Drawing Tunku Tunku, folding it in origami, sewing a plush toy, making a costume: an individual who is not doing it for profit may do all of these under the Association’s rules, and may post the results on their own social media or blog. What you may not do is sell it, give it away, use it in advertising, or repost the official artwork. The guidelines have been in force since 9 July 2025.
The rules are the Fan-Art Guidelines for the Official Mascot of the International Horticultural Expo 2027, ten articles issued by the Japan Association for the International Horticultural Expo 2027, Yokohama (the GREEN×EXPO Association) and in force since 9 July 2025. By making fan art you are deemed to have agreed to them. The guidelines exist only in Japanese, and the Association’s mascot page carries a short summary. Below is the PDF read clause by clause and applied to everyday situations. This is what the Association has decided, not legal advice. The contact for borderline cases is given at the end.
Allowed, not allowed, ask first
| Status | What | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| Allowed | Making works that resemble Tunku Tunku (drawings, digital images, plush toys, costumes and so on) for personal enjoyment, not for profit | Art. 3 |
| Allowed | Posting images or videos of those works on personal social media or a personal blog, not for profit | Art. 3 |
| Not allowed | Selling, distributing or advertising goods such as T-shirts or plush toys carrying the fan art | Art. 3, Art. 4(1) |
| Not allowed | Using fan art in corporate or business advertising or sales promotion | Art. 3, Art. 4(1) |
| Not allowed | Using the official character as it is, or with little creative change, and presenting it as your own work | Art. 4(2) |
| Not allowed | Suggesting the Association sponsors, recommends or endorses you, or that you have a special relationship with it | Art. 4(3) |
| Not allowed | Violent, grotesque or sexual content, or anything that damages the image of the character or the Expo | Art. 4(4) |
| Not allowed | Anything illegal, infringing others’ rights, defamatory, promoting or criticising a belief, carrying a religious or political message, or likely to be mistaken for the official mascot | Art. 4(5) |
| Ask first | Use by companies or organisations with legal personality | Art. 3(3) |
Permission is granted only to individuals and groups without legal personality, for non-commercial personal use (Art. 3(1) and 3(3)). It is non-exclusive and cannot be passed on to a third party (Art. 3(5)). The Association’s other intellectual property, such as the official logo, is outside these guidelines (Art. 3(6)).
Eight situations
| Situation | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Drawing it and posting on social media | Allowed | This is the example given in Art. 3. Mark it as fan art |
| Folding origami and posting a photo | Allowed | Three-dimensional works count as “derivative works” (anything created by altering the character). The origami Tunku Tunku promoted by Kanagawa Prefecture falls here |
| Making a plush toy for yourself | Allowed | Plush toys are named in the examples |
| Making and wearing a costume, posting photos | Allowed | Costumes are named in the examples. Event organisers may have their own rules |
| Posting a video of your work | Allowed | The examples say “images or videos” |
| Selling handmade goods, or giving them away for the cost of materials | Not allowed | Selling and distributing are prohibited, and Art. 4(1) bans taking payment “under any name, including cases of cost price only” |
| Shop displays, flyers, a company’s social media | Ask first | Companies and incorporated bodies are outside the permission. Contact the Association’s desk. Merchandise goes through 2027MLO, the master licensing office |
| School festivals and club exhibitions | Unclear | A club may count as a group without legal personality, but use by the school as an institution may be treated like a company. Admission fees or sales would count as taking payment. Check with the Association’s desk |
The guidelines say nothing about AI-generated images, fan-made booklets or group exhibitions. We cannot call those allowed here, so they fall back on the general rules: non-commercial, individual, creatively transformed and not misleading.
Four clauses the summary leaves out
1. Cost price still counts as payment. Art. 4(1) prohibits commercial use and, separately, receiving any payment for fan art under any name, adding in brackets “including cases of cost price only”. Selling at cost or charging only postage is covered. The safe reading is that no money at all comes back from fan art.
2. Reposting or tracing the official art is not fan art. Art. 4(2) prohibits using the official mascot as it is, or in a form with little creativity, as if it were your own work. The Association does not provide images either. Saving artwork from the official site and posting it, or tracing it, is not covered by the permission. What counts is a work redrawn in your own style.
3. Once you post it, the Association may use it. Under Art. 5, if you transmit a fan work to the public (for example by posting it on social media), the Association may reproduce and transmit it “free of charge and without limitation of region, period or medium”, and may modify it within limits that do not harm its integrity. Art. 2(2) adds that the Association holds the same kind of rights in fan works as their creators. You post on the understanding that your drawing might appear in the Association’s publicity. The first concrete use of this clause came on 15 September 2026, when the Association designated the 19th of every month as Tunku Tunku Day and said it will post images sent in to its Tunku Tunku fan campaign on its own social media.
4. Break the rules and everything must go. Art. 8 says permission is withdrawn from the moment of a breach and the person must destroy or delete all the fan works they made. The Association may also demand deletion from anyone who resold or reposted them.
What to write when you post
Art. 3(4) requires fan works to be clearly marked as such when published. No wording is prescribed, so a short note like “fan art” or “not official” is enough. The aim is that nobody mistakes your post for one from the official account. Anything that looks like “officially approved” runs into Art. 4(3).
The name is written トゥンクトゥンク in Japanese and Tunku Tunku in English.
Trademarks and design rights
Art. 2 lists the registrations that protect the design and the name.
| Subject | Type | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Trademark | No. 6855078 |
| Design | Registered design | No. 1780590 and No. 1780591 |
| Name (トゥンクトゥンク) | Trademark | No. 6924185 |
| Name (Tunku Tunku) | Trademark | No. 6909132 |
Because the name itself is a trademark, using “Tunku Tunku” in the name of a product or service is a matter for official licensing. Official licensed goods are handled by 2027MLO.
Contact, and what may change
Art. 3(2) gives a contact for questions about the scope of permission: the licensing desk of the Association’s Promotion Planning Division ([email protected]). Companies and incorporated organisations use the same address.
The Association may amend the guidelines whenever it sees fit (Art. 7), and anyone making fan art after an amendment is deemed to accept the new version. This article follows the PDF as of 13 September 2026 and will be updated if a change is published. The guidelines are provided in Japanese, and the Japanese text prevails over any translation (Art. 10). They are governed by Japanese law, with the Yokohama District Court as the agreed court of first instance (Art. 9).
Our take
The least known clause is Art. 5. The moment you post a work, the Association can use it in its publicity. Some people will decide not to post because of that, but it also means your origami or drawing could end up in an official setting. Make freely, never sell, and once posted the Association may use it: with those three points you will rarely go wrong.