A small coastal town in Ishikawa Prefecture, Noto, disturbed the wa (和, peace) after unveiling its brand new tourist attraction, a giant statue of a flying squid. The figure is an homage to the city’s delicacy. While squid isn’t to everyone’s taste, the real controversy is that the town spent 25 million yen ($230,000) from their Covid-19 relief fund to erect the 9-meter long pink cephalopod.
The decision to focus on tourism when Japan still faces hardship during the pandemic provoked criticism, calling it a waste of money. The town hopes it’ll help revive post-Covid tourism. Whether it’ll work remains to be seen. Here’s a video of the giant calamari in all its glory.
If Noto had built their nearly six-ton flying squid at any other given time, nobody would have cared. After all, statues of sea creatures and local specialties are common in Japan. Every prefecture has one in a small town somewhere to attract tourists.
Japan Twitter shared a few of their favorites.
Attack of the sea monsters
能登のイカ
天草のタコ
志摩のエビ
紋別のカニ
“Noto’s Squid
Amakusa’s Octopus
Shima’s Lobster
Monbetsu’s Crab Claw”
Nakashibetsu’s scary salmon head
の
の
“The salmon head of Nakashibetsu (in Hokkaido).”
Ibaraki’s giant marlin
大洗のカジキもお願いします
“Please [share] the swordfish from Oarai (in Ibaraki) too.”
Tochigi’s weird dinosaur
栃木の紛らわしい形の恐竜
“Tochigi’s weirdly shaped dinosaur.”
Japanese vocabulary for sea creatures
Time to brush up your Japanese vocabulary and get some words going to talk about what’s living in the ocean.
イカ ika Squid タコ tako Octopus エビ ebi Shrimp, but also lobster カニ kani Crab 鮭 shake Salmon カジキ kajiki Swordfish 魚 sakana Fish (general term) 貝殻 kaigara Seashell 鯨 kujira Wale イルカ iruka Dolphin サメ same Shark クラゲ kurage Jellyfish ヒトデ hitode Starfish
