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Photo Op at 1/1-Scale Gundam's Shoulder Auctioned (Update 3)
posted on by Egan Loo
Not-So-Daily Link of the Day: The planners of the 1/1-scale, "life-size" statue of the Gundam anime robot are auctioning the opportunity for one person to have a photograph taken at the statue's shoulder. The Green Tokyo Gundam Project will be adding the Tokyo 2016 Candidate City logo to the statue on August 1, to promote Tokyo's bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The winner of the charity auction on Yahoo! Japan will take part in the Tokyo Olympics bid logo ceremony in a high-altitude construction lift. (The statue stands at 18 meters or 59 feet.)
Sunrise announced the statue's construction in March as part of the Gundam franchise's 30th anniversary. The statue was "unveiled" last Friday in a ceremony with Gundam creator and director Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam pilot Amuro Ray's voice actor Tohru Furuya, and the Zeta Gundam movie trilogy's theme song singer Gackt.
Source: Sankei Shimbun
Update: More background information added.
Update 2: With two hours left on Friday, the auctions stands at 2,258,500 yen (about US$24,084). Thanks, toru.
Update 3: The auction has ended at 2,601,000 yen (US$27,800).
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