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Video: Wacky Japanese build 60-foot Gigantor statue in Kobe
Gigantor—or Tetsujin 28-go ("Iron Man #28") as he was known in the land of the rising sun—was the first giant robot featured in manga, which of course means the Japanese needed to build a "life-size" version of him in Kobe as an homage to his greatness.
If you grew up in the U.S. in the '60s or '70s, you can no doubt sing you the theme song for the show, which, like Speed Racer, was a watered-down adaptation of a Japanese anime; in this case Tetsujin 28-go, based on the manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama released in 1956.
The original black-and-white series was colorized and revived in the 1990s, meaning a whole new generation of kids will have that irritating theme song stuck in their heads for all eternity.
Anyway, back to the wacky Japanese. Here's a video of the statue they want to erect in the ancient Imperial Capital (it was the capital of Japan for about five minutes in the 12th century):
By Tony at 2:07 PM ON 09/29/09
Wacky Americans build a Palace Made Out Corn!
http://www.cornpalace.com/index.php
Corn was one of the first crops planted by those Americans so of course that means they HAVE to build a palace out of corn. Oh those WACKY Americans. And by Americans I mean we can generalize and say I say WACKY. They're so different from us that they HAVE to be all WACKY.
By datarat at 2:46 PM ON 09/29/09
Touch a nerve, Tony-san?
By Jeff from Jersey, yes New Jersey at 4:13 PM ON 09/29/09
Neat! Can the tribute to Astro Boy be far behind?
By SethSJ at 6:40 PM ON 09/29/09
How about a tribute to the MACROSS? They've already done a tribute to Gundam. Very cool to see all these Mecha by the way!!
By hulklite at 11:45 PM ON 09/29/09
@ Tony
Nail. Hit. On. Head.
Thank God somebody said it.
By Red Mask at 12:34 AM ON 09/30/09
Cool. It's amazing they would still make something that impressive in these economic times.
By elfpoo at 6:58 AM ON 09/30/09
Jeff from Jersey, yes New Jersey: The Astro Boy (or 'Atom' as he's called in Japan) tribute is already in place. It's outside Kyoto station. It's not 60 feet tall but it is, I suppose, 'life-size'. There's a couple of painted sculptures of him and his dog.
http://comics212.net/2009/07/02/japan-2009-tezuka-world-installation-kyoto-jr-station/
By a different tim at 9:29 AM ON 09/30/09
If it means that much to the people of Japan why not? Their animation only helped revitalize their economy after WWII so it's not like its a big deal or any thing.......
By Stig at 1:48 PM ON 09/30/09
Don't you guys realize that this is a fake that has already been exposed on the net? The "photo" is a Photoshopped composite of an empty square with people, and the action figure.They built a little bit of the body and head, but that's it. The head parts they showed under construction were nowhere as large as the head in the "photo".
By Shaun at 8:22 AM ON 10/01/09
"Their animation only helped revitalize their economy after WWII so it's not like its a big deal or any thing......."
i think their adoption of tqm (total quality management), which led to superior products consumers actually want, did that.
By a different tim at 11:41 AM ON 10/03/09
@Shaun
that's why i only said "helped"
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a different tim:
@Shaun that's why i only said "helped"...More »