Here’s a pretty interesting video of a Bandai plastic model design factory in Shizuoka prefecture, which by the way is just south west of Yokohama (capital of Kanagawa prefecture) and I know that because I just had a test on Japanese prefectures in school today. LOL.
Interestingly, according to the video there are a lot of plastic model factories located in Shizuoka because the Tokugawa shogunate gathered woodworkers there from all over the country to build and maintain shrines and created a woodwork industry there. When plastic modeling first began, the design prototypes were carved from wood and the companies naturally looked for the best people in the field. I’m sure their shrine-building ancestors would be proud of them for their great contributions to otakuism.
Of course with 3D prototyping machines and precision laser cutters these days, 3D Studio Max is probably a more relevant skill than wood-carving.
I love how their work uniforms are designed based on Gundam military uniforms. LOL. It’s so geeky that it’s cool.
[ Via Japan Probe ]
LOL Awesome uniforms.
This blog entry pretty much sums up how Bandai has improved over the years to beome near state of the art in terms of model making.