Bandai Museum / Gunpla
The Advanced Technology Exhibition Hall @ TEPIA was established by Association for Technological Excellence Promoting Innovative Advances (TEPIA) in 1989. It is a venue in which visitors can learn about a variety of advanced technologies that are the pride of Japan. They can also learn about the role plastics play in these technologies. (For more information, see the February 2011 issue of the PR magazine pla-topia.) http://tepia.jp/exhibition/index.html
Gunpla
Gunpla is the collective name for the long-running best seller plastic model kits of the characters, mobile suits, and battle ships that appear in the fictional universe of the MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM TV anime series and movies. Gundam fans enjoy painting these Gunpla models and building their own Gundam dioramas. A life-size bust of Gundam stands in the center of Bandai Museum. A three-dimensional sculpture of The Dream of Zaku, the most recent work by Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam creator and director, is also on display at the museum. All of the uniquely multicolored Gunpla plastic models are manufactured using special molding technology in Shizuoka Prefecture.
