Tourism scare? In Japan and Taiwan, some locals bet on it

Groups of residents from remote mountainous areas in Japan and Taiwan planned to work together on projects to lure tourists by promoting local ghost stories, those involved on the Japanese side said.

A group in the city of Miyoshi, in Tokushima prefecture in western Japan, and the other in Nantou county in central Taiwan signed a cross-promotion agreement in February, allowing each to sell the other’s souvenirs and to attend events with their sister ­organisation.

The group began the exchanges after Katsuyuki Ohira, 61, a key member of the Japanese group, got to know officials from the Monster Village theme park in Nantou several years ago, they said.

Ohira joined a monster parade in the Taiwanese theme park last year, wearing a costume of Konaki-jiji, a ghoul-like baby with the face of an old man who emits shrill cries on the roadside at night and gets increasingly heavy after someone picks him up.

Members of the Taiwanese theme park clad in monster costumes also took part in a ghost parade during the “Yokai Festival” event in Miyoshi last year.

The areas are located in Shikoku, the main western Japan island.

The group says that the areas are home to tales of more than 30 ghosts, monsters and spirits, including Konaki-jiji, who is known from the GeGeGe no Kitaro ghost comics by the late Shigeru Mizuki a manga artist and illustrator

Its members have been working to promote local tourism, using the tales to boost the economy with festivals and the installation of monuments.

The Taiwan group, meanwhile, was a promotional association of the Monster Village business area, which contained the operator of the theme park and other local businesses, they said

(AFP)