The City of Naruto Is Desperate, Sad
There is a city in Japan, in Tokushima prefecture, called Naruto. I don’t know for certain that their town is facing abject poverty, or that life there is crushingly depressing, or even that it’s that small, but I assume it is. Why? Because the city of Naruto is pimping itself out to Naruto fans, based solely on the fact that it has the same name. To do this, the townsfolk have put on a little festival, given away Naruto-themed gift certificates and posters. But my favorite part is this:
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?They carved the Leaf Village Hokage Rock — the Ninja Mt. Rushmore of the series, if you will — above some government building. So basically, you’re looking at the Japanese equivalent of Metropolis, Illinois: they both have a name, a nerdy statue, and a lot of desperation. Maybe they can be sister cities or something. (Via ANN)
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.