Kojimachi in Chiyoda Ward is close to Takebashi. For all that it is a central business district, a stroll turns up bronze statues one after another.
The other day, visiting a long-established eel restaurant, I noticed a bronze statue of a small boy titled "Summer Memories" (by Yoshio Yoshino) in front of Kojimachi Station on the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line
= photo upper left. The stance is a bit like a peeing boy, but he seems to be about to land a fish on his fishing rod. It stands prominently on the corner of the Kojimachi 4-chome intersection.
From here, walking toward JR Yotsuya Station along Shinjuku-dori, about 100 meters before the station on the right in the direction of travel, in front of Mizuho Bank, a girl sits on a stone
listening to something — "Listening" (by Kenji Tomita)= photo upper center. Across from it, before Sophia University, a girl raises her left hand energetically — "Eternal Girl" (by Kiyotaka Suzuki)= photo upper right =.
At Sansan Plaza in front of JR Yotsuya Station are bronze statues of a girl and a boy — siblings, perhaps. The girl points her index finger at a dragonfly perched on a branch and tries to catch it as she spins around. The title is "Dragonfly Catching" (by Shu Isa)= photos lower left and lower center =.
In the opposite direction from Kojimachi Station toward Hanzomon, a short way into Kojimachi 1-chome, I also saw "Breeze" (by Shu Isa)= photos lower right =, with two girls holding hands and dancing in a circle.
These bronzes were erected in 1991 by the Kojimachi District Environmental Improvement Council — about 140 local residents and shops working on beautification — in connection with widening Shinjuku-dori by about one kilometer. I missed it this time, but including "Diving," a girl's statue in Nakayoshi Park in Kojimachi 5-chome, there are six in all. They express a wish for a warm-hearted town even as office development advances.
Incidentally, the stretch of Shinjuku-dori from Hanzomon, where the statues stand, to Yotsuya Station is officially called "Kojimachi Avenue" at local request — on maps and on street signs. That too reflects local people's love for their neighborhood.
The statues of children may seem out of place in a business district, but people have lived here for generations, children among them, and the wish that they grow up healthy and strong is embodied in these six figures.