Chaos and Kanji: Takadanobaba's Cartoon Murals

There are little treats hidden all over Tokyo. Takadanobaba has a few reasons to visit. It's home to several expats and has a decent selection of restaurants to accommodate their interests. I'm told there's an ice skating rink, and it's convenient to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. Actually, the Yamanote Line stops here, so it's convenient to pretty much anywhere in Tokyo, and it's served by other lines to get you elsewhere in the city and suburbs quickly and conveniently.

Right outside the station, under the two track bridges, is a large mural with Astroboy.

Astroboy, with the rocket feet above, is supposedly from Takadanobaba.

He is joined by his friends and characters from the show.

The JR station melody here is from Astroboy!

I took four pictures to gather the entire long mural for you. There are at least two more Astroboy murals in the area, though you'll have to find those yourself, at least for now.

Waseda University and Gakushiun University are in or near Takadanobaba, so there is a lot of cheap shopping, including 100 yen shops and cheap izakaya. And one of my favorite shops (for my other hobby, collecting baseball cards) is only a few minutes from the station.

3 comments:

NPB Card GuyJanuary 24, 2014 at 6:21 AM
I think the mural might be a tribute to Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astroboy and a bunch of other manga. I recognized Kimba the White Lion in that last picture and after doing a little research on wikipedia there's a couple other of Tezuka's creations in the mural - Black Jack and Phoenix.
Jason PresleyJanuary 24, 2014 at 3:59 PM
I used to watch "Leo the Lion" in the mornings before school back when you could still find all kinds of odd shows on UHF stations in the early 80s.
Ryan GJanuary 31, 2014 at 6:23 AM
I didn't find any details on that specific mural, despite finding a website in English that discussed the murals. I'm sure there are details out there but I didn't search too hard.

I'm not familiar with any of the characters, though I've seen Astroboy around Japan. I don't think I saw any of the old cartoons that have these characters. I'd like to, if I ever find the time to hunt them down.