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Bronze Sazae-san Family Statues Unveiled in Tokyo

Twelve bronze statues of the characters from Machiko Hasegawa's Sazae-san manga were unveiled near Sakurashinmachi Station on the Tokyu Denentoshi Line in Tokyo on Sunday. The inhabitants of the area instigated the project to help attract more visitors to the station's local shopping areas. Hasegawa, who passed away in 1992, used to live in the area. About 200 people attended the statues' unveiling ceremony.

Statues of the seven-member Sazae-san family will greet visitors from the west exit of the station, while another Sazae-san statue sits on a street called "Sazae-san Dōri" in front of a police box. The tallest statue, featuring the character Masuo, Sazae's husband, stands at about 150 centimeters tall (about 59 inches). The smallest statue, of Sazae's son Tarao, stands at about 60 centimeters tall (about 24 inches).

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 2,151st episode of the series aired on March 25.

Sources: The Mainichi Shimbun, The Sakei Shimbun