{"id":5432,"date":"2014-09-23T00:31:30","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T14:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/?p=5432"},"modified":"2016-01-30T14:59:02","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T04:59:02","slug":"japan-2013-part-7-tokyo-tamiya-hq-diver-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/?p=5432","title":{"rendered":"Japan 2013 part #7 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Tamiya HQ, Diver City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tamiya HQ<\/strong>
\nIf you can\u2019t make it out to a model kit factory (if you do, just make sure they still have tours! many don\u2019t anymore) then popping into Tamiya HQ<\/a> in Shimbashi<\/em> is -almost- the next best thing. Its essentially a store but don\u2019t let that discourage you, their range is extensive covering thousands of their latest model kits, paints and building materials on the ground floor; an RC haven in the basement and a social build event space upstairs. The street level also has a solid selection of built kits on display and a generous helping of branded merchandise including clothing, stickers and nicknacks. The longer night hours (10pm) during the week (and 6pm on weekends) are useful for planning your days when you lose track of time!<\/p>\n

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—<\/p>\n

Diver City Plaza<\/p>\n

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Diver what?<\/a> Located in Tokyo bay, Koto, its not exactly a place that comes up in the Tokyo “must see’s ” list and if youre only going for the shopping you may even miss the best (and biggest) attraction, a 1:1 scale Gundam robot! Those that aren’t interested in all things anime\/manga are probably already rolling their eyes but trust me when we tell you its as awe inspiring as the Eiffel Tower (and almost as big!…almost :p). The real treat is making your way there after dark when it puts on a light and sound show complete with accompanying movie, CO2 bursts and a bit of movement! Yes movement, sadly not in the walk around, baritone voice, making girls swoon Optimus Prime kinda way but we’d like to think that if Japan did come under attack Pacific Rim style they’d already have a substitute Jaeger secretly ready to lay it down \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Best thing is, the full length show runs hourly and there are teaser previews on the half hour. Times are displayed on a sign. There is also a merch demountable office at its feet with a modest selection of Gundam related items and Gunpla kits. Most however are available at countless other stores (and at better prices depending where you look) so you can give your carrying arms a break and just enjoy the show. Here, you can also buy tickets to the small “Gundam Front” exhibit which houses some scaled real life props from the series and other points of interest.<\/p>\n

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Photo Tip:\u00a0 As you can see from the photos, this guy is huge, so an ultra wide angle (around 12mm on crop, 20mm on fx) is a must.\u00a0 A mid zoom will help get some close up details.\u00a0 A tripod is handy but not a must unless you decide to shoot some night city scapes, not much on this side of the bay however.<\/em><\/p>\n

Afterwards head inside for some food and shopping. If, like us, you got a bit carried away and watched the full show twice before you realise the shops close at 9, you don\u2019t need to worry, just head up to the top level. Thanks to Round 1<\/a> – very similar to Timezone<\/a> in Australia with arcade games, claw machines (skill (aka patience) testers), bowling and karaoke – shops stay open a bit later on this level with a selection of international fast food and local restaurants. We were looking at a menu only to realise the place had closed, but of course, in true Japanese hospitality, the owner came out and asked if we wanted a table and that it was no problem to cook us something. How could we say no? The bento set was delish btw \ud83d\ude09 We also now find it very difficult to go back to fried items sitting on the plate instead of on a mini rack to stay crispy!<\/p>\n

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Travel Tip: There are a few ways to Diver City from Tokyo station but there is no direct route so you will need to change trains and do a bit of walking between stations.\u00a0 Allow about 30min all up and remember to keep some change on you for the local trains that don’t accept the JR passes.\u00a0 Full list in english on the Diver City webpage<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Next up we hit the shinkansen early for a day trip to Yokohama<\/strong>, you know, the place where all those tyres come from :p<\/p>\n

If you have any questions on our travels, where to buy, what to do, hit us up on the Soulbridge media facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Japan 2013 part #1 \u2013 Arrival<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #2 – Tokyo International Toy Expo<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #3 \u2013 Gotemba \u2013 Premium Outlets mall<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #4 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Studio Ghibli Museum<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #5 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Kichijoji and Nakano<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #6 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Akihabara<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #7 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Tamiya HQ, Diver City<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #8 \u2013 Yokohama \u2013 Zoorasia<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #9 \u2013 Yokohama \u2013 Ramen Museum<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #10 \u2013 Nissan HQ and Yokohama<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #11 \u2013 Osaka \u2013 Nanba Shopping<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #12 \u2013 Kyoto<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #13 \u2013 Tokyo \u2013 Harajuku, Shibuya<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #14 \u2013 Osaka castle, Umeda Sky building<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #15 \u2013 Osaka Aquarium and Tempozan wheel<\/a>
\nJapan 2013 part #16 \u2013 Osaka Universal Studios<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tamiya HQ If you can\u2019t make it out to a model kit factory (if you do, just make sure they still have tours! many don\u2019t anymore) then popping into Tamiya HQ in Shimbashi is -almost- the next best thing. Its essentially a store but don\u2019t let that discourage you, their range is extensive covering thousands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2241,2725,389,388],"tags":[2160,1830,169,2441,2442,1361,487,411,2438,629,2440,2264,2443,1736,2439,100,2437,488,770,391,595],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5432"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5432"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7614,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5432\/revisions\/7614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.soulbridgemedia.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}