Kaiyodo Figure Museum

A few months ago I bought myself a copy of "the Otaku Encyclopedia" in which are details of many interesting little places an Otaku might go in Japan. Upon reading it I had particular interest to go see the Kaiyodo Figure Museum. This was partly because its pretty close by, and partly because I really like Japanese Figures as an art form or something. So, for my birthday, we decided to spend a long weekend on a trip to Shiga. To see, primarily, the figures.

In short, it was well worth it. The museum is not very big but does contain a few thousand small figures, so if you take your time its easy to spend an hour or so looking round. Some of them are just really well made. I especially like the really small ones, often they seem to have the most detail. But the star of the show for me was a set of 3 Goddesses on pedestals. These big figures greet you as you go up the stairs and look stunning. It had almost a 3 Graces feel to it or something, which some might feel is a blasphemy to art but bleh, I liked it. Also, I was going to take some pictures of the BONE (prolific figure maker) stuff, but it was a bit too provocative and I didn't feel like taking a picture.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the place. As ever you can find more if you follow the right links.