Ehime's "Mikyan" leads in online vote for most popular local mascot

Ehime Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura (C) pretends to protect "Mikyan" (R), the southwestern Japanese prefecture's mascot, from "Dark Mikyan," a villain character devised by Nakamura, during a promotion event at the prefectural government office on Oct. 8, 2015. Mikyan was leading in an online vote for the year's most popular local mascot as of midnight on Oct. 24. Vote count is set for Nov. 23. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo