Many people think of koban and think of "Kochikame" — "Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsusho" (by Osamu Akimoto). It is an extraordinarily long-running comic serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1976; the tankobon reached volume 180 on June 4. Unique characters led by Sergeant Kankichi Ryotsu — "Ryo-san" — stir up one uproar after another, yet a human warmth akin to classical rakugo runs underneath, said to be the secret of its popularity.
At the opening of Tokyo Skytree, Ryo-san himself spoke with feeling: "I had been looking forward to its completion the way you watch a child grow" (Jump issue on sale May 21).
Katsushika Ward has Kameari Park, but the Kameari Park-front police box does not exist; Kameari Station North Exit koban is said to be the model. A 1994 legal change made "hashutsusho" officially "koban," yet the manga title remains "hashutsusho."
For more than ten years from the start of serialization, the Kameari Park-front box belonged to the real "Kameari Police Station," but perhaps because using the real name was awkward, in the 1990s it was revised to the then-nonexistent "Katsushika Police Station." When Honda Police Station was renamed and a real Katsushika Police Station was born in 2002, the work changed the name again to "New Katsushika Police Station" — trivia about Kochikame is endless if you search the web. The free encyclopedia Wikipedia has an article convenient for an overview, but as in the photo, the top of the page once posted notices that "deletion of part or all is under discussion" and "copyright infringement has been alleged and is now under review" (photographed May 11). I worried the author or publisher had run into trouble, but the notices later vanished; compared with May, the main change seemed to be added lines under "real incidents and social and current affairs," such as that AKB48 and its members appear under their real names.
Shueisha, which publishes the Shonen Jump that carries Kochikame, is a few minutes' walk from Palaceside Building, near the Jimbocho crossing where many publishers gather.