This is a sweet looking ride. For Wonder Festival, at the Makahari Messe near Tokyo, Honda made a concept motorcycle (pictured above). Honda took one of their NM4-2 series and made a Knights of Sidonia SciFi anime inspired motorcycle. Very cool.
Ghost in the Shell Turns 25
If you are going to be in Japan during August or part of September you might want to check out this art exhibit. Ghost in the Shell turns 25 and there is an art exhibit for the event entitled, Ghost in the Shell, 25th Anniversary- Art Exhibition. If you are in the area the exhibit will be in the Seibu Gallery in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro from August 8 – 20. Then if you miss it there you have another chance to see the exhibit. From August 27 – September 8 on the 8th floor of the Hanshin Department Store in Osaka’s Umeda. Tickets will be 1,200 yen ($11.75).
Move Fast to See the Evangelion Exhibit
And yet another cool exhibit in Japan. This time it is in Tokyo. In Matsuya Ginza they are having a 1,300 piece exhibit for Evangelion, which coincidentally has a store there for you to purchase your Evangelion merchandise. In the 1,300 piece exhibit visitors will be able to view original drawings, storyboards, landscape layouts, video screens, and life size figures. But with this one you will have to hurry. The exhibit ends August 26. So if you happen to be in the area get there before the week is over. The exhibit is open from 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., with an entrance fee of 1,000 yen ($10) for adults, 700 yen ($7) for college and high school students and free to junior high students and younger. I hope whoever can make it can.
J-Park Tokyo
Namco has released information about the new J-Park Tokyo indoor theme park. The theme park will be on the 3rd floor of the Sunshine City World Import Mart Building in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro ward. There will be five main attractions: 2 – One Piece; 1 – Naruto and 2 – Dragon Ball.
The above is concept art of the Dragon Ball interactive attraction.
The J-Park will have a Heroes Arena that will have mini attractions from Gintama, Kochira Katsushiki-ku Kamearikouen-mae Hashutsujo, Toriko, Bleach and Hunter X Hunter. It will also have a J-World Kitchen with menus themed around Shonen Jump’s manga series and characters.
J-Park is scheduled to open July 11 so if you happen to be in the area, be sure to stop by and have some fun! Thanks to AnimeNews Network for the heads up on this and you can go to their site link here for more concept art.
Akira Toriyama Dragon Ball Exhibit
This spring and summer if you are going to be in Japan this is something you might want to check out. To coincide with the release of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie, publisher Shueisha, Toei Animation and the movies production committee is organizing a Dragon Ball exhibit. The exhibit is entitled “Akira Toriyama: The World of Dragon Ball” and will have 300 items featuring cel animation, original color illustrations, a video screen area, and other items. The exhibit opens on March 27 – April 15 on the eighth floor hall of the Nihonbashi Takashimaya store in Tokyo. There will be two other showings April 17 – 23 at Osaka and July 27 – September 1 at Nagoya. For more details about the exhibit follow the link below:
xxxHOLIC Cafe
The Pasela Resorts cafe, in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward has transformed a part of their cafe into a xxxHOLIC themed cafe to kick off the debut of the xxxHOLIC live action Television Series. January 21 – March 3 the cafe will have a themed xxxHOLIC themed menu and those that order off of the special menu will receive one of six limited original coasters, that can be seen above. If you happen to be in Japan during this time on vacation this could be one of your stops in Tokyo. Pictures were provide from Kodansha’s Young Magazine and AnimeNews Network. For additional pictures follow the link.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2013-01-28/clamp-xxxholic-cafe-unveiled-in-tokyo
New Mascot for Tokyo Fire Station
The Kanda Fire Station in Tokyo’s Akihabara District had illustrator Tsukasa Nagano create a new mascot for the station. The mascot is the Moe character pictured above named Yokumi Kanda. The Yokumi character has already appeared on posters, tissue packets and other promotional materials for the station.
Resident Evil What?
CAPCOM has announced, not a new Resident Evil video game, but the first official Resident Evil Restaurant. This is were it would be fun to live in Japan with all of the themed restaurants that it has to offer. The Biohazard Cafe & Grill S.T.A.R.S. will be inside the Shibuya Parco shopping center in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward and is scheduled to be open on July 13. Besides food, although no menu has been set yet, the restaurant will off limited edition items for it’s patrons. So if you happen to be traveling to Tokyo or just happen to be in the area, this might be a fun side trip.
30th Anniversary of Macross
For the 30th Anniversary of Macross a traveling exhibit is making its rounds across Japan. This last Saturday it opened at the Sunshine City Complex in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The exhibit is called “30th Anniversary of Macross Super Dimension Exhibition~Valkyrie de Sasotte!~”. The exhibit features several Macross images and statues, but the big center piece for the exhibit is the full-scale VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie Variable Fighter. Because of the smaller size of this complex only the top portion of the Valkyrie is on display. When the exhibit makes it way to Osaka it will be in a larger complex and will have the complete Valkyrie on display. For more images follow the link below:
Grand Opening of Gundam Collection
If you know anyone that is traveling to Tokyo this is one stop they will definitely want to visit. At Diver City Tokyo Plaza on Tokyo’s Odaiba island the new Gundam Front Tokyo Entertainment Complex had it’s Grand Opening on April 19. The video below is courtesy of AnimeNews Network, YouTube, and Mainichi Shimbun newspaper’s Mantan TV website. The video starts outside the complex, moves into the Gundam Cafe/Gift Shop and then into the collection of models. It doesn’t show the complete collection, but it gives you an idea of what is in store for you.