Student statues
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If you ever visit a school in Japan it is very likely that you will see a statue of Kinjiro Ninomiya (1787-1856).
As a boy he studied very hard, even though he also had to help out at home with many chores, such as collecting fire wood. He is thus always shown carrying both a textbook and a bundle of firewood on his back. I did a google search and found hundreds of photos of his statues all around Japan (photo on the right).
I was surprised to find a photo (shown on the left) of a very similar boy on this website, although in this case, the statue is clearly having Korean dress.
It's a small world...
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