YouTubers Born Out of Tokyo Police

Tokyo, Dec. 18 (Jiji Press)--Two Tokyo police officers have launched a YouTube video series in an effort to make the police appear more friendly in the eyes of citizens, becoming the first police YouTubers in Japan.    The two officers at the Metropolitan Police Department's public relations division have so far uploaded five clips in the "Metopoli" series on the MPD's YouTube channel.    The move by the MPD came as a YouTube channel run by staff at Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Buzz Maff, has become popular, garnering about 166,000 subscribers so far.    The first Metopoli video was posted in November after 10 months of planning and preparation.    "I'd like to transform the 'negative 3 Ks' of 'katai' (rigid), 'kowai' (scary) and 'kibishii' (strict) of people's perception of the police into 'akaruku' (cheerful), 'omoshiroku' (amusing) and 'tanoshii' (fun)," said Naoya Yoshida, a 28-year-old officer who stars in and edits the Metopoli series.    Hoping to be approachable for viewers, Yoshida in the first video placed a handwritten nameplate on the table with the words "Police YouTuber" and introduced himself as someone who prefers soy sauce on his fried eggs in Japan's age-old question: Soy sauce with eggs or sauce with eggs?    He has also put an extra effort in making a pyramid out of cardboard boxes to educate people on the ranks of police officers.    Yoshida said that he went through trial and error to create content for the series.    He said that he had to retake scenes in the first Metopoli video over a dozen times due to mistakes, including those made while reading from papers set up next to the camera. He said that he has spent over 10 hours editing a few minute video.    Yoshida said that he "felt a surge of happiness and at the same time anxiety" after he was approached by someone who recognized him when he went to get a haircut.    Airi Nishikawa, a 34-year-old officer who also stars in the videos alongside Yoshida, said she is paying special attention to making sure that the videos do not contain any expressions that hurt viewers.    Nishikawa, who in the first video said that she prefers putting sauce on her eggs, said that she was also careful not to deny other people's choices of what they like putting on their eggs in the egg debate.    The videos' content is decided by several staff members of the public relations division. Sometimes they bounce ideas off one another over lunch or discuss video ideas first thing in the morning when they arrive at work.    The MPD's YouTube channel, which was launched in 2016, has about 43,500 subscribers. The figure has grown by some 4,600 people since the first Metopoli video was uploaded.    About two to three videos will be added to the Metopoli series every month. "We're aiming for 100,000 subscribers," Yoshida said. END