th, 2017 *Subject to change.
Operation Area: Demachi Yanagi Station to Kurama Station *Due to maintenance, the operation may be altered.
Planning Support: Eizan Electric Railways https://eizandensha.co.jp/
Produce Area Research & Utility Support Center PARUS http://parus.jp/

Event Detail:
Uchouten Kazoku 2 Event: Tanuki Gathering At The Forest Of Tadasu, Shimogamo Shrine
-Event Date: Thursday, January 12th, 2017 *Event will be held even if it rains.
-Participants: Takahiro Sakurai (Voice of Yasaburo), Mamiko Noto (Voice of Benten), Juniro (TBA), Tomihiko Morimi (Author), Masayuki Yoshihara (Director), Kenji Horikawa (Producer)
-Location: Shimogamo Shrine (Kamo-mioya Shrine) Inner Shrine (15 min walk from Keihan Line ‘Izumicho-Yanagi’ Station)
-Opening Time: 10:00 a.m. JST
-Beginning Time: 11:00 a.m. JST
-Ending Time: 12:30 p.m. JST (TBC)
Main Sponsor: “Uchouten Kazoku 2” Production Committee
Support by: Shimogamo Shrine (Kamo-mioya Shrine), City of Kyoto
Planning Support: KBS Kyoto, Produce Area Research & Utility Support Center PARUS
Co-Sponsored by: 1muan Inc. http://1muan.com/ Kyoto Kimono Rental Yumeyakata http://www.kyoto.yumeyakata.com/ Kyoto Shabonya http://www.shabonya.com/ Shinroku http://www.shinroku.com K-Uno Inc., http://www.k-uno.co.jp/ Suntroy Winary International Inc. http://www.suntory.co.jp/wine/?ke=ft GS Craft Inc., http://www.gscraft.co.jp/ Shiraito Shuzo Inc., http://sake-shiraito.com/ DMM.make http://make.dmm.com/

About the World Heritage site, Shimogamo Shrine
Official Site http://www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp/
The shrine is officially called “Kamo-mioya Shrine”. It is called “Shimogamo” because Kyoto is structured around the Kamogawa River, and because this shrine is located in the lower currents of Kamogawa, the shrine received the name Shimo(lower)-gamo(Kamogawa). The west and the east shrines are registered as national treasures of Japan and also registered as UNESCO World Heritage’s “Cultural property of ancient city of Kyoto”.
Enshrined Deity:

West Shrine: Kamotaketsunumino-Mikoto, Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Yamashiro, enshrined as the guardian of Kyoto.
East Shrine: Tamayorihimeno-Mikoto, worshipped as deity of child-raising and relationships from ancient times.

When the City of Heiankyo was being built, the ceremony to wish for success was held at the Shimogamo Shrine first. Since then, the deities there have been worshipped for peace of Japan and the world, good luck, relationships, safe birth, child-raising, and traffic safety. Every year, on May 15th, Kamo Festival (aka Aoi Festival) is held at the Kamigamo and Shimogamo Shrines. This festival began 1,400 years ago, and it is recognized as one of the three largest festivals of Kyoto, along with Gion Festival and Jidai Festival. In the ancient style of Heian Dynasty, an elegant parade starts from the Kyoto Imperial Palace, passes through Shimogamo Shrine, and ends at the Kamigamo Shrine.

Project Information:
Official Website: http://www.uchoten2-anime.com
Official Facebook Account: https://www.facebook.com/uchoten2en
Official Twitter Account: @Uchoten2_EN https://twitter.com/Uchoten2_EN
Official Hashtag #Uchouten

Cast:
Yasaburo : Takahiro Sakurai
Yaichiro : Junichi Suwabe
Yajiro : Hiroyuki Yoshino
Yashiro : Mai Nakahara
Benten : Mamiko Noto
Mother (Tosen): Kikuko Inoue
Akadama: Hideyuki Umezu
Kinkaku: Shuya Nishiji
Ginkaku: Kosuke Hatakeyama
Kaisei: Ayane Sakura
Prof. Yodogawa: Takehiko Higuchi
Junior: Joji Majima
Gyokuran: Yoko Hikasa
Kureichiro: Yuichi Nakamura
Tenmanya: Bin Shimada etc.

Staff:
Original Story “Uchoten Kazoku – Nidaime No Kichou”(Gentosha) : Tomihiko Morimi
Original Character Design : Koji Kumeta
Director : Masayuki Yosihara
Written by : Ryo Higaki
Character Design / Animation Director : Kosuke Kawatsura
Art Director : Yusuke Takeda & Harumi Okamoto
Compositing Director: Satoshi Namiki
Color Design: Katsue Inoue
3D Director: Kohei Ogawa
Editing: Ayumu Takahashi
Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa
Music : Yoshiaki Fujisawa
Opening Music Artist: mulktub
Ending Music Artist: fhana
Music Produced by : Lantis
Animation Produced by : P.A. WORKS
Produced by: “Uchoten Kazoku 2” Committee
(C）Tomihiko Morimi , GENTOSHA / Uchoten-Kazoku 2 Committee