KOCHI -- Western Japan's Kochi Prefecture has teamed up with the character Quagsire from the popular Pokemon franchise to promote the prefecture.

The prefecture and The Pokemon Company signed a collaboration agreement on Nov. 11, appointing Quagsire as a "Pokemon that loves Kochi," with collaborative products and events set to be unveiled in the future.

Kochi is the 12th prefecture in Japan to appoint a "recommended Pokemon" and the second to do so in the Shikoku region, following Kagawa Prefecture, which chose Pokemon character Slowpoke.

Quagsire, known in Japanese as Nuoh, is a "water-type Pokemon." It was appointed by the prefecture because of its image as a character that might be found living peacefully in the clear waters of Kochi's Shimanto and Niyodo rivers.

The light-blue character will cooperate fully in promoting tourism, local products and regional revitalization. Specifically, this will include collaborative products like Mire Biscuits and Tosa "washi" letter paper, and Quagsire will also appear on wrapped trams operated by Tosaden Traffic Co., headquartered in the city of Kochi. Pokemon-themed maintenance hole covers, called "Pokefuta," will additionally be installed across 34 municipalities in Kochi Prefecture.

On Nov. 11, Kenjiro Ito, chief business officer of The Pokemon Company, attended a ceremony to announce the collaboration at the prefectural government headquarters and commented, "Quagsire is the perfect character for Kochi Prefecture. We hope people will lavish attention on Quagsire, which is popular worldwide, as Kochi's Pokemon."

(Japanese original by Satoshi Kobayashi, Kochi Bureau)