In 1987, CAPCOM graced arcades throughout the world with the fighting game Street Fighter. While achieving some success, it wasn’t until the release of its sequel Street Fighter II in 1991 when the series really took off. Since then, the franchise has gone on to spawn four more sequels, countless spinoffs, crossover games, and almost whatever else you can think of.
©CAPCOM CO., LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Although the face of the franchise is arguably the character Ryu, the fan favorite is the female character Chun-Li. That very Chun-Li is now immortalized as a bronze statue in Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture. But why Kashihara City? Well, it’s the hometown of CAPCOM‘s founder, Kenzo Tsujimoto.
いや、やはりカッコいい。ひょっとして「春麗（チュンリー）」が難敵を倒したときの決めポーズでしょうか。
ついに春麗登場 「ストリートファイターの街」、激シブ銅像設置：朝日新聞デジタル https://t.co/bQQ3mpczpT pic.twitter.com/TJgLxt4BWk— 朝日新聞奈良総局 (@asahi_naraken) March 9, 2024
According to NHK, the statue of Chun-Li was erected in front of the Kashihara City Hall Branch Office on March 9. The Kashihara City homepage advertised the free event beginning on February 27 and activities included (roughly translated):
• The unveiling of the Chun-Li statue
• The reveal of Street Fighter manhole covers, whose illustrations kids can color and turn into badges
• A reveal of a Street Fighter character display panel
• A Street Fighter II and VI game corner
• A demo of the planned Kashihara Excursion App
• The giveaway of original Street Fighter stickers
• A demonstration by the Kashihara High School Japanese Martial Arts Club
The statue itself stands at 70 centimeters (about 28 inches) tall, or 150 centimeters (about 59 inches) including its plinth base. and features Chun-Li in her iconic pre- and post-fight pose. The Kashihara City homepage also stated the project was crowdfunded and required nearly 5.5 million yen (about US$37,000) to bring to completion. This is the second Street Fighter statue erected in the City, with Ryu having been revealed in May 2023 and Edmond Honda (E. Honda) and Ken (not this writer) planned for future installation.
The City is also running a Street Fighter collaboration school lunch menu as well. While the Chun-Li lunch was offered on January 26, students in the Kashihara school district were treated to this past school year’s final collaboration lunch, a Guile lunch, on March 8. The City’s Twitter revealed the American themed lunch and it featured bread, a hamburger steak, French fries, soup, and milk. The meal looked delicious, though a bit stereotypical.
— 奈良県橿原市（公式） (@kashihara_city) March 8, 2024
The last school lunch collaboration menu with #ストリートファイター this school year was “Guile’s Hamburger”!
Since Guile is from America and is a member of the U.S. Air Force, we chose America’s national food, hamburger 🍔 and fries 🍟 .
Thank you so much for all the likes ❤ for the school lunch collaboration menu that lasted half a year!
— 奈良県橿原市（公式） (@kashihara_city) January 26, 2024
This month’s school lunch collaboration menu with #ストリートファイター [Street Fighter] is “Chun-Li Spring Rolls”!
Since Chun-Li, who is from China, has the word “spring” in her name, we made spring rolls.
Spring rolls are a popular school lunch menu, and this time they are a special version that includes Komatsuna mustard spinach from Nara Prefecture ✨Did your menu prediction come true?
Kashihara City is about an hour from Nara City and Osaka City. So, if you’re a CAPCOM fan, want to see a new statue of Chun-Li, and are in the area, why not head on over to Kashihara City to check it out.
Sources: Kashihara City’s website (link 2),Kashihara City’s X/Twitter account (link 2), NHK
