Japan currently has three life-size Gundam statues in Tokyo, Fukuoka and Osaka. Each of them is a tourist attraction from all over the world due to the popularity of the Gundam anime and Gunpla worldwide. Not only that, Shizuoka City will now be the location for the fourth life-size Gundam.
Shizuoka was chosen because of the opening of the newest Gunpla factory in the Naganuma district located within the city. The Gundam model that will be chosen is also still a mystery. The previous three statues were the RX-0 Unicorn, Nu Gundam and RX-78F00/E. The RX-78F00/E statue was previously located at the Gundam Factory Yokohama which was closed since April last year before being moved to Osaka in conjunction with the Expo 2025 event.
Since 1979, a total of 62 Gundam TV series and films have been produced with two more still in pre-production. Gundam's original name was Gundom, a combination of the words "gun" and "freedom" to give the idea of robots being used for freedom. It was later transformed into Gundam to show robots that could block enemy attacks like a dam blocking water.
Contrary to popular belief, Gundam only popularized the genre of giant human-controlled robots and was not the first in the world. The idea had already existed in Japan as early as 1931 with the Ogon Bat, a street puppet show.