Thursday, April 16, 2009

Gundam for the Olympics


More details on Bandai Namco Groups' "Real G" project - a life size Gundam RX-78-2 statue at Shiokaze Park (潮風公園) in Tokyo.

The date of display for the statue is from July 11th till August 31st with no admission charge.

The exact location for the statue to be displayed is at Sunny Plaza (太陽の広場). Built outdoor with Tokyo Bay as its backdrop, it's going to be on the Barbecue Field then I suppose.


Map edited from Tokyo Bureau of Contribution's intro of Shiokaze Park (a PDF file).


Image from AV Watch.

1.5 million fans are expected to turn up to view the statue. There will be stalls selling food and drinks for you to enjoy the "scenery" while eating (very much like a picnic XD). Photo taking service is of course available as well.

Apart from celebrating Gundam 30th Anniversary, the statue also serves two important role:

(1) Support the bidding of Tokyo 2016 Olympics Paralympics Games

The statue will help to promote Tokyo as a green city to create such image for the bidding. For that reason, there will be a Tokyo 2016 Olympics Paralympics Games bidding support logo on the statue's left shoulder from August 1st till the 31st.

(2) Green Tokyo project

Exhibit areas and special stalls will be set up on the surroundings of the statue, with participation from all companies and units under Bandai Namco, as well as other organizations from Tokyo. Special items like eco-back (? - エコバック), T shirt, fan and others have being planned. The earning from the sales will be contributed to Green Tokyo Fund (緑の東京募金), Metropolitan Park Supporter Fund (都立公園サポーター基金) plus a few other units not mentioned.

The statue will be removed from the park after August 31st.

Sounds really fun and meaningful to me. ^^ Fans who can visit Tokyo between July and September should definitely go and take a look, especially when Gundam will not be remaining in the same venue all the time, and will vanish from enemy detection (XD) after August 31st. We might see it again after that, or maybe not.

Reported briefly on Sunrise. More information on AV Watch.