Canadian blogger Micaela Braithwaite was appointed as the new figurehead of Fukuoka City’s virtual district “Kawaii-ku” – she will take up the role from tomorrow Sep. 12. Fukuoka City selected the young Canadian on the basis of her popularity and power to dispatch information to a large online audience. Last August, Fukuoka City’s local government established the virtual eighth ward for the city. Using Fukuoka’s “abundance of healthy foods, compact scale, cultural relations with Asia, history and location”, the website explains, Kawaii-ku is an innovative use of technology to connect Fukuoka’s vibrant youth with the city’s cultural capital centred on all things “kawaii”. The original figurehead of Kawaii-ku Mariko Shinoda, AKB48 member and Fukuoka native, resigned from her position after claims of taxpayer’s money being used to send the message that women should be cute. After a review conducted by the Gender Equality Promotion Council, Mayor Soichiro Takashima announced in March this year that Kawaii-ku would be “maintained and expanded” as part of the city’s public relations efforts. Following Mariko Shinoda’s resignation, the position of Kawaii-ku leader was empty for almost half a year. Now – Micaela takes up the position in which she will share information about the City’s events through her social network. Micaela first started blogging and making YouTube videos to assure her concerned parents of their teenage daughter’s safety in Japan. Six years, countless more videos and millions of views later, the entrepreneurial young Canadian is making a comfortable living from her original online content in English and Japanese. You can read Fukuoka Now’s interview (June 2012) with Micaela here: http://fukuoka-now.com/feature/micaela-braithwaite/ Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 9/11
