while in South Korea the Capital of Seoul is EVERYTHING with massive concentration of satellite cities surrounding to make it the sole metropolis surpassing other cities many times-fold, in case of Japan many cities galore where residents grow up to work AND live in . especiallly noteable is Kanto versus Kansai region, or representatively Tokyo versus Osaka where the former is more monetary while the latter more friendly, or so they say .

and while Tokyo now has a real life-size robot or rather mecha (robot controlled by a pilot within) in the way of Gundam RX-78 in Odaiba ready for their 30th Anniversary exhibition of ‘Gundam Big Expo’ in August 2009, Japan’s 2nd city Osaka’s bordering neighbor  AND major port of Kobe is building another robot : namely ‘Tesujin 28 Go’ (meaning iron man/robot number 28).

 

while Gundam is a series of mecha anime (Japanese comic) that sprung up in 1979 into several other stories surrounding different version of Gundam, Tetsujin 28 Go was an earlier series made in 1961 by Mitsuteru Yokoyama whose hometown is none other than here Kobe . he also the creator another robot anime ‘Giant Robo’ and girl’s anime ‘Sally the Witch’.

 

[ Quick Comparison with Tokyo's Gundam ]
Compare . . . . Gundam . . . . Tetsujin
height . . . . . . 18 m (59 ft) . . same but because it is NOT standing straight up 15 m (49 ft)
weight . . . . . . 35 tons . . . . . 50 tons
material . . . . fiber-glass . . . metal
complete . . . early June . . . Oct.4th 2009
placement . . 2 months . . . . permanent
location . . . . Odaiba island  Wakamatsu Park
City . . . . . . . . Tokyo . . . . . . Kobe

but again the major difference among the two would be going back to my first paragraph : the scale and mind behind the effort : pizzazz spot-light-lit Gundam temporarily erected in prime Tokyo property for a corporate promotion while Tetsujin will be quietly standing permanently although in a small local park in a quiet neighborhood by-the-sea .

 

 

[ how to get to Wakamatsu Park ]
in order to search for the location copy and paste this onto Google Maps
兵庫県神戸市長田区二葉町若松公園

it is one block South-East of ShinNagaTa Station of JR Subway Line Eastward from Sannomiya, which is a major hub of Kobe . a large number of foreigners live here being an old port city and many attraction await here including HarborLand and one of Kobe’s artificial islands Portopia island ! linking the new Kobe Airport built in 2006 .

 

well .. it seems like one after the other Japanese robots are going to conquer the World soon . and in this aspect South Korea is way ~ behind in standing this Korean version of a similar robot ‘Robot TaeKwon V’ in front of ShinSeGae Department Store main branch downtown for 2 months May & June 2008 during a cultural exhibition .

 

 

- Korea Tech BLog, July 2009 -