> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Divers Denounce Japanese City's Shallow New Mascot
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/divers-denounce-japanese-citys-shallow-new-mascot/
- Published: 2015-08-13T17:45:47.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:43:10.000Z
- Description: Late last year Shima, a city of about 50,000 located 100 miles east of Osaka in Mie Prefecture, unveiled a new municipal mascot.
- Author: Benjamin Sutton
- Tags: In Brief, Japan, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

![A poster featuring the Aoshima Megu character in the Shima tourist information center (photo via @maribon_info/Twitter)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/shima-g7-maribon-01.jpg)

A poster featuring the Aoshima Megu character in the Shima tourist information center (photo via @maribon\_info/Twitter)

Late last year [Shima](http://www.city.shima.mie.jp/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a city of about 50,000 located 100 miles east of Osaka in Mie Prefecture, unveiled a new municipal mascot. Intended to attract tourists in anticipation of the city’s moment in the global spotlight when it [hosts](http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/japan-announces-dates-for-g7-summit-in-2016-774332?ref=hyperallergic.com) 2016’s G7 summit, the character is inspired by the city’s famous [*ama* divers](https://youtu.be/sTIf2vA-%5FJQ?ref=hyperallergic.com), who for centuries have been diving for clams, seaweed, and pearls without snorkels or other breathing equipment. The vast majority of *ama* divers are women, and according to [*Japan Times*](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/11/national/ama-divers-denounce-obscene-city-mascot-demand-withdrawal/?ref=hyperallergic.com#.Vcyz4FNVhBd)more than 100 of them have signed a petition calling on Shima to drop the mascot character, named [Aoshima Megu](http://ama-megu.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), in objection to her overly sexualized appearance. “The character is obscene,” Shima resident Isako Utsubo, whose mother is an *ama* diver, told the *Times*. “I believe it verges on child pornography.”

![The Aoshima Megu character (photo via @maribon_info/Twitter)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/08/shima-g7-maribon-02.jpg)

The Aoshima Megu character (photo via @maribon\_info/Twitter) (click to enlarge)

The [official backstory](http://ama-megu.com/aoshima-megu/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Aoshima Megu is that she is a 17-year-old aspiring *ama* diver on the lookout for a boyfriend, but with enormous respect for her grandmother, a master diver. Developed by the company [Maribon](http://maribon.jp/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the offending mascot has its own [blog](http://ama-megu.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Twitter account](https://twitter.com/aoshimamegu?ref=hyperallergic.com), and a popular line of [stickers](https://store.line.me/stickershop/product/1110431/en?ref=hyperallergic.com). It exists in [two different versions](http://ama-megu.com/aoshima-megu/?ref=hyperallergic.com): one a smaller, child-like figure, the other a more adult take, with Barbie-like features.

Many Japanese cities have recently sought to rebrand themselves and appeal to tourists and younger residents through such *moe* (adorable) mascots. “Most of the reaction we’ve received from the public so far has been positive,” a Shima tourism official [told the AFP](http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/japanese-city-criticised-over-obscene-g7-mascot-1206568?ref=hyperallergic.com). “We may consider changing the mascot’s design to avoid hurting some people’s feelings. … But at this point we have no plan to retract our official approval for the character.”

However, those calling for the character’s removal object not only to its sexism, but also its inaccuracy. Aoshima Megu wears a traditional *ama* outfit, a far cry from the costumes favored by [contemporary divers](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ama.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com). The character’s age is also misleading, as most of Shima’s divers are in their 60s or older. “*Ama* in our city are all risking their lives to dive. In the past, some have died. It’s that serious, being an *ama*,” Utsubo told *Japan Times*. “It’s for the honor of those who died that I’m fighting. My mom is angry, too.”

While the Aoshima Megu character’s unseemly mix of infantilism and sexualization is undoubtedly offensive, it is hardly the first time that the *ama* divers have been portrayed in an exotic or erotic manner. Arguably Hokusai’s most famous ukiyo-e woodblock print, “[The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FDream%5Fof%5Fthe%5FFisherman%27s%5FWife?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1814), shows a diver sexually entangled with two octopi, and many historical photographs of the divers — most notably those taken by [Yoshiyuki Iwase](http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/01/the-last-japanese-mermaids/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — portrayed them in an overtly sexualized way.