Welcome to the Year of the Monkey! In mythology, the monkey is cleverest of all the 12 animals, but also active and adventurous. In fact, it’s sort of the perfect description of the Honda Monkey.
The Monkey King is also the central character in the Chinese legend Journey to the West. A hugely popular Japanese TV show based on the myth was created and aired in Japan from 1978-80. It starred Masaaki Sakai, a noted classic car enthusiast in Japan. The series was so popular that it was dubbed, renamed Monkey Magic, and syndicated in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Here is it’s opening theme, which will no doubt bring back memories for Oceania-based JNCers of a certain age.
Happy Lunar New Year from all of us JNC!
And all we got was The Brady Bunch!
Cool stuff.
Always liked the Honda Monkey/Gorilla. A few months ago, Ricky posted about the Monkey joining the HW line-up and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one looking forward to going ape. I mentioned that I would occasionally catch a JASDF member rolling on to the base in northern Japan on a Monkey/Gorilla. Also really like the style of the one posted from the Tokyo Motor Show.
Don’t mean to throw my better half into that certain age group, but she remembers watching the show. The lead actress was very nostalgic for her and she even ended up watching her last night in a movie about the Yakuza in the Kochi.