Unique video "COME ON! Kanmon! Kaikyo Kaiju, featuring "kaiju" (huge monster) Kaisendon, was released on YouTube in March 2017.
To date, the video is said to have become one of the most viewed videos of this type of tourism promotion video with more than 350 million views, according to Mainichi.
In the 2-minute, 37-second video, the giant Kaisendon Monster suddenly appears in the Kanmon Strait, causing crowded tourists in the Moji area of Kitakyushu and Karato Market in Shimonoseki to panic. Kaisendon grumbled, making people try to run away.
However, the next developments until the end of the video were quite surprising, the giant monster danced with a few awkward moves and returned to swimming in the water. People and tourists also stopped running and applauded.
The Kaisendon Monster is designed based on local specialty toad fish, heikegani crab and octopus.
Although the tourism promotion video was a success, the city's leaders were initially confused by the new idea. " Kitakyushu hardly appears in the video. Is this really a boost (one sector)?" - they said.
At the time of production, local governments in Japan were eager to attract foreign tourists. 54-year-old official Kenji Hibitani, who participated in the production of the promotional video, said: The Kanmon Strait is not as well known to foreigners as Kyoto or Hokkaido, so the goal of the promotional activity is to impress visitors from the beginning.
The video discussion section in English and with subtitles in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Thai were also released at the same time. The video has become a phenomenon on social networks and attracted many views from abroad.
