Who doesn’t know Tora-san from Shibamata? He’s Japan’s most famous tramp and the star of the world’s longest-running movie series,  as certified by the Guinness Book of Records. torasan torasan film series

男はつらいよ (Otoko wa tsurai yo/It’s tough to be a man) was supposed to be one single movie, released in 1969. It was the start of  the  production of 48 movies made over the period of 27 years, with almost two releases a year. The series ended with the death of its main actor, Kiyoshi Atsumi, in the summer of 1996.

All the Tora-san movies were directed by Yoji Yamada, who succeeded in creating a Japanese popular character so popular  that his movies are showed in air plane flights to Japan, in the “local movies” section.

JSRC visited the “home town” of Tora-san this weekend. Shibamata, is accessible when you take the Chiyoda line towards Abiko, and change for the Shibamata line at Kanamachi station.

Statue of Tora-san, at Shibamata station

Once at Shibamata station, a bronze statue of Tora-san greets the visitor at the exit. And on the short way to the local temple, the dango tea shop owned by Tora-san’s uncle is waiting to serve you its speciality, the “kusa dango,” or “herb sticky rice balls.”