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In ep. 1 of _Joker Game_ , we see this shot of a statue (that resembles a
person on horseback) before a large Western-style building. Does this
correspond to a real-life location?

[![Joker Game
location](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nYG0N.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nYG0N.jpg)

The first episode seems to take place in Tokyo, so I tried searching for
statues on horseback in Tokyo. The main result I got was for a statue of
[Kusunoki Masashige](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusunoki_Masashige) in the
Imperial Gardens, which looks similar in stance, but the photographs that I
have seen (such as [this one](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gx3Ss.jpg)) do not
seem to have such a building in the background.

I also tried searching for the Imperial Palace to try to see if any buildings
match up with this one, however, and I discovered that most of the Palace was
destroyed in firebombings in the Second World War. It seems plausible then
that this indeed is a statue of Kusunoki Masashige, and that the area around
the statue has simply changed from when the anime is set (1937).

Is this actually the Kusunoki Masashige statue, or is this some other location
in the Tokyo area?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-16T18:58:45.747
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2016-04-26T22:37:33.437
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question
tourism joker-game
Where is this statue on horseback from?


I believe it's the [Imperial General Staff
Headquarters](http://www.oldtokyo.com/the-headquarter-staff-tokyo-c-1910/).
(Photo from [Geospatial Information Authority of
Japan](http://www.gsi.go.jp/MUSEUM/TOKUBE/KIKA7-tokyo2.htm) for comparison
below. Similar images in the postcards scanned in the link.)

[![Headquarters](https://i.stack.imgur.com/J5EAV.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/J5EAV.gif)

As for [the statue](http://wako226.exblog.jp/20746160/) it seems to be of the
founder of the General Chief of Staff, Prince [Arisugawa
Taruhito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Arisugawa_Taruhito#Legacy).
While the current statue is now currently located in [Arisugawa Memorial
Park](http://www.arisugawa-park.jp/english/) in Minami-Azabu, Minato, Tokyo,
the General Staff Headquarters was located across the palace moat as seen in
one of the links.

[![Prince Arisugawa Taruhito equestrian
statue](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iXUCzm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iXUCz.jpg)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-26T18:28:01.480
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2016-04-26T22:37:33.437
2016-04-26T22:37:33.437
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answer