Day 5 continues!
We went to visit the Gundam statue – the life size version of the MG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 🙂 we spent most of our time at a shopping center called Diver CIty.
Diver City actually had a couple of things we wanted to see and do, but it’s always been a shopping center that I’ve visited every time I’ve been to Japan – without fail so far!
Doraemon Department Store
Annie is a big fan of Doraemon, a long-running anime franchise that was (in my opinion) one of the first series to really gain worldwide recognition. I didn’t get some happy snaps of the Doraemon store, but Annie did! So these pictures are very much courtesy of her ♥
She ended up spending a little bit of time there, buying a few things to remember the trip by, and there’s already a shopping wishlist for our next visit 🙂
A Quick Break, and on to Gundam Base!
Finally as it rounded off towards evening, Annie and I had a quick snack of some McDonald’s and took a brief break before heading to the Gundam Base store – which has always been amazing!
Then onto the main attraction…
I’ve never been able to see the Factory side – as it’s always closed for Maintenance for some reason in the last couple years (last year I couldn’t see it either). However, on display were the World Championship Gunpla Builders winners models on display!
Let’s get to the galleries of the entries!
GBWC 12th Tournament – Under 20s
GWBC 12th Tournament – Under 14s
GWBC 12th Tournament – Over 21s
All these models were INCREDIBLE to see – and the customisations each of the entrants did were mind blowing and so creative. As an amateur Gunpla builder who just started this year, it was a huge inspiration!
Of course, we succumbed to the store limited editions and Annie even picked up her first Gunpla model! It was Haro! Very cute ♥
We were actually both pretty tired at this point so as we wandered out towards the exit of the center I actually caught a sign I wasn’t expecting!
L-R: Irys, Ina, Fubuki, Okayu, Gura, Fuwawa, Mococo!
What a pleasant surprise! Hololive hold a special place in my heart as around the time they started becoming popular in Western culture, it was a really tough patch in my life and watching them saw me through it. So it was pleasantly surprising to see Hololive doing a little better in Japan and increasing in popularity!
On our way out, Annie spotted a Doraemon claw-game machine at Round 1 near the entrance, and she won!
Dinner
We ended up heading back to the hotel and honestly resting/snoozing for a couple hours before heading out to a nearby popular curry rice chain, CoCo Curry House. Finally got my chance to show Annie this amazing food chain; it’s still a classic hit, and they do 20 levels of spice now instead of the 10 from last year that my friends and I had encountered!
A classic Chicken Katsu Curry, with Cheese/Potato Croquette 🙂
