The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the production of the world’s longest-running Japanese cartoon, Sazae-san, forcing the broadcast of reruns for the first time in decades. It can still attract around 10 per cent of the viewing audience, according to some estimates, for its 30-minute slot.
Sazae-san, which first aired in 1969, revolves around the life of Mrs. Sazae, a cheerful but klutzy full-time housewife who lives with her parents, husband, son, brother and sister.
The show, adapted from four-frame comic strips by late author Machiko Hasegawa, was acknowledged by Guinness World Records in 2013 as the longest-running animated series, a title that had previously been attributed by the record-keeping organisation to U.S. show The Simpsons.
It is the first time the network has been forced to air reruns since 1975 when the economic effects of an earlier oil crisis lingered. The network said upcoming broadcasts would be episodes from two years ago, adding it would announce a date for the resumption of new episodes as soon as possible.
While the number of confirmed covid-19 cases and deaths has been low in Japan, the Japanese economy has been seriously hit by the global repercussions of the pandemic and is expected to have sunk into a recession in the second quarter of the year.