Interest
Detective Conan License Plates Issued in Japan
posted on by Egan Loo
Hokuei, the hometown of Detective Conan (Case Closed) manga creator Gōshō Aoyama, will begin issuing Detective Conan moped license plates on Tuesday. Hokuei will start taking applicants at the town hall at 8:30 a.m. that day — the first person in line will get the plate numbered "1."
The town hopes that the plates will double as "moving billboards" for the town, which hosts the Gōshō Aoyama Manga Factory museum and several bronze statues of Detective Conan characters. The town made 500 plates, and it will issue them for free to new applicants. (The town will charge 500 yen to exchange an existing licene plate for this new one.) The license plates are available for mopeds, minibikes, and motorized bicycles with engine displacement of 50cc or less.
Other cities and towns have issued unique moped license plates; Mitaka, the home of Studio Ghibli, issues plates decorated by the city's mascot Poki, which was drawn by Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki himself. Another Tokyo-area city, Chofu uses Shigeru Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitarō character for its plates. However, Hokuei is the first local government to offer such plates in Tottori Prefecture in southwestern Japan.
Source: Nihonkai Shimbun
