Japanese mascot Chiitan fired after going berserk with inappropriate pranks

A city in Japan has fired its tourism ambassador mascot Chiitan after its alter-ego was spotted going berserk on social media and in public.

This sparked the hashtag #JusticeForChiitan, with people taking to the internet to vent their disbelief and disapproval at the announcement, in hopes of forcing Susaki city to rescind the rash decision. 

This was how the story went down: Last year, a costume mascot called Chiitan was created based on a real-life otter that had a large fan base on social media.

It joined Susaki's original otter ambassador Shinjokun in hopes of attracting more tourists to the city. 

Unsatisfied with sharing the limelight, Chiitan took matters into its own hands (or paws) by pulling a series of pranks which were ridiculously inappropriate, as compared to the more docile, well-mannered Shinjokun.

Some of the stunts included Chiitan pole-dancing blithely, pushing over a van in public and executing a bad-ass flying-kick.

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Some others revealed a darker side. In one video titled "Chiitan going to visit your house", he stealthily walks off with a baseball bat tucked under his arm and in the next we see him in a frenzy playing with the water pipes at the petrol station. 

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Chiitan's nonsensical antics spread like wildfire across social media, garnering controversy.

A number of people raised their concerns regarding a video where Chiitan is seen swinging a weed-cutter, as his fan base was mostly made up of kids. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/love2chiitan/status/1002834363636051968[/embed]

After successfully gaining all the attention, the infamous otter has been called out repeatedly for its distasteful behaviour.

Over a hundred complaint calls were made around Japan, resulting in the city's refusal in renewing the tourism ambassador contract last week.

This decision then led to more dissatisfaction where #JusticeForChiitan was demanded with legions of people furiously demanding for Chiitan's reinstatement and fighting for his rights.

Some took to Twitter to unleash their wrath with tweets that threaten a "sunken skull" and to "sue the whole country if I have to", berating the brazen decision made by the city.

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All in all, with most of the internet on Chiitan's side, we guess he is not going down without a fight.

Whether Chiitan's anarchic acts were spontaneous or just another staged marketing tactic, we are still unsure, but we are sure of one thing - Chiitan was hell of fun to have around and we are loving it.

So keep the videos coming, Chiitan!

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huangjunyi@asiaone.com