Society

Wild boar takes over from dog at New Year event

Dec 28 (NHK) - A dog handed over its responsibilities to wild boar at a ceremony marking the change of year under the Oriental zodiac.

The event, which bridged the year of the dog in 2018 with the year of the wild boar in 2019, was held on Thursday at the Tsutenkaku Tower in Osaka, western Japan.

A humanoid robot was also on stage with the animals.

The operator of Tsutenkaku, Masaaki Nishigami, and the robot exchanged a play of words associated with the zodiac symbols, prompting laughter from spectators.

A woman from Shizuoka Prefecture said the wild boar was very cute.

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