Well, they’ve done it again. The Japanese have done something else to prove that they most likely don’t exist and that the entire country is just all cartoons and gaslighting. The Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono went ahead and “appointed” Pikachu (of Pokémon fame) and Hello Kitty (of Hello Kitty fame) to push for Osaka as the city that will host the 2025 World Expo. This man, who has no doubt had a seasoned and respectable political career, appointed these two adorable, yet extremely fictional characters to be the actual ambassadors at this conference that will decide which country hosts the Expo.
The World Expo happens every five years in a different place in the world and the countries going up against these two adorable, incomprehensible cats (Pikachu’s basically a cat, right?) will be: France, the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, and Japan. The host country gets chosen in November of 2018, where 170 different countries will vote. This is a thing that’s actually happening. And it’s happened before and, likely, will happen again.
The weird part is that who is France sending? A mime, Pepé Le Pew, and a dude in a baguette costume? Is Russia sending a bear, a bottle of vodka, and a giant anthropomorphized dashcam? Is Azerbaijan going to send famous chess player Garry Kasparov and their master Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich? Pffft. It feels like it should be offensive, but somehow this news is not.
Best comment goes to this Reddit user:
The Foreign Minister said “I would like for you to represent Japan and proactively [promote] the attraction of Osaka inside and outside of the country.” And here’s my favorite quote from this news article release: “This is not the first time Hello Kitty has been awarded an honor typically reserved for an actual human.” And it’s true. “She” (yes, they actually eventually give up and start calling her “she” as if she exists oh God I just did it too) raised $150,000 for female education programs with UNICEF and was also declared the Japanese Ambassador for Tourism in China and Hong Kong.
But here’s an interesting tidbit: Pikachu doesn’t technically speak any real language, he just responds with different versions of his name like a narcissistic Chewbacca and Hello Kitty was intentionally not given a mouth so people can “project their feelings” onto the character. So hopefully their waving and swaying back-and-forth game is on point for this conference. For Japan’s sake.