Japanese mayor says "spamusement park" planning will move forward

In Japan the mayor of a city called Beppu located on the island of Kyushu, an area known for an abundance of hot springs, came up with an idea to get younger folks interested in visiting his town and to promote the hot springs in his city. The mayor and his team made a video that was posted to YouTube that shows what he called a "spamusement park", note that is SPAmusement not SPAMusement. No potted meats with odd gelatinous coatings at this park.

The video shows various amusement rides such as roller coasters mixed up with hot spring baths. How exactly you would ride a roller coaster filled with water without all the water splashing out is unknown. Beppu Mayor Yasuhiro Nagano posted the video to YouTube and said that once it reached 1 million views, he and his team would make the spamusement park a reality.

Thanks to the quirky nature of the video, it reached 1.3 million views in only four days. The mayor has now written a thank you note to viewers and pledges that the next steps in making the park a reality will happen. You can see the full Japanese thank you letter in the images in the gallery.

In part the translated letter states, "In the video, we used an amusement park as a setting that everyone from children to adults would enjoy, to create the fantastic "Yu-enchi" onsen amusement park, an exciting, thrilling tourist spot that could represent Beppu. I believe that, as one of the world's best hot spring tourist spots, the appeal of having an onsen theme park in the town creates an opportunity for the citizens of Beppu, particularly young residents, to feel that "Beppu is fun" and have a sense of pride for their hometown."

SOURCE: RocketNews