Governor finds promotion isn't always positive

MIYAZAKI (Kyodo) Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru, still well-known from his days as a TV personality, is now having second thoughts about putting his image on the prefecture's souvenir packages because of mislabeling incidents.

A souvenir shop at Miyazaki airport is crammed with products featuring Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru. KYODO PHOTO

Until now, Higashikokubaru, whose stage name was Sonomanma Higashi, has allowed local food and other industries to use his image on their products to help sales.

However, recent revelations of false labeling involving Miyazaki products have prompted the governor to review his policy, people close to him said.

According to the Miyazaki Prefectural Government, local products bearing Higashikokubaru's image started to appear on the market in February, a month after the former comedian was elected.

Copyright issues have been shelved out of his desire to boost the local economy. Because of the free use of his image, businesses from chicken farms to makers of cell phone straps have jumped on the bandwagon.

The prefecture's chicken industry, however, has been hit by the recent revelation that Miyazaki chicken had been mislabeled, with local department store Yamagataya selling broiler chicken on its Web shop as free-range indigenous "jidori" chicken.

Jidori chicken, a species indigenous to Japan, is more costly to raise but contains less fat. It is one of the prefecture's top-selling products.

In another embarrassing incident, a Miyazaki-based importer was recently found to have passed off Taiwan-grown eel as domestic. The product had Higashikokubaru's image on its package.

A Miyazaki official said giving companies free rein to use the governor's image has backfired, and the prefectural government is studying ways to start regulating his image.

"Just because certain products have the governor's face on the package doesn't mean the governor or the prefecture gave an endorsement," the official said.