The Fighting Radish
The life of Dokonjo Daikon was an inspiration to all who knew him. Born in the toughest of circumstances, he overcame the most horrific obscurity of obstacles to rise to prominence. Loved by his neighbours, he became a symbol of the Japanese virtue of perseverance against the odds. People came from far and wide to wish him well — until, in a brutal attack late last year, he was decapitated by a mysterious assailant.

Roots of the drama
This unlikely drama started last summer in the town of Aoi, when residents noticed a feisty little radish pushing its way through the asphalt of a pavement. Impressed by its perseverance, they named it Dokonjo Daikon, or the Fighting Radish.

Imagine their dismay then when one morning, they found the radish had been brutally decapitated. The news of its demise prompted an outpouring of sympathy across Japan, and the unknown assailant, stricken with remorse, returned its severed head.

The wilting leaves and shrivelled top of the radish were carefully packed in a cool box and, accompanied by a throng of reporters and cameramen, driven to an agricultural research centre where white-coated scientists pronouncing gravely on the prognosis.

Inspired by the radish's fight for life, the town council now wants to extract seeds or even DNA to plant more in other cracks in the footpath