On November 28th, actress Aya Ueto attended the "Zootopia 2" and Shizuoka Prefecture Partner City Announcement Press Conference" for Disney animation's "Zootopia 2" (directed by Jared Bush and others, released December 5th) held at the Shizuoka Prefectural Office (Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City) along with Shizuoka Governor Yasutomo Suzuki.
At the press conference, it was announced that "Zootopia" and Shizuoka Prefecture will become partner cities as part of a nationwide Zootopia promotion to celebrate the release of "Zootopia 2." Ueto, who voices the rabbit police officer Judy in the Japanese version, as she did in the previous film, excited the prefectural officials in attendance when she appeared at the venue.
At the press conference, Governor Suzuki announced, "I hereby declare that the name of Shizuoka Prefecture will be changed to 'Shizuoka Prefecture'!" He also announced that six stations within the prefecture will also be "Zootopia-ified," with JR Central's Shizuoka Station becoming Shizuoka Station, Shimizu Station becoming Shimizu Station, Shizuoka Railway's Shin-Shizuoka Station becoming Shin-Shizuoka Station, Shin-Shimizu Station becoming Shin-Shimizu Station, Enshu Railway's Shin-Hamamatsu Station becoming Shin-Hamamatsu Station, and Izu Kyuko Railway's Kawazu Station becoming Kawazu Station. Other plans include changes to the giant sign at the prefectural office main building, plans on the prefecture's official social media accounts, and a prefecture-wide stamp rally.
Ueto, who has relatives in Hamamatsu City, and Governor Suzuki, who is from Hamamatsu, had a lively conversation at the press conference, and Ueto sent a message saying, "Thank you so much for giving me such a valuable opportunity. I would really like everyone in Shizuoka to see 'Zootopia 2' this time, and I hope that Zootopia fans will take this opportunity to visit Shizuoka in large numbers."
This film is the sequel to "Zootopia," which was released in 2016. The previous film, "Zootopia," was set in Zootopia, a world where animals live in a high-tech civilized society like humans, and depicted the story of Judy the rabbit who meets Nick the fox and overcomes many challenges together as he grows into a fine police officer. It was the first Disney animation film since "Frozen" to surpass $1 billion in global box office revenue. It was also a huge hit in Japan, grossing over 7.6 billion yen.
In the Japanese version, actress Aya Ueto will voice the rabbit police officer Judy, and voice actor Toshiyuki Morikawa will voice the fox Nick, just like in the previous film. In addition, voice actor Hiro Shimono will voice Gary, the wanted snake who holds the key to Zootopia's biggest mystery.
