Japanese city faces backlash for using sex doll to promote tourism

In this picture taken on June 13, 2017, a silicone sex doll is seen at a doll factory in Saitama. Photo by AFP

The purchase was made by an unnamed male official who believed the sex doll would appeal to the public, as reported by Mainichi.

The doll, featured in a 2017 exhibition at Tokushima Awaodori Airport, was dressed in an indigo-dyed summer kimono to allegedly promote the region’s traditional indigo-dyeing art.

However, an audit conducted in late January this year criticized the purchase as "grossly inappropriate in terms of social norms," and thus demanded that the prefecture seek compensation from the officials responsible for the procurement.

Tokushima’s Governor Masazumi Gotoda, who was not in office at the time, has committed to seriously addressing the audit’s findings and handling the matter strictly.

The South China Morning Post highlights that this incident is part of a series of questionable expenditures by Japanese officials. In May 2021, the seaside town of Noto faced backlash for allocating nearly US$170,000 of the 5.4-million-dollar COVID-19 relief funds towards the construction of a giant squid statue, intended to draw tourists and revitalize the local economy.