A group of business figures in Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture, has launched a PR campaign reaching out to Elon Musk on X five times a week, leaning on the city’s local lore as the “birthplace of the Shiba Inu.” Back in July, they already met with Ayumu Matsuyama, head of X’s Japan operations, to explain the connection between Masuda and the Shiba Inu breed — but getting the request passed on to Musk’s US headquarters reportedly requires them to first boost their post count and follower numbers. Reactions on 5channel were largely chilly, with comments like “isn’t this just a nuisance?” and “it’s a problem if tax money is involved,” though some defended the effort, saying “the sheer initiative deserves credit.” Opinions were split.
A group of business figures in the city has launched a PR campaign to invite Elon Musk (55), the American entrepreneur renowned as the world’s richest man, to Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture.
Since the roots of the Shiba Inu Musk owns can reportedly be traced back to Masuda, the group is hopeful, reasoning that “even if it’s a long shot in business, when it comes to his beloved dog, things might be different.”
(By Yuki Sawano)
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
He'll block them, and then it's a stalking arrest lol
It's second-hand embarrassing to watch — rural towns need to quit doing this.
if something actually comes of it, that'd be good publicity, I guess.
If they are, that's Shiba Inu-level… (trails off)
Nah, it'd be "DogX."
But knowing it's a bunch of middle-aged guys getting all fired up about it… that's just painful.
And what happens if he actually shows up?
>After he explained the Masuda–Shiba Inu connection, Matsuyama said they'd "try to pass it along to the US headquarters," but asked the group to first boost their post count and follower numbers.
Sounds totally baffled lmaooo
I bet the moment they got back to the office, they told everyone those guys are crazy.
My grandma's grave is there so I visit sometimes, and having a bunch of Shiba Inus greet you at the airport was pretty cute though.
Probably a new mayor. Same thing happened where I'm from — suddenly it's "Sports Town" this, and the town newsletter is nothing but sports stories.
It's a famous melon-growing region, so they'll gift him a "musk melon." (a pun — cantaloupe is called "masuku meron"/musk melon in Japanese)
Context and Talking Points
Masuda City is one of a number of municipalities that has recently leaned into being the “birthplace of the Shiba Inu” as a tourism pitch, and as commenters noted, it’s really only pushed this angle hard for about the last decade. The invitation campaign got as far as a July meeting with the head of X’s Japan office, but getting through to the US headquarters reportedly comes with conditions — boosting post counts and follower numbers — keeping the odds of success low. What split opinion in the thread wasn’t so much Masuda’s Shiba Inu claim as the whole practice of towns chasing celebrity visits. Commenters repeatedly brought up Obama, Fukui Prefecture, which famously went all-in celebrating when (then) President Obama was elected due to the shared name, with some dismissing the effort as a waste of tax money and cringeworthy, while others praised the sheer initiative behind it. Whether Musk himself has responded wasn’t mentioned as of this report.
*This article was compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Newsplus) thread “[Shimane] Elon Musk, please come to Masuda City! Reaching out on X five times a week… “Maybe we can connect through Shiba Inus” — PR campaign for the invitation begins.”
