The Lamentable End of Shimokun

In Japan, most (if not all) towns and cities have some sort of town logo or mascot. I'm not sure exactly what the point of "branding" municipalities is but they sure do get a kick out of it over here, blanketing every available public space with the likeness of a usually cute mascot. Sometimes these logos make at least some logistical sense. For example, we have a cute little statue of liberty and Aomori-Shi has a cute little ASPAM; both commemorate "famous" local landmarks. Rokunohe has a little maple leaf guy, as they have chosen to nickname their town "Maple Town," despite the fact that they probably don't actually have any maple trees. However, these mascots all pale in comparison to Shimoda's own Shimokun (lit. "Shimoda boy"). While at first glance he might look like an amoeba or amorphous blob, he's actually an outline of the town with a face that sports fashionable polka-dot vestments (feel free to consult this unreliable map, if you're skeptical).

Well, as one might imagine, Shimokun was in full effect at the Salmon festival; sailing omnipresently over the proceedings, standing directly in front of a large speaker blaring American dance music and even in festivalgoer stomachs, in the form of Shimokun cookies. But sadly, this marks the last year that salmon-killing enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the ubiquity of our favorite gelatinous blob. You see, there's been a huge trend in recent years for Japanese towns to consolidate into larger towns. The reason for this is that the archaic national system by which money is distributed to local municipalities offers huge incentives for such consolidation (this system is apparently, one of the targets of Koizumi's planned postal reform). As a result, Momoishi (the town that I call home) and Shimoda will fuse in a Voltron-like fashion in February, forming a behemoth called Oirase-Cho. Okay, well, forming a slightly bigger small-town, at any rate.

Sadly this spells the end of little Statue of Liberty and Shimokun, in favor of some sort of boring logo that Charlie saw last week. As I mentioned a while back, elections were held to select the new logo which will ostensibly be plastered in every corner of the town come next year. So long, Shimokun, we hardly knew ye.