{"id":18567,"date":"2025-10-22T22:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T22:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/18567\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T22:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T22:52:13","slug":"momotaro-statue-a-gift-from-japan-cut-down-and-stolen-from-san-jose-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/18567\/","title":{"rendered":"Momotaro statue, a gift from Japan, cut down and stolen from San Jose park"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bronze statue honoring San Jose’s sister-city ties<\/a> to Okayama, Japan, was cut down and stolen<\/a> last week from Guadalupe River Park, city officials said.<\/p>\n

The Momotaro statue<\/a> – depicting a boy flanked by a dog, monkey and pheasant – vanished sometime before Oct. 15, according to the San Jos\u00e9 Police Department.<\/p>\n

The artwork, gifted in 1993 by Okayama city officials, has long stood near the Center for the Performing Arts as a quiet emblem of friendship between the two cities.<\/p>\n

“The theft of the Momotaro statue, a symbol of friendship and shared values, is an insult to our community and to our sister city, Okayama,” Mayor Matt\u00a0Mahan said in a statement Wednesday. “We will do everything we can to recover it and hold those responsible accountable.”<\/p>\n

Authorities are urging anyone with information to call the department’s non-emergency line at 408-277-8900 and reference case #25-288-0623.<\/p>\n

“The investigation is active and ongoing,” police said.<\/p>\n

The loss marks the latest in a string of art thefts across San Jose.<\/p>\n

In 2023, a statue symbolizing the city’s relationship with Pune, India, was stolen from the same park<\/a> and later recovered from a scrapyard. The following year, a 600-pound sculpture<\/a> valued at $100,000 was taken from a local studio and found dismantled.<\/p>\n

In Japanese folklore<\/a>, Momotaro – or “Little Peach Boy” – is a heroic child who journeys with three loyal animals to defeat a band of ogres, a tale widely taught to symbolize courage and cooperation.<\/p>\n

This article originally published at Momotaro statue, a gift from Japan, cut down and stolen from San Jose park<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bronze statue honoring San Jose’s sister-city ties to Okayama, Japan, was cut down and stolen last week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[15611,14702,5343,15613,6763,15170,15612,15614,88,90,89,2125,15615],"class_list":["post-18567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bronze-statue","tag-city-of-san-jose","tag-city-officials","tag-guadalupe-river-park","tag-japan","tag-momotaro","tag-okayama","tag-okayama-city","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-police-department","tag-sister-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}