Society

PPAP star Piko Taro helps Foreign Ministry promote U.N. goals

Jul 08 (Japan Today) - YouTube star Piko Taro has partnered with the Japanese Foreign Ministry to promote little-known U.N. development goals in Japan, singing and dancing to the catchy melody of his hit song "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen" in a video.

In the promotional video posted on YouTube on Friday, the comedian, whose viral hit swept the world last year, wears his trademark leopard-print scarf and sings the PPAP song, but the lyrics explain in this version PPAP stands for "Public-Private Action for Partnership."

"I have a pen, I have a book, UN (U.N.), education," he sings, conveying the key concepts of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, which set numerical targets to be reached by 2030 in 17 fields including poverty, health and education. The goals were adopted at a U.N. summit in 2015.

With the help of Piko Taro, the Foreign Ministry is hoping to draw public attention to the SDGs and highlight challenges that Japan is facing such as a lack of growth in local economies and income inequality, a senior official said.

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