KAT- Matsudo

(Second entry in the KAT series)
Let us not speak of the train rides. They were wholly uninteresting, except for the remarkable lack of people crushing themselves into the cars due to our trip falling in the middle of Obon.

Let us speak instead about the wonders of giant robot heads… because that’s what we saw at the Bandai Museum in Matsudo. For you toy fanatics out there who’d like a more in-depth description of the tour and pretty pictures, this site does a great job of stirring up the collector within you. For the rest of us, a little excerpt about our 2 hour stop:

“Hazy daylight strikes my eyes upon our emergence from the JR station, and we cross the pedestrian bridge to the four-story shrine celebrating all that is Bandai. As my mind races to resolve the shapes meandering in front of me against a painfully bright backdrop, a part of it is filled with visions of an almost deserted building during the stretch of summer days set aside to honor the spirits of the dead. This vision is abruptly dashed as we stumble across the line of families, couples, and more families snaking away from the entrance. The museum isn’t open yet, and only 30 lucky souls get to stand in the air-conditioned lobby as we all wait the last 15 minutes before the stroke of ten peals across the city.

There are even attendants herding people to the appropriate areas depending on one’s destination. For those who wish to bypass the museum and go straight to the store filled with Bandai goodness, by all means, make your way there. For the rest of us who will only spend the pittance it costs to enter the Gundam universe, enjoy the humidity. It’s good for the skin. After a couple minutes of confused meandering, we finally discover which line we want to be in. It’s the long one with all the children.

Curses.

We spend the rest of the wait zoning out and wondering at the architectural genius who built the room we’re standing in. We’ve made it into the museum itself, but it only stands to reason there’s a line within a line to get into the actual area we have a mind to visit. There were no lines for Character World, oh no. Everyone wants to stare at the big Zaku head and life-size (which means it’s at least two stories tall) Gundam robot instead.

It’s quite a sight, so I can’t blame them.

So here we are, in a deceptively small room, all black except for a couple screens talking about (what else?) Gundams and the brightly uniformed Bandai attendant taking tickets and handing out a check-point sheet of sorts. At first glance the line looks to be no more than twenty people. Then you reach a corner that, instead of being solid, opens into a long corridor that unmasks the other 3/4ths of humanity awaiting their turn to walk through the impressive metal doors that lead to the museum itself.

If we all rushed the attendant at once, we would be as unstoppable as water flowing through a crack in the Hoover Dam.

Somehow, I don’t think the parents tenderly cradling their sleeping infant while avidly reading descriptive plaques on the wall are up to the task. Watching them makes me wonder if they’ve set their daughter on the path of robot adoration, indifference, or active dislike. She’s pretty zonked out… probably won’t remember a thing.

At last, we’re in! This is what greets us:


Kudos to Ash for taking such an impressive shot in dismal lighting conditions.

Now it’s just a matter of skillfully weaving through the crowd and seeing what there is to see...”

And see we did, everything from the history of the Gundam universe to a room I have nicknamed “The Black Hole”. It’s a place designed to rapidly, and rather unfairly, deplete your yen through cunningly devised activities while the imposing yellow eyes of the giant 1:1 scale Gundam look on. Rip-off booths aside, it was a good time, which I think has to be partly attributed to all the little kiddies running around with unfettered energy and enthusiasm. It’s infectious, you know?

We were ready for lunch at my favorite bakery in Ueno by the time we emerged, and then it was off to a popular part of Tokyo known as Odaiba.