If you wandered through Chinatown or Kampong Glam, you are likely to have seen Yip Yew Chong’s murals—vivid, nostalgic scenes that bring Singapore’s past to life. You might also know his SG60 tribute near One Fullerton, where moments of yesteryear sit side-by-side with modern icons.
Yip is a celebrated Singaporean visual artist known for his nostalgic, intricately detailed murals and paintings. Over the years, he has created works across Singapore, China, and India. But the pieces he painted in Chinatown remain the most personal—rooted in his own childhood memories. Yip grew up there until 1983, in a shared two-storey shophouse on Sago Lane. The building was eventually demolished to make way for HDB housing (today, the spot is a carpark beside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple).
His art is a tapestry of personal recollections, local history, cultural heritage, and everyday life—often sprinkled with whimsical touches like his recurring tabby cat, Mary. It’s no surprise his works spark nostalgia and lively conversation about how life once was.
Yet, among his many murals, one stands out as an unusual departure. At the junction of Smith Street and South Bridge Road, right in front of Thye Shan Medical Hall, a mural depicts the interior of a bustling Chinatown shop. The shopkeeper is enthusiastically promoting durians—not to a local resident, but to a fictional Japanese anime character: Detective Conan.
Who is this unexpected visitor, and why is he there?
Detective Conan is the central figure in a long-running Japanese anime about a 17-year-old student who, after being poisoned with an experimental drug, finds himself trapped in the body of a 7-year-old. Gifted with a razor-sharp mind, he continues solving complex crimes—hence the alternate English title of the series: Case Closed.
In 2019, the anime’s film The Fist of Blue Sapphire brought the pint-sized sleuth to Singapore. The movie follows Conan as he investigates a murder at Marina Bay Sands, tied to the recovery of the legendary Blue Sapphire. Premiering here on 31 May 2019, the film’s launch came with a special request: Yip Yew Chong was invited to create a commemorative mural.
He responded by seamlessly blending the anime world into his own—adding Detective Conan into the Chinatown shop scene. To mark the occasion, two of the film’s voice actors even joined in, adding the finishing touches to the mural themselves.
What emerged is a mural unlike any other in Yip’s portfolio—a rare fusion of pop culture and heritage, where a fictional detective from Japan finds himself in the heart of old Singapore, eyeing durians with curiosity.