K-ON Begins its Takeover of Japan
Seemingly nothing can stop the unbeatable mighty force that is K-ON, it seems. For example, in Japan, the characters are being used to officially promote the country's 2010 census in Kyoto, which begins this Fall (as opposed to the American census that took place at the beginning of this year). For the Japanese government to officially sign to use the HTT girls to promote such a thing is nothing short of amazing.
It might come as little surprise once you learn how much money the franchise is pulling in, on the other hand. Last week I wrote a piece about all the weird & unique K-ON goodies that have been coming out of Japan recently, but it appears I'm far from the only one interested in such products. It's been revealed that through t-shirts & other tie-in goods that the moe franchise has earned 1.8 billion yen (~$20 million) in sales in the first quarter of the current financial year, which is April through June. & mind you, this doesn't include DVD/Blu-ray or CD sales either, which are also off the charts. Holy moe-ly indeed!
Sources: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-05/k-on-t-shirts-tie-in-goods-bring-in-1.8-billion-yen
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2010-07-27/k-on-characters-to-promote-japanese-census-in-kyoto