On Saturday we called at Sakaiminato.  There were temples and gardens we could visit, and it is a fishing port, so I could have wandered the docks.  But we were only in port for half a day, and I wanted to follow the trail of Sakaiminato’s favorite son, Mizuki Shigeru, a Manga artist.  Maga is a form of cartoon art that appears in comic books, graphic novels and TV cartoons.  The trail is really a street that runs between the main train station and a museum dedicated to Shigeru.

Along the street are 177 bronze statues of his characters.  They are “Yōkai” or “strange apparitions.”  Some call them monsters, but to Shigeru’s pen they are whimsical and humorous.

There is also playground equipment manhole covers,

and all manner of advertising along the street depicting Yokai.

A character in cartoonish Shigeru costume greets visitors outside the museum.

At the museum we learned of his reluctant war service.  He was drafted, washed out as a bugler, and ended up on Rabaul, where he lost an arm and was assigned to work with island natives to cultivate food.   When the garrison got word the war was over they were not sure if Japan had won or lost.  Part of MacArthur’s strategy was to isolate the 100,000 troops on Rabaul and bypass them rather than fighting them.  Shigeru seriously contemplated staying with the natives on Rabaul but ended up returning to Japan, where he became a both pacifist and a beloved cartoonist.

Like every other Japanese port. We had a send off with entertainment and a lot of waiving.