Welcome to Mango Town.
Following the release of a promotional video in which a government official holds a fake press conference and declares that the Miyazaki town of Nangocho will be changing its name to “Mango Town” government officials have revealed that they have been contacted several times by people genuinely wishing to know whether the town would actually be changing its name.
Released on June 19, the video in question was created in order to promote mangoes produced in the town of Nangocho, which is one of the top centers of mango production in Miyazaki Prefecture, a prefecture known for its high quality mangoes. The video shows a fake press conference held by Kyohei Sagita, the mayor of Nichinan, which is the city that Nangocho is a part of, declaring that the town of Nangocho will be changing its name to “Mangocho” (Mango Town).
After the press conference the video then cuts to a scene at a bank in which an employee answers “Thank you for your call. You have reached Mango Trust Bank.” The video then cuts to a Nangocho train station, which is now “Mango Station” and after this the video shows a group of children declaring that their school is called “Mango Elementary School.”
The rest of the video features various shots of mango sellers, mangoes and people eating mangoes. However, at no point does the video explicitly state that the whole video was just a silly way to get more people to buy their mangoes and so it seems that at least a few people actually believe Mayor Sagita’s fake declaration.
According to a Nichinan City official, between the time the video was released and the end of July they were contacted by several people asking whether the town really intended to change its name. One city official explaining why they didn’t include any sort of notification that the video was just a joke was quoted as saying “We thought that people who watched the video would understand it was just a pun.”
Overall though, it seems that the vast majority of people did not have any difficulty understanding that the video was just a big joke. Some people even found the video entertaining enough to take the time to contact the city and express how much they enjoyed the video, saying things like “That was a funny idea” and “I want to eat mangoes.”
Mayor Sagita has declared that if the video gets 100,000 views he will go to work wearing a mango kaburimono, which would very likely be a mango head piece with just an opening for his face.
Meanwhile, the official in charge of Nichinan City’s agricultural department was quoted as saying “I want many people to watch the video to promote mangoes. However, that might mean that more people will mistakenly think that we are actually going to change the name of the town.”
Help Mayor Sagita get one step closer to having to wear a ridiculous mango head piece by watching the video below.
Source: Excite News
Featured image: Pixabay
Images: 「改名します。日南市マンゴー町」 日南市役所 好きぃ～部 128
