‘Black Jack’-Themed Statue Planned for Tokyo Suburb

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:34 JST, December 15, 2020

The manga “Black Jack” by Osamu Tezuka (1928-89) will be immortalized in bronze with a statue in western Tokyo.

The design of the statue is currently under consideration, with expectations that it will be in the motif of the title character, who is a gifted surgeon, and Pinoko, a young girl who works as his assistant.

The bronze statue will be made by the city of Higashi-Kurume and its local chamber of commerce to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the city’s incorporation this year. The statue is to be set in a flowerbed outside the west exit of Higashi-Kurume Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line in February.

Tezuka spent the last decade of his life in the city.

According to the city, Tezuka was invited to give a lecture at its Coming-of-Age Day celebration in 1983. He called on the new adults to “be curious” and “to keep probing what you think is interesting even if it takes a long time.”

“The character Black Jack is said to have been created out of Tezuka’s way of living, so we want to praise his achievements,” a city government official said.

The about ¥10 million required for the statue will be covered by subsidies from the Tokyo metropolitan government, which wants to attract tourists to help revitalize local communities through connections with manga and anime.