Susaki, Kōchi
Susaki is a city located in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on October 1, 1954.
As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 22‚508, with 10‚986 households, and a population density of 170 persons per km². The total area is 135.46 km².
Susaki's official mascot is Shinjo-kun, a Japanese river otter wearing a hot pot ramen dish for a hat. Japanese river otter is an extinct variety of otter, that was last documented in the mouth of the Shinjo River in Susaki.
Susaki has hit the worldwide press due to an unofficial mascot, also an otter, named Chiitan. Chiitan is somewhat violent, but in a humorous way. John Oliver has an episode discussing the humor of Chiitan. In May 2019, Chiitan was banned from Twitter for inflammatory content. There is speculation that this disturbing but amusing content can help the city of Susaki, either by attracting tourists or because Japanese can donate a portion of their taxes to cities where they are not resident.
