Fukuoka theme park draws outrage for freezing 5,000 fish into ice skating rink - TomoNews

FUKUOKA, JAPAN — A Japanese theme park thought it was a good idea to put thousands of dead fish under the ice at their skating rink — and is now badly regretting that decision. Asahi Shimbun reports that the operators of Space World in Fukuoka believed the idea of gliding over a wide variety of sea creatures would be a unique draw for customers. The park bought 5,000 dead fish and arranged them around the rink, along with blown up photos of larger marine animals. When images of the theme park’s centerpiece got around, they were met with outrage after netizens thought the fish were frozen to death. Despite the clarification that live fish weren’t used, and only fish that weren’t fit for human consumption, most didn’t see the appeal, calling the concept weird, cruel and disgusting. The park was met with a barrage of criticism and calls to boycott the attraction, so much so that they decided to finally close it on Nov. 27. Space World is now melting the rink and will reportedly hold a memorial service for the fish sometime next year.