Is a giant squid what's needed to perk up the tourism economy of a hard-hit town in Japan? Noto, on the west coat of Honshu, thought so, but now it's catching a lot of flak on social media for building it with Covid relief funds.
The pink-and-white monster, four metres high and nine metres long, cost the town the equivalent of $230,000 out of a $7.3 million grant from the central government targeted at boosting local economies. The squid represents about 3% of the grant. Construction started in October, and the cephalopod was installed in March.
Noto is in Ishikawa Prefecture, where the infection rate has been low, but restrictions and illness elsewhere have hit hard at its tourism and other industries, one of which it is especially noted for: Squid.
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