MEET MELON BEAR

Melon Kuma, who’s featured on the final page of Issue 4.2 of Forecast (which hits ski shops and newsstands next week) is probably the most unique yet simple mascot in Japan—it's a bear with a half-melon, half-bear for a head—that comes from Yubari (the melon-rich town on the island of Hokkaido) and a bear that was frequently found on Hokkaido.

Simple. Creative. Cute and Scary.

This is why Snow Locals, who met Melon Bear last winter at Mount Racey, wished they could dedicate a feature film about him, but sadly, only scored this short edit of him skiing for the first episode of their new web series, Yubari. One of the main reasons Snow Locals travels to Japan is to experience something outside of our culture, and Melon Kuma, Yubari and Mount Racey all embody this more than any other resort in Japan.

To view the entire Yubari video series, visit snowlocals.com/video/yubari.