The more outrage there is at the supposed inappropriateness, the more publicity there is, the more the statue pays for itself and becomes the tourist attraction it was intended to be, the less outrage there is, the less it pays for itself, the more inappropriate it is … [I can keep doing this all day]
1 Like
Somebody mentioned Japan on the Internet so somebody else was sure to fuck it up.
4 Likes
Many (and especially smaller) towns and cities in Japan take great pride in local specialties and delicacies. This is a good marketing move because the publicity that it’s getting helps people to associate Noto with squid. There is nothing all that odd, and certainly nothing prurient, about it.
2 Likes
Japan’s current vaccination rate is 3.7%.
2 Likes
It’s even worse than that. Only 3.5 million doses of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine have been administered so far with a population of 126 million. They are talking about approving the Moderna vaccine this month, but Prime Minister Suga has proven himself quite useless.
This shows the number of vaccines administered as of 4/29. Japan entered a long holiday the next day and I don’t know if they haven’t been doing vaccinations or haven’t been reporting it, but the number hasn’t updated since then.
4 Likes
Not just Japan; sea creatures with tentacles, too.
3 Likes
Not in her anime show, no.
3 Likes
That’s actually a point, During the Great Depression, New Deal policies funded the creation of theater productions (starting the careers of Orson Welles and John Houseman among others), photography (starting the careers of Dorthea Lange and Gordon Parks) and even painters (Jackson Pollock) and sculptors (Augusta Savage).
8 Likes
Looks like it’s working.
1 Like
So they spent less than 3% of a small relief fund on a project that has given the town publicity on a global scale as the news is reported in EVERY digital and social media on the planet?
Big bang for 200.000 bucks if you ask me…
5 Likes
Are these metaphor’s for some Japanese fetish that doesn’t translate into other cultures 
(Sorry just plucking the low hanging fruit from your comment re ‘everything is strange in Japan’)
1 Like
It’s even become the topic of a few different anime!
3 Likes
I was actually playing it straight! As @Jesse13927 mentioned, many places in Japan have local specialties, delicacies, and attractions for people to visit, and they take great pride in them. I don’t find this any stranger than the statue to Paul Bunyan and Babe in Bemidji, MN, or the giant bluegill statue in Birchwood, WI, or any number of similar attractions in the US. 
My comments are more a reflection of my own weirdness than anything else. And, c’mon! Who wouldn’t want a picture of a giant squid grabbing you in a tentacle?
2 Likes
Every small town in Japan has some tourism angle. A lot of it carries over from the Edo period when commoners began to travel between the regions for tourism.
My town was the place to visit for eating tiny live fish fry from the river. The tiny town further up the coast had a public park on the mountainside planted only with Azaleas (and an amazing massive rollerslide). Absolutely nothing else going on the rest of the year, but the few weeks the azaleas bloomed that town cashed in. Another small town had a giant pyramid of red lanterns on the hill that played a part in the summer festival. Their bug museum had a enormous stag beetle on a post. How else would they drum up business?
A sculpture is a great investment. It’s a draw year round, encourages people to purchase local product in the form of food souvenirs, and can easily be tied in with additional merchandise if they make a mascot for it.
5 Likes
I’m in favor, I just feel like the squid should be wearing a mask.
Black Bancho is already spoken for, but I’m sure they can think of something.
Also- I totally bought the postage stamps from that episode. Chiijohn is the best.
2 Likes
Especially if some of the money was paid to local artists and welders or otherwise stayed in the community. I’m not saying I would have chosen it over other forms of “economic development”, but in hindsight “pay $200k to get your small town nobody outside your region has heard of to go viral on the interwebz” isn’t a bad deal.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
