Thursday, March 13, 2008

On a par with the famed Hachiko statue in Shibuya, this statue represents a likeness of ‘Tora-san’, star of a grand total of 49 movies over a period of almost 30-years between the late 60s and mid-1990s. The first movie appeared in August 1969 carrying the simple title “It's Tough Being a Man" (Otoko wa tsurai yo – in Japanese) and is still today perhaps the most famous of all the successive 48 titles released before December, 1995, saw the release of the final movie centered on the life of the fickle hearted traveling salesman ‘Tora-san’ - Tora's Tropical Fever" or Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajiro haibisukasu no hana tokubetsuhen* in the native tongue to give it its somewhat longer domestic release name.