Vandalized Namihei statue's trademark single strand of hair replaced | The Japan Times Online

Vandalized Namihei statue's trademark single strand of hair replaced | The Japan Times Online

Someone really likes Sazae-san. Or single strands of hair. Well, whatever the case may be, even here in Japan if there's something fragile about a statue, someone's going to break it or steal it.

I've been meaning to read Sazae-san. At my old school here we had a copy of The Wonderful World of Sazae-san in the lobby but I never picked it up. Reading about it just now has intrigued me. Created by Machiko Hasegawa, one of Japan's first female manga-ka, Sazae-san debuted in a local paper before launching in the Asahi Shinbun. Hasegawa wrote and drew the strip-- apparently considered leftist thanks to its feminist themes-- from 1946 to 1974. It became a TV series in 1969 and continues in production to this day, making it old enough to be The Simpsons' mother. Pretty cool, if Wiki has its facts right. I could research a bit more and report back, I suppose. That gives me yet another reason to pick up this series.