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Sturgeons in Japanese village outnumber human population, used as marketing strategy

Shannon McNaught Dec 19, 2018
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Sometimes, the best way to get your message across is with humor. Fish humor.

While Japan boasts a fair number of bustling cities with populations well over a million people (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, etc.), it also has a number of towns and villages where the population is, well, not so high. And as many readers may already know, Japan’s birthrate has been on the fall for 37 years straight. With younger generations drifting towards urban centers as opposed to living in more rural areas, villages with super-low populations are becoming more common.

So those villages and towns have had to get active and creative in drawing visitors and future residents. There are NPOs that will assist those wanting to move to more rural areas, and some areas have even offered homes for free. Murato City on the Japanese island of Shikoku even turned an abandoned elementary school into an aquarium to add some interesting local color.

Now the village of Toyone in Aichi Prefecture is using humor to draw in visitors. Twitter user @mimurakami tweeted this photo of an advertisement for Toyone that has gotten a lot of attention.

▼ The ad reads, “Our sturgeon population outnumbers our human population, so please come and eat some of our sturgeons.“

大変なことになってるっぽいので日本中を旅しつくした方は是非愛知県の豊根村へ。 pic.twitter.com/A9rLV1770c

— マヂカルラブリー村上 (@mlmurakami) December 12, 2018

As of May 2015, the human population of Toyone Village was around 1,110 people (we’re not sure how many sturgeons there are, but it’s apparently over that number). The village has been specifically raising sturgeons with hopes of producing caviar in the coming years. According to residents, the fish itself is also delicious prepared raw as sashimi or cooked and served over rice.

Netizens have reacted to the Tweet both humored and surprised:

“I’m in love with this advertisement.”
“This kind of advertisement makes me really want to go there.”
“Will this really attract tourists?”
“I wonder if you can eat caviar, too…”
“There are more sheep in New Zealand than people, so that means I should go over there and eat some mutton!”
“Toyone Village’s population is falling fast…there are some mountain streams there, so if you’re into outdoor activities like fishing or camping, you should go there. I recommend going to Chausuyama Plateau this time of year. You can see trees covered in frost.”

We’re not sure if asking people to eat sturgeons will help increase Toyone’s population, but maybe its other outdoor activities will inspire some to move there!

Source: Twitter/@mlmurakami via Hachima Kiko, At-S
Featured image: Twitter/@mimurakami