This town used its $228K in COVID relief funds on a giant squid statue

Money well spent?

A coastal town in Japan has dropped a reported 25 million yen — about $228,000 — on a 42-foot-long, 30-foot-wide and 13-foot-high statue of a pink squid, using money designated for coronavirus pandemic relief. Officials in Noto claim that their investment in the behemoth cephalopod will help drum up tourism in the cash-strapped fishing town, which is located in the Ishikawa prefecture on Japan’s central-western coast.