In Odaiba, Tokyo's manmade island in southeastern Tokyo, in front of the Diver City shopping mall and entertainment area, is one of Japan's full-scale, 1-to-1 life-sized Gundams. In fact, this is the premiere location of Japan's full-sized Gundams, of which there are 3 now.
Since 2017, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam occupies this spot. This Gundam is from the anime series and novel, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. As I understand it, Gundam Unicorn was a soft reboot or retelling of the original Gundam story. Or maybe a modern side story set during the time of the original. Made in 2010, it was a breath of fresh air and a return to roots for the franchise after countless spinoffs, sequels, and over-saturation.
The most iconic of gundams is the original RX-78 model, which occupied this space from 2009 to 2016. It was built to celebrate the Gundam franchise's 30th anniversary. People say that it was replaced with the Unicorn Gundam as a symbol of Japan moving into the future, with their bid for the 2020 Olympics.
The original RX-78 Gundam is still sometimes used for events. It was recently used in front of the Gundam Factory in Yokohama, which closed last year. Now, it might be in Osaka according to Wikipedia. Another full-sized Gundam is in Fukuoka, which was completed in 2020.
After arriving in Tokyo for a business trip, I went to Odaiba to see the Gundam during sunset. The timing ended out working perfectly. :)
4 times a day, the Gundam performs its transformation sequence. I was able to catch the 5pm one, the last of the day. At night, there was a musical performance, but I wanted to get to my hotel and prepare for the next day.
