The Mysterious Tale Of That Random Sonic Statue In Japan

Cheery statues in the wilderness spook us. Take those Big Boy statues occasionally spotted in isolation. They raise many questions, such as "what does the statue want?" and "if we leave a friend next to the statue, hobbled, will we be spared?"

The Big Boy statue's origin, however, is not so mysterious. It came from an old Big Boy restaurant of course—all those restaurants had statues looking just like that. A lot more mysterious, for comparison, was the case of the human-sized statue of Sonic the Hedgehog spotted in Takao, Japan. Some passersby in 2015 saw it at the side of the road, and no one in the area could explain where it came from. It had been there as long as they had, locals said.

A few years of internet sleuthing found that a statue looking just like this one had appeared in an old ad for Sega World Kadoma, a nearby theme park that had closed about 10 years earlier:

The joy of seeing the ad was a satisfying end to the mystery for many worldwide. In Japan itself, the media descended upon Takao and now ferreted out the reasonable explanation for the statue's presence. When that branch of Sega World closed down, the park auctioned off whatever people could carry away. A homeowner named Mr. Kadeo bought the statue to serve as a landmark guiding visitors to his house from this otherwise featureless road.

If you yourself wanted to see the statue, the precise location remained the final mystery for a little longer. Most in the know agreed that revealing its coordinates would invite vandalism, and the statue already wasn't doing so great. Its nose had broken off and its paint had faded—though, considering how long it had stood there exposed to the elements, you might expect it to be in even worse shape.

That secret too broke, and the location became truly public. As a result, new people did find the statue last year, they had their way with it, and you'll never again be able to see it like in the photo at the top of the page. That's because those new people ... renovated the statue, repainting it, repairing damage, and even engaging in a little restorative rhinoplasty.