by Onsen Musume management declined to win the Sports Culture Tourism Award. Controversy over pointing out “sexism.”
It turned out that the operating company of the “Onsen Musume Project,” Inbound (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo), had declined the award for the “Sports Culture Tourism Award 2021”. The Japan Tourism Agency revealed in an interview with J-CAST News on December 1, 2021.
The award was jointly sponsored by the Japan Tourism Agency, the Japan Sports Agency, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Inbound was selected as a special award, the “New Tourism Award.”
Offer to decline from inbound.
On October 29, the three agencies announced that they had decided on a total of 10 award-winning organizations, including the Onsen Musume Project, out of 42 applications.
The project aims to attract young people and foreign tourists who like Cool Japan content by utilizing the animation and manga of the character “Onsen Musume” with the motif of hot springs.
However, over the character with a profile that likes “skirt turning” and expects to crawl at night, some accounts on SNS criticize “sexism by sexism” and “female disdain.” There was a voice to do.
J-CAST News interviewed the person in charge of the New Content Development Promotion Office, Tourism Resources Division, Tourism Area Promotion Department, Japan Tourism Agency on December 1. It revealed that Inbound had contacted him to decline the award. He did not participate in the awards ceremony held on November 30.
The reason for declining and when he offered to decline were not disclosed. The facts are being confirmed regarding the criticism of the project.
J-CAST News also requested an interview with an inbound spokesperson, but no response was obtained because he did not respond to the interview.
