Tokorozawa City Campaign On-line for Totoro House

Date: 2005 April 26 16:10

Posted by Joe

Following on from our coverage of Satsuki's and Mei's House and how lots of local Japanese governments want to get the house moved into their area, it seems that some of these groups are actually now campaigning on the internet targeting English speaking anime fans!

Tokozawa Junior Chamber Inc Sent us an e-mail, which basically says the same as this page on their site. This is interesting because to our knowledge it's the first time a Japanese organisation has directly targeted anime fans for a political matter like this. The e-mail and webpage want people to fill out an on-line petition, here at Otaku News, we're always cynical of such things, since they don't often carry much weight in the real world and because it's so easy to automatically generate fake results.

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E-mail contents below:

Dear Friends,

I am writing from the town of Tokorozawa, Japan, which is known to be the home of "My Neighbor TOTORO." And I am writing to you in connection with the Satsuki and Mei’s house from this movie.

The house, where Satsuki and Mei moved in on one beautiful Sunday in May, has been restored meticulously to the movie for Expo 2005, currently being held in Aichi, Japan. The house will most likely be relocated somewhere after the Expo has finished in September this year.

We, the citizens of Tokorozawa, are making an attempt to bring this house back to our city, the hometown of TOTORO. Therefore we are currently subscribing a petition, and we need your support. I think many of the worldwide fans of TOTORO would agree that the house should be relocated where it really belongs.

We believe that the house will deliver the significant messages to the children and everyone on the Earth in the years to come. The movie is trying to convey the importance of the family ties, keeping a world of fantasy in the eyes of children even after growing up, and paying homage to the wisdom of nature.

It would be very much appreciated if you could pass on this message to your "neighbors" and friends to let them know of our cheerful activity. And should you wish to support us, click here and send your message!

Thank you.

Tokorozawa Junior Chamber, Inc.