Somebody actually thought it was a good idea to place thousands of real marine animals under the frozen layer of an ice skating rink.
The act by Space World, in the city of Kitakyushu, certainly attracted a lot of attention, but not in a positive sense.
In a totally bizarre effort to attract customers, a Japanese amusement park froze over 5000 fish to enhance their customer’s experience.
Around 25 species of fish were frozen below the ice, with some forming words and arrows. Larger animals like whale sharks were just images.
“We were shocked to hear the reaction as the ice skate rink was very popular since it opened two weeks ago, we had an unprecedented number of visitors (…) we had endless opinions about the project, we were shocked … We are sorry for the project and decided to close the rink on that night,” Space World manager Toshimi Takeda told CNN.
The shockwave of negative comments mainly targeted the ethics of using real animals when fake ones could have sufficed. Additionally, Facebook and Twitter users said the fish scared their children. According to NHK, Space World had purchased the fish already dead from a local market, and it was created to encourage kids to “learn about fish”
After two weeks and a total uproar on social media, the amusement park apologised and closed the site.
Takeda also told CNN “the park would unfreeze the skate rink to remove the fish, hold an “appropriate religious service” and then reuse them as fertiliser.
