After seeing my post a couple of days on a homemade full size Gundam robot built several years ago, a reader by the name of Taylor sent in some amazing photographs showing that it has actually been made into a permanent outdoor installation!

He says:

I saw it last month when I was still in Okayama, but it is pretty
popular. It’s right next to a major road, so I saw at least ten people
stop and take pictures with it. Most were older salarymen or ojisan.
It was quite amazing seeing it in person, you can see the size
comparison with me, and i”m not that small of a guy!

I was surprised by how popular Gundam still is over here. When I saw
the recent Z Gundam movie, half the crowd was over 50 years old. It’s
amazing how serious the older generation takes the Universal Century
age Gundam show

And of course, what outdoor art installation or sculpture would be complete without an explanatory plaque?

This robot was placed in Kume-cho by Mister Seiichi Nakamoto (born 1964). He drew up the plans and constructed it himself. The skeleton is constructed of steel and the outer shell of fiber reinforced plastic. The legs can be moved through the action of the hyrdaulic cylinders installed within.

An operator riding in the cockpit can control this versatile bipedal walking machine. After seven years of construction, it was completed in December, 1999.

Height7 meters
Width3.5 meters
Weight2 tons
Passengers 1

This entry was posted on Monday, August 8th, 2005 at 10:41 am and is filed under Curiosities, Fandom, Japan, Photography, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.