Some time ago, a trip had forced us to spend the night near one of Tokyo's two airports. Technically speaking, we weren't actually in Tokyo anymore, as Narita Airport is already quite a distance away in the neighboring prefecture of Shiba, and from the center of Tokyo it takes about an hour to get here by train.

We already knew the airport quite well, but we hardly had any idea about the city of Narita. Unfortunately, we didn't really have much time this trip either to see everything that there was to discover. But on that hot and humid summer afternoon we managed to take at least a walk around.

As we quickly discovered, the city of Narita also has its very own special mascot. It's an eel, which probably has something to do with the fact that grilled eel is the city's specialty. This mascot, Unari-kun, can now be found everywhere in the cityscape, where he has always managed to put a little smile on our faces.

I assume that the name Unari-kun is a little play on words. The Japanese word for eel is _Unagi_, and together with the city name _Narita_ it became _Unari_. At the end we add a small suffix, which is almost always added to Japanese names. Since it is obviously a boy, the suffix _Kun_ is used, and that's it.

Whether as illumination, on letterboxes or elsewhere. Unarei-kun likes to show his face and is always welcome. At least he has made our stay in Narita a little more relaxed and cheerful, which is probably exactly what he intended.

Let's see if we can meet up again in the future. I, for one, wouldn't mind visiting Unari-kun in his home town once more. Who's coming along?