A virtual tour of Shibamata's Tora-san Museum

by Chris MaGee

I thought that I'd better squeeze this story in as we're nearing the end of 2008. This year marked the 40th anniversary of the longest running series in film history, the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" or Tora-san films. For 26 years and 48 films the lovable vagabond Tora-san, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi, would travel the length of breadth of Japan peddling his trade as a street vendor and falling in love again and again with the women he referred to as his "madonnas," but no matter how far he would travel or how long he would be away Tora-san would always return to his family's sweet shop in Shibamata area of Katsushika, Tokyo. It's here that the Tora-san Museum has been set up. Having just celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2007 the museum allows visitors the chance to see props, sets, film clips and memorabilia from the films... and only for a ¥400 entrance fee.

Photoguide.jp not only has a has a gallery of images of the museum, but also put out the video below so that Japanese film fans from around the world can take a bit of a virtual tour. Enjoy!