“Otoko wa Tsurai yo (It's Tough Being a Man)” is a Japanese film series released from 1969 to 1995 starring Atsumi Kiyoshi. The main character, Tora-san, played by Atsumi, is a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. Tora-san is a street vendor, encountering his madonnas in many places and creating innocent ruckuses. Tora-san is an unlikely hero, because he is lazy and poorly educated. Nevertheless, he is a hero among local people, because they respect Tora-san’s human kindness. Tora-san’s family home was in Shibamata on the Keisei-Kanamachi line. There is a bronze statue of Tora-san in front of Shibamata station (see the photo below).
Shibamata celebrated the 55th anniversary of Tora-san last year. In commemoration, Keisei Electric Railway operates the anniversary train until March 23rd, 2025. We can see a celebratory plate of "the 55th anniversary of Tora-san" on the front of the anniversary train, trainset 3668 of the EMU 3600 series. This plate celebrates "the 115th anniversary of Keisei Electri c Railway" as well. The 4-car anniversary train slowly passes through Tora-san’s mother town (see the top photo).
Incidentally, the EMU Keisei 3600 series is a standard commuter train commissioned in 1982. A total of 9 trainsets, 54 cars, were built by Tokyu Sharyo and Nippon Sharyo. Currently, 2 trainsets, 10 cars, are still operated. It originally had a field chopper electric control system; but trainset 3668 was modified to the GTO-VVVF (Gate turn-off thyristor-variable frequency drive) electric control system in 1999. It’s a rare train.
