Shizuoka

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  • Giant Gundam statue returns with beam saber to threaten Mt. Fuji

    by 
    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    03.22.2010

    Want to make a giant Gundam monument more better? Give it a beam saber and erect it just 45 minutes outside of Tokyo by bullet train. The resurrected 18-meter (59-foot) tall RX-78-2 mech will replace the dismantled 30th anniversary statue built at Shiokaze Park, complete with smoke, dramatic lighting effects, and animatronic head. Look for it outside of the Shizuoka station in July assuming the latest LHC collisions don't delay things by inadvertently destroying the mecha in a cloud of Minovsky particles. One more mock-up after the break.

  • Japanese train company to debut dual-use bus and rail vehicle

    by 
    Cyrus Farivar
    Cyrus Farivar
    12.17.2006

    JR Hokkaido, a Japanese rail firm, is poised to fully launch its dual-mode bus and rail vehicle. The bus-train has both rubber and steel tires, allowing it to switch between regular roads and railroad tracks with ease. The company debuted a test model nearly three years ago, and a set up a test line in the Shizuoka Prefecture city of Fuji late last month -- but JR Hokkaido will be conducting commercial tests on the Semmo Line near Shiretoko in April 2007. This crazy dual-use machine is meant to be a way to replace train cars that run on local lines where ridership is down to under 500 people per day (that's 30 percent of JR's lines). While you probably won't be able to get your hands on one unless you're a running a Japanese rail company, these new hybrids will cost ¥20 million ($170,735) apiece, which apparently is about one-seventh the cost of a traditional diesel-powered train car. At such bargain basement prices, Japanese rail riders might be seeing these pretty soon -- that is, unless the hovercraft-train-bus triple-threat comes to market first.[Via Engadget Chinese]