CATDOLL: Japan's Shima City announced the withdrawal of the virtual image of the Ama. Is it because it is too sexy?

The Tourism Promotion Department of Shima City in Mie Prefecture, Japan, once launched a virtual image of a female Ama named "Akirashi Mae" to develop the tourism industry, but the Ama jointly requested that it be withdrawn because the image was "too sexy". Today (November 5), Shima City finally announced the official withdrawal of Akirashi Mae, but the reason was that "the designer submitted an application."

Akishi Mae is a virtual anime character created specifically to promote the activation of the sex-related region. The name "Akishi Mae" was selected from about 2,000 potential names and officially released in November 2014. However, this image was later boycotted by the Ama because it was too sexy. On September 30, 24 Ama representatives negotiated with Akishi Mae's image designer and event planning company "Mouthbeach" Yoshihiro Hamaguchi to discuss countermeasures for the issue of about 30% of the Ama asking for the withdrawal of Akishi Mae. Later, at the initiative of Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Shima City decided to withdraw Akishi Mae.

Yoshihiro Hamaguchi said, "The official image has a great responsibility, so we should choose an image that is more easily accepted." Mayor Oguchi Hidekazu said, "The official image should at least be recognized by the Ama, but the current situation is not like that, so we made such a decision." In the setting, Aki Shima is a 17-year-old girl who admires her grandmother's dream of becoming an Ama. She wears the unique costume of an Ama and a diving goggles. So far, she has appeared in many promotional pictures of various activities in Shima City, but people will no longer see her in the future.