Shojo save the world

31.03.2009 by Patrick W. Galbraith

Walking through a slum north of Yokohama - very near to Hatsune-cho - I happened upon a huge photographic image of school girls posted to a wall. Intrigued, I took a closer look, and found it was by a famous Chinese artist who had come to take the photo as part of a renovation effort in the area. Asking around, I found that he used the school girls to symbolize a bright future for the city. That sounds pretty freaking otaku to me, and like every anime I've seen in the last decade, but moving on. Before the image went up five months back, there was a sign in five languages promoting the use of condoms, ostensibly for prostitutes in the area. Hmm... Maybe they ought to have left that old sign up to save these girls from a worser fate... I couldn't help buying the poster in a nearby store (image below).