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Sazae-san Is 1st Anime to Win Hashida Prize
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web news website reported on Sunday that the Sazae-san anime series is the first anime to win the Hashida Prize. The anime won the 28th Hashida Prize for serving as a "national program" of Japan.
The live-action Natsuzora television series about the early Japanese animation industry also won the 28th Hashida Prize alongside Sazae-san. Suzu Hirose, who starred in the series, also won a Rookie of the Year award for her role in the show.
The Hashida Cultural Foundation, founded by playwright and scriptwriter Sugako Hashida, established the Hashida Prize in 1993 to honor programs and people that have greatly contributed to broadcast culture in Japan.
Mantan Web also announced on Sunday that the Sazae-san anime series will have a new opening sequence in April that will be set in Tokyo for the first time in 10 years. Since January 1974, the openings have shown the titular Sazae character traveling to different places in Japan. The new opening will mark the second time the opening has been set in Tokyo, since the opening that aired from April 2010 to March 2011. The new opening will feature locations such as Tokyo Station, Sensōji, Mt. Takao, Rainbow Bridge, and Toyosu Market.
The anime adaptation of Machiko Hasegawa's family life manga Sazae-san began airing in October 1969. The anime is usually the highest ranked animated series in Japan each week. In 2013, the show was awarded the Guinness World Record for longest-running animated television series, an award it extended last year.
Sources: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web (link 2, link 3)
