"Unfortunate": Four Statues Disappear Overnight in Doraemon's Hometown in Japan

A Boy Statue Disappears in the Hometown of Doraemon
Metal Theft Quadruples in Four Years, Mostly Copper
Theft Damage Reaches 100 Billion Won... Copper Prices Expected to Fuel Further Crimes

The statue of the gymnastics boy, once a specialty of Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture, which was stolen. Photo by ANN News Capture

Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, is well known as the hometown of Fujiko F. Fujio, the creator of the manga "Doraemon," and is often referred to as the city of Doraemon. Another tourist attraction in the area is the "Gymnastics Boy Kohachiro" statue, located at a shop on a street that still preserves the atmosphere of the Edo period. The statue, depicting a boy raising his right hand and tilting his body to the left as if doing gymnastics, is popular among children and tourists alike.

On the night of April 12, this statue and four other statues of similar weight in the vicinity disappeared. Security cameras captured two individuals dressed in black exiting a black vehicle, approaching the statue, working on it, and then loading it into their car before leaving. The entire theft took only three minutes. The shop owner expressed deep regret, stating, "It is very unfortunate because it seems they stole it as a source of metal, not as a work of art. I sincerely hope to get it back."

A water meter with a similar appearance stolen by copper thieves in Japan. Its body is made of copper, making it a target for burglars.

According to Japanese media outlets such as Asahi TV and Fuji Network News on April 22, copper theft has been rapidly increasing in Japan as copper prices continue to soar. Similar to the statue theft in Takaoka City, 2,700 discarded water meters stored in a warehouse in Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture, disappeared earlier this month. The meters are mainly made of copper, and the damage amounts to 2.45 million yen (approximately 25 million won).

As the demand for copper increases due to the advancement of electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, copper theft is rapidly rising in Japan. Photo by Asia Economy DB

In Kanagawa Prefecture, all the copper plates from a park building were stripped away. According to the National Police Agency of Japan, there were 20,701 cases of metal theft last year, marking a fourfold increase in four years. The total damage amounted to about 13.6 billion yen (approximately 13.6 billion won). Of this, copper accounted for about 9.8 billion yen (approximately 10 billion won), or 70% of the total. The surge in copper theft is attributed to the rising price of copper. The current market price is 1.35 million yen per ton, nearly double the 765,500 yen price from ten years ago.

As demand for copper increases due to the growth of electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, and as copper prices are likely to rise further due to tariff wars initiated by Trump, local media report that copper theft is expected to continue increasing.