Kochi Prefecture
Gomen means sorry in Japanese, but in this town you’ll see it written on the streetcar destination displays.
Otodo-chan has been racking up likes and re-tweets for her impassioned PR pleas, seal-ing her fate as one of Japan’s top mascots!
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Japanese Internet shoppers thought they got an amazing deal last month when they paid just 1,000 yen (US$10) for a 18,840 yen package of three premium Japanese steaks. Word of the 95 percent discount on the shopping site Rakuten Ichiba spread like wildfire with a flurry of tweets, blog posts and message board announcements. Alas, things were not quite as they seemed.
This past summer on August 12, the city of Shimanto in Kochi Prefecture experienced a record-setting temperature of 41 degrees Celcius (105.8 Fahrenheit), the highest ever recorded in the country. But the little city on Japan’s southern island of Shikoku took the less than ideal title in stride, using it as a new way to promote the area. The city’s “41℃” campaign has been received positively by tourists and citizens alike, boosting the area’s tourism industry and bringing a little fame to the relatively unknown city.
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