Remembering The Late, Great Bandai Museum

Above, Godzilla prop from "Godzilla x Megaguirus."

Remembering The Late, Great Bandai Museum

Photos and text by Armand Vaquer


G-FAN #75 (Spring 2006 issue) contained my article, “A Japan Mini-Vacation” which featured a visit to the Bandai Museum, five years ago this coming October.

The Bandai Museum had a huge collection of Godzilla, Ultraman, Gundam and other Japanese super-hero exhibits, toys and numerous shops for the traveling fan to part with his/her money at. The museum’s moniker was, “Character's Hall of Fame and their History With Bandai Since 1950” (a mild case of “Engrish” here).



Unfortunately, the Bandai Museum was closed down on August 31, 2006. [The following year, on April 28, 2007, "Omocha no Machi Bandai Museum" opened for business in Mibu, Tochigi.]

It is easy to see why. Their opening schedule was confusing. One day it would be open, then closed for two days, and then it would be open again. Its location was what we would call “out in the boonies” of Tokyo. Although it sat right next to the Matsuda Station on the Joban Line (there were plenty of signs in the station pointing the way to the museum, so a visitor couldn’t possibly get lost), it was not access-friendly to visitors who didn’t have a good working grasp of the Tokyo train system.

Still, if one made the effort to go to the Bandai Museum on an open day, it was well-worth the excursion.

As it now has been over three years since the Bandai Museum permanently shut down its doors, here is a look back at the museum and what it contained.

The exhibit areas of the museum consisted of two parts, Character World and Gundam Museum, with the remaining areas of floors (5 through 8) were for shops, event space, and visitor amenities.

If one should get hungry, the Gundam Café was located on the top floor (8th floor) of the museum.



G-Base (above) was a store located at the exit of the Gundam Museum and it sold premium Gundam items such as collectables and figures, but it also had limited and exclusive items that were only available at the museum store.

Above, Godzilla dioramas on display.

Capsule toys were sold at Gashapon World. Godzilla toys were sold on the fifth floor. The store contained Bandai Godzilla toys, including the museum exclusives. I picked up the King Goji museum exclusive (it cost around $60 US). The Godzilla exhibit contained the full line of Godzilla toys including movie props from Godzilla x Megaguirus and GMK.



The Gundam Lift was located on the Gundam floor (7th floor) where visitors could don a Gundam costume (photo, above), provided they could fit in one, and pose for photos on the Gundam Lift for a fee. Luckily, I was able to fit into one.



The Ultraman exhibit contained helmets (photo, above) from the various Ultraman series along with a big collection of Bandai’s Ultraman toys and full-size dioramas.

Above, Ultraman toys on display.

Perhaps had the Bandai Museum been in a better location (Odaiba or Shibuya immediately come to mind) and a sensible business schedule, it could have survived.

It is too bad that the Bandai Museum closed down. But it will live on in visitors’ memories and photo collections.