In Japan’s second-largest city, on the Yamashita Pier in Yokohama, a massive 60-foot tall Gundam robot moves slowly, but surely. It can walk and kneel, as well as move its fingers, arms, and it can even turn its head.
The gigantic Gundam has been in the works since 2014 and was finally completed on July 29 with a head installing ceremony (known as “jotoshiki”). The ceremony involved Shinto priests blessing Gundam’s head before it was raised into the sky with a crane and secured to the robot’s shoulders.
The robot weighs more than 55,000 pounds and is modeled after the RX-78-2 unit from the famous “Gundam” Japanese military science fiction franchise.
Videos were captured and uploaded to YouTube by local observers, showing the robot going through a series of motions. Watch the massive Gundam in action in the footage below.
The Gundam robot is part of the Gundam Factory in Yokohama’s port, which initially planned to host its grand opening in October 2020. However, as a consequence of the pandemic, the opening is indefinitely postponed.
The Yokohama Gundam isn’t Japan’s first massive RX-78. In 2017, an RX-0 Unicorn Gundam replaced a life-size Gundam statue in Tokyo’s Odaiba district.
