Famous Glico running man sign in Osaka will get a new look

A big, bright sign in Osaka, a large city in western Japan, is going to change. The sign shows a man in white running with his arms up. It stands in Dotonbori, a busy shopping and eating area in the city. Many people take photos in front of it.

The sign belongs to Ezaki Glico, a Japanese company that makes sweets and other food. On October 14, the company said that the sign will be turned off at the end of November 2026. Work on a new sign will start in December. The new sign will go up in the spring of 2027.

The sign that stands there now went up in 2014. It is 20 meters high and about 10 meters wide. It is made of about 140,000 small LED^*1 lights. Every day it lights up after the sun goes down and stays on until midnight.

This is not the first time the sign has changed. The first Glico sign went up in 1935. New ones came in 1955, 1963, 1972, 1998, and 2014. The sign that is there now is the sixth one. The new sign will be the seventh.

The sign has done more than show the running man. On World Diabetes Day, it showed videos about staying healthy. It also worked with the Osaka police to give messages that help young people stay out of trouble.

The company says the running man will keep running on the new sign too.

1. *1 LED: a very small electric light that uses little power