Statues of "yokai" monsters cleaned ahead of New Year

Local people wipe the dirt off the statue of Kitaro, a boy "yokai" monster character, and Medama-oyaji, an eye-ball man who is Kitaro's father, on his palm, alongside the "Mizuki Shigeru Road" shopping street in Sakaiminato, western Japan, on Dec. 29, 2015. Local people annually wipe the dirt off more than 150 bronze statues of characters from the late cartoonist Mizuki's horror comic series "Gegege no Kitaro" at the yearend to express their gratitude for the statues that draw an annual 2 million tourists to the town. The cartoonist, who hailed from Sakaiminato, died in November. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo