The Japanese are known for their innovations. Sure they've got the same basic contraptions as any of the civilized Western territories, but there, everything is just a little bit different. Normally, bicycles would be parked beside the road. In Japan, however, their bicycle parking lot is buried deep below the ground and like an ATM, would take in and spit out bicycles at the leisure of the owner. The same is true with them mapping their cities.
In most countries, city streets are surveilled by satellites, elevated cameras and drones, but Japan is not most countries. And while the rest of the world takes inspiration from birds and other flying, hovering creatures, the Japanese turn their gazes to cats - replacing wings, rotor blades and mechanical noises with legs, paws and... meow.
Cats are agile and deadly... sort of. However, this move by the Japanese government has little to no inclinations toward security. Putting cameras on selected cats and allowing them to introduce, from a feline perspective of course, Hiroshima's streets, key infrastructures and tourism spots is part of "Kanpai! (Cheers) Hiroshima - Look! - Eat! - Drink!" a 2015 tourism promotion program. Hence, they created a campaign banking on cute and furry animals, which they have a lot of and that most cannot resist, to promote the locality. Genius.
The first phase of the campaign has already started in Onomichi, a town located within the Hiroshima Prefecture. Last Oct. 1, eleven cats were introduced and equipped with cameras. The cats were selected from four areas of the town: Misode Tenmangu area, Kubo area, cats' lane area, and Shopping mall area. According to the plan, the campaign aims to introduce, in addition to the eleven cats, twenty-eight shops, seven pieces of scenery and seven motion pictures.
The production video and the "Cat Street View," which showcases how it is to roam the Onomichi streets from a cat's standpoint, are already out. It's quite a treat for cat lovers and tourists, alike.
Shown is the introductory video to the "Kanpai! (Cheers) Hiroshima - Look! - Eat! - Drink!" promotion campaign.
