Women in rustic Gunma Prefecture have a reputation for unsightliness that prompts some unkind critics to say that a prefectural beauty contest there would not find a winner. Though such claims are totally groundless, a town in the rural prefecture is holding a kind of beauty contest that, far from attracting a winner, can barely even draw in any competitors, according to Shukan Jitsuwa (6/12).

Ikaho, the Gunma Prefecture town you'd miss if you blinked while driving through it, is seeking five women to serve as its "campaign girls," the bevy of beauties responsible for promoting Ikaho's attractions across the country.

But it is struggling to rustle up the handful of honeys it needs.

"Although applications don't officially close until the end of May, as of May 21, the campaign had only attracted three applicants. Contests to decide campaign girls are supposed to be bitter battles that spark off fights, but to have fallen this far would be funny if it wasn't so tragic," an amateur cameraman tells Shukan Jitsuwa.

Ikaho tourism officials said the campaign girls will serve for two years, turning up at about 10 official functions a year. It's the third time the town has opened entries for campaign girls, and the two previous contests drew scores of competitors. Gunma's women may not really be ugly, but the situation has made sure Ikaho's tourism officials are.

"Unlike the past, people shun taking part in contests where they don't know what the end result will be. Even famous contests for campaign girls can only lure applicants by promising them considerable media exposure, or 1 million yen prizemoney, or a promise to make dreams come true," an entertainment industry source tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "There's a strong impression that being a campaign girl means getting a financial kick toward realizing dreams. Women nowadays know exactly what they want."

To garner themselves a bit of coverage, women are willing to forego a bit of coverage of their own and bear the scanty costumes required of racing track "queens" or even skimpy swimsuits. But if there's no guaranteed publicity, and the likelihood of decent pay is slim -- Ikaho's campaign girls will only get enough to cover their travel expenses -- it's little wonder nobody's turning up.

"No girl's going to be lured into becoming a campaign girl by the promise of a foot in the door to the entertainment world, either," the glitterati source says. "Any girl worth her own salt would go directly to the talent agencies."

Though Ikaho's hopes and those of the women living in the town seem to be considerably divergent, it's hard not to feel sorry for the inability to attract only a mere three applicants to the campaign girl contest.

"We regret that we didn't publicize the event enough. We also had the (late April) local government elections, so the media couldn't really give us the space we needed," an Ikaho tourism official tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "It's a shame, because the papers gave us a fair bit of coverage in the past two contests."