Metropolis Japan

December 2, 2010

Contest

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2010 If you took just a quick glance at the “Wanted” posters cropping up in Katsushika-ku recently, you might think that a rogue, smiling cop is on a crime spree. Hardly. The flyers are part of a campaign by local merchants to promote a lookalike contest based on a […]

By Metropolis

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2010

If you took just a quick glance at the “Wanted” posters cropping up in Katsushika-ku recently, you might think that a rogue, smiling cop is on a crime spree. Hardly. The flyers are part of a campaign by local merchants to promote a lookalike contest based on a well-known manga and anime series. First appearing in Shonen Jump in 1976, Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo (“This is the Kameari Park Police Box in Katsushika Ward”), aka Kochikame, has become Japan’s longest-running manga, spawning a popular animated TV series and other adaptations. The comic has also been a boon for the district of Kameari itself. Now local shopkeepers are running a competition to find people who resemble “the protagonist Kankichi Ryotsu, his swanky sidekick Nakagawa and the irresistible policewoman Reiko.” Top prize is ¥100,000, with a deadline for entries on Christmas Day. Call 03-5680-8685 for more info (Japanese).