One of these days, I’m going to get to travel to Japan and visit the many different cities that I’ve only seen in anime or on websites. One city that doesn’t always get a lot of attention, unless you’re talking about the annual snow festival, is Sapporo, but thanks to a new idea that’s being floated around, that might change in a hurry.
According to more experienced travelers, if you were to fly into Sapporo it’s likely that you’ll be arriving or leaving via the New Chitose Airport, which is perfectly fine since it is one of the most popular airports in the country, thanks to its awesome amenities. However, why would you bother flying into a normal airport when you could fly into an airport named after the virtual idol, Hatsune Miku!
That’s exactly the idea being floated around by management of the currently named Okadama Airport, who are seeking ways to boost the profile of the smaller and less-often used airport within Sapporo city limits. The airport is, of course, considering other options to increase its profile, including renovating to give larger aircraft the ability to land there and making it easier to connect to the city’s subway system, but those are boring so let’s talk about Hatsune Miku some more.
You might think that naming an airport after a fictional character is asinine, but a quick Google search pointed me towards this list of other airports that are named after fictional characters, so it’s not entirely unheard of. Plus, you have to consider that Hatsune Miku has become indelibly linked with the city, thanks to her “parents”, Crypton Future Media, being official sponsors of the previously mentioned annual snow festival and the popular vocaloid’s alternate persona, Snow Miku, being its mascot character. So really, this could be an interesting choice, especially considering the popularity of otaku pilgrimages.
This is far from a done deal though, so don’t book your tickets to the airport yet, but if she does get her own airport, you can bet that the J-List blog will be among the first to report on it!
Source: SoraNews24