A samurai warrior with an upturned noodle bowl on his head is the latest winner of the hotly contested battle of the furry mascots.

The number of online votes in this year's "yuru-kyara" contest doubled to 15 million, a measure of how these unlikely objects of national affection are gaining popularity in Japan.

Sanomaru, the official mascot of Sano City, beat more than 1,500 competitors to win top spot in the Yuru Kyara Grandprix 2013 on Sunday. Participation rates surged by over 80% from the previous year, as 1,580 municipalities and corporations vied to gain another shower of publicity for their cuddly representatives.

Sanomaru is a samurai character who wears traditional clothes - a hakama style skirt and zori flip flops. Instead of a kasa straw hat, he wears a ramen noodle bowl, emblazoned with the name of the city, and he prefers two potato fries to a sword. The combination represents two of the city's culinary specialities: Sano-ramen noodles and potato fries with a special sauce.

Sano is in Tochigi prefecture, about 55 miles north of Tokyo, and has a population of 125,000. The city is trying to establish tourism as a third pillar of the local economy in addition to manufacturing and retail, according to a spokesperson at the city hall.