#tochigi

Afternoon light with wisteria.

照らし、闇に沈める

2017年、龍王峡。

So Bandai Namco has made the terrible decision to dissolve the Bandai Collection Foundation, which was created in the 1990s to preserve collections of historical and educational value. This included various items released as part of Bandai's toy division, a 500 piece collection from the now defunct London Toy & Model Museum which Bandai bought in 1999 when they closed down (detailed in a 2003 book released by Bandai), a steam engine tractor from the Tom Varley collection and a 3,000 piece collection of Thomas Edison related items.

While some of this material can be viewed at the small Bandai Namco Museum at Bandai Namco's headquarters in Asakusa in Tokyo (with some of the items there not being in exactly mint condition), there is a far better dedicated Bandai Museum in Omocha no Machi (yes, literally toy town), Mibu, Tochigi. As well as the Bandai Museum being out here, toy manufacturer Tomy also began operations here. And while it is out of the way, I quite enjoyed the museum when I went and saw it back in early Autumn in 2012. There's thousands of Bandai related toys and items; tons of Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai action figures and toys, as well Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura and other items aimed at young girls. And of course there are hundreds of Gundam items as well as a full sized Gundam torso and the previously mentioned London Toy & Model Museum and Thomas Edison collections.

If you're in Japan right now or planning to go in the next couple of months, I'd take the opportunity to go before Bandai Namco shut it down for good. There is also the close by Mibu Toy Museum (roughly 35 minutes by foot, unless you want to take a taxi or hire a rental car), which is primarily a play centre for children, but also houses displays of some rare toys as well as some full sized promotional statues from Sailor Moon and various Super Sentai shows and the actual Yatter-Wan prop from Takashi Miike’s 2009 film "Yatterman". The museum part is a little lacking though with items sometimes crammed into cases without much thought.