However, Numazu is very much on the radar of anime otaku by virtue of being the setting of high school idol singer series Love Live! Sunshine!!, and the email offering the masks came from a group of Love Live! fans, or Love Livers, as they’re called, living in Shanghai.
The Shanghai Love Livers collectively bought 10,000 masks, which they then shipped to Japan.
The shipment arrived in Numazu on Thursday in boxes bearing a message borrowed from the lyrics of Love Live! Sunshine!!