Thursday, October 01, 2009

Another giant robot visits Japan

I can't seem to link directly to the story, but have a look at today's Japan Times [sorry, photo seems to have gone from here, see update below] to see a photo of full scale Tetsujin (otherwise known as Gigantor in the West) just finished in Kobe.

Why build a giant robot? The article mentions that the city was devastated by an earthquake in 1995, and:
Residents built the steel statue to express their hopes for the city's revival with the help of the classic comic hero from the 1950s
Of course. Devastating earthquake: build giant robot. Let's hope Indonesia reads the fine print in any offer of assistance from Japan.

UPDATE: Sorry, the Japan Times seems to be making it hard to track down its Tetsujin photo. You can see it instead here at Kyodo News, and I'm sure there will be many more photos to come when it is officially open.

And in further big robot news, I see that South Korea plans to build the biggest giant robot statue of them all, of Voltar, a giant robot with which I am not terribly familiar. Yes, it's a regional Giant Robot Race, because we all understand the prestige that goes with having the biggest robot. Don't we?

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