The bitter feud between popular costume character Chiitan and a city in Japan ended up in court recently – and the court sided with Chiitan.
The feud between Chiitan and the city of Susaki in Kochi Prefecture goes all the way back to 2018. Chiitan is a genderless fairy baby otter (officially 0 years old) designed by Hashibiro Kou, who also designed the city’s official mascot, Shinjo-kun. When the city designated a pet otter with the same name as a travel ambassador, the character also began referring to themselves as an official ambassador for the city.
Chiitan is known for their crazy stunts and antics online, some of which border on dangerous. After receiving a ton of complaints about Chiitan’s behavior, in 2019, the city had to rescind the travel ambassador designation from the pet otter.
The character, managed by talent management company Kleeblatt inc., has only grown more popular since. Chiitan now has a worldwide following, with over two million followers on social media site X. The character has received a lot of support and love in particular from the LGBTQ community after coming out affirmatively for transgender rights.
Susaki sued Chiitan’s management company, claiming that their close resemblance to Shinjo-kun violated the city’s copyright. However, a Tokyo court threw out that claim in 2019.
However, as Asahi Shimbun reports, the city continued to state that the character violated its copyright on Shinjo-kun. Kleeblatt sued the city over these claims, saying that it’d cost them bookings and other financial losses due to the damage to Chiitan’s reputation.
According to Mainichi Shimbun, a Tokyo court has awarded the company 7.86 million yen (USD $51,900). The company argued successfully that they created Chiitan with the full awareness of Susaki city officials as a “best friend” to Shinjo-kun and had the city’s tacit approval for the project.
Susaki officials said they don’t agree with the verdict and will appeal.
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