Just when you think things can't get weirder they do. I didn't quite check the date here to make sure I was not victim of an April fools hoax but I probably would have had my wife confirmed that yes this was a genuine story and found a numebr of Japanese sites to confirm it.
Yes in Japan more than 2000 people went to a funeral ... to the finctional villain of a long-running manga series. The Wapping Liar link above has more details but in essence the funeral rite was exactly the same as if a real person had diad and included speeches by his nearest and dearest (i.e. the artist). I thought it was weird enough how people grieved about Princess Di 10 years ago but at least she was a real person. This funeral is about a fictional character and a villain to boot.
Blog Home : April 2007 : Permalink