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Live-Size Kaiju No. 8 Statue (Temporarily) Erected at Tokyo's Tachikawa Station

Japan famously operates some of the world's most punctual train lines, which stop at some gorgeous train stations. What often goes under the radar are the events at those stations. Most of the time it's a stamp rally where you get a reward upon completion, or a market featuring cuisine and items from a local region of Japan. But on rare occasions we get a collaboration with an anime, such as the Kaiju No. 8 event at Tachikawa Station on the Japan Railways (JR) Chūō Main Line.

The Kaiju No. 8 X (formerly Twitter) account announced the collaboration on April 26. The event takes place between April 26 and June 30, and the voice of Kafka Hibino, Masaya Fukunishi, appeared in person at the station on April 27.

However, the main attraction for the event is the life-sized statue of Kaiju No. 8 erected in Tachikawa Station. The statue was unveiled during the appointment of Fukunishi as the ceremonial One-Day Manager at the Kaiju No. 8 store in Tachikawa station. While it's not stated when he took the photos, Fukunishi also posted photos of himself with the statue on his Ken Production agency's X account on April 27.

The life-size statue stayed at Tachikawa Station for three days from April 26 to 29, and the collaboration's homepage lists when and where the statue will appear next:

Along with the statue, Kaiju No. 8 fans will also find life-size character panels around Tachikawa Station, flags with Defense Force members, and a virtual stamp rally. Fans who complete the stamp rally will receive one of three randomly distributed pin badges. The map for the stamp rally can be found here.

The Kaiju No. 8 X account is also running a campaign for the character panels around Tachikawa Station. Fans who follow the account, post a total of four photos (two between April 26 to May 31 and two between June 1 to June 30) with the hashtags #怪獣討伐 and #怪獣8号 will be entered to win trading stickers, Kaiju No. 8 themed assorted merchandise (dorayaki and manju set, cookies, pin badges, and clear file folders), or two Kaiju No. 8 figures. Only one lucky fan will win the figures, five will win the assorted merchandise, and 82 will win the stickers. The collaboration's homepage lists all the locations:

Sources: Kaiju No. 8 x Tachikawa City's website (link 2, link 3), Kaiju No. 8 x Tachikawa City's X/Twitter account (link 2), Kaiju No. 8's X/Twitter account, Ken Production's X/Twitter account, Mantan Web