| Chiitan | |
|---|---|
 Chiitan in 2018 | |
| First appearance | December 15, 2017[1] |
| Created by | Koh Hashibiro |
| Designed by | Koh Hashibiro |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Fairy-baby otter |
Chiitan (ちぃたん☆), also stylized as Chiitan☆, is a Japanese mascot which was formerly a self-declared unofficial representative of the city of Susaki. It is a self-described "0-year-old fairy baby" otter that wears a turtle as a hat. The mascot was created in 2017 and participated in videos and events with government officials and Susaki's official city mascot, Shinjo-kun. Chiitan gained popularity through its unusual YouTube videos and social media posts in which it performed various clumsy or violent stunts. It became one of the most popular mascots in Japan in 2018, and currently has over 2 million followers on Twitter.
In January 2019, complaints about the controversial nature of Chiitan's videos and social media posts led Susaki officials to reject its association with the mascot. In addition to excluding the mascot from official events, the government of Susaki claimed that it held the copyright for Chiitan's likeness and threatened to sue the company responsible for managing Chiitan if it continued to produce media content with the character. In April 2019 the mascot was featured on an episode of HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The episode praised Chiitan's antics but led its host, John Oliver, to create "Chiijohn", a replacement mascot-friend for Shinjo-kun. Following the episode, Chiitan challenged Oliver to a fight on Twitter for stealing its friend, shortly after which its Twitter accounts were suspended without warning. Several other media companies cancelled projects they had to collaborate with Chiitan in 2019, but it remains popular on other social media platforms.