Interest
Bronze Sazae-san Statue's Hair Stolen Twice
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The bronze statue of the character Namihei Isono from the Sazae-san manga and anime series has had its single strand of hair stolen twice. Namihei is the father of the Sazae-san's title character, and his likeness stands in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward with the other members of the Sazae-san family.
TV Asahi's ANN News channel posted its coverage of the story on Tuesday:
Namihei was discovered without his trademark hair twice this month -- around May 7 and May 20. The 10-centimeter (about 3.9 inches) strand of curly hair was attached to the bronze statue with adhesive. However, thieves were able to pull the hair from Namihei's head even after it was replaced.
The Sazae-san family statues were unveiled near Sakurashinmachi Station on the Tokyu Denentoshi Line in March. The inhabitants of the area instigated the project to erect the 12 statues to help attract more visitors to local shopping areas. Machiko Hasegawa, the original manga's creator who passed away in 1992, used to live in Setagaya Ward.
Hasegawa began serializing Sazae-san in a newspaper in 1946. Sazae-san's anime adaptation is the longest animated television series in the world.
The magnifying glass from Tottori Prefecture's bronze Detective Conan statue was also stolen earlier this month.
Source: The Mainichi
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