12/3/2007

Cash-strapped city sells solid gold and silver dildo[dolls] for 200 million yen
MDN-Mainichi , December 2, 2007, KUROISHI, Aomori — Two solid gold and silver kokeshi*… have been auctioned off by the cash-strapped Kuroishi Municipal Government, despite reluctance from local residents, with the successful bidder forking out about 200 million yen….more....

There’s two funny things about this story. First,
Kokeshi [こけし] is Japanese slang for dildo That is, the traditional kokeshi doll has a narrow cylindrical body and bulbous head that resembles the shape a penis—and the city managers thought this would be a fun way to spend a windfall with from the central government.

One of the weird legacies of the “Bubble Economy” of the late 1980s was that the central government gave 100 million yen tax grants–no-strings-attached–to small rural cities but those cities had no mechanism to spend such money so many, many local governments bought blocks of gold made them into statues and displayed them in their town hall or city museum. Notice that I said 100 million yen (a little less than 1 million US dollars) and these golden dildos sold for 200 million yen—that’s a tidy profit in Japan were bank savings accounts only yield 0.025%.

For more on the real kokeshi dolls, see Wikipedia and visit our sponsor J-List.