The real-world Village-3 from Evangelion Thrice Upon a Time launches the Shin Hamamatsu Project.

For the most parts, city halls in Japan look more or less like they do in many other countries. You’ll see long counters staffed with civil servants attending to various administrative tasks, sensible seating areas for citizens to wait in, and maybe some artwork from local artists or schoolchildren hanging on the walls.

But there’s a very notable exception to the standard philosophy of function over flash at Hamamatsu City Hall in Shizuoka Prefecture, where as of this month the décor includes a gigantic Evangelion statue.

The reproduction of Eva Unit-01 is approximately six meters (19.7 feet) tall and now stands in the building’s first floor lobby, where anyone can come see it. It’s part of the Shin Hamamatasu Project, a series of Eva-related promotional programs taking place in Hamamatsu, which itself serves as a key location in the final Rebuild of Evangelion anime movie, Thrice Upon a Time. An important part of the movie takes place in a peaceful bucolic community called Village-3, which is modeled after the area around Hamamatsu’s Tenryu-Futamata Station.

We took a trip to the real-world Village-3 a while back, and Hamamatsu is hoping more travelers will come to visit thanks to the city’s connection to Evangelion. In addition to the Unit-01 statue at city hall, the Shin Hamamatasu Project also includes special Eva art-wrapped trains for the local Tenryu Hamanako Line (which serves Tenryu-Futamata Station) and Enshu Railway Line (a.k.a. “Akaden”).

▼ The Tenryu Hamanako train features Unit-01, protagonist Shinji, and difficult dad Gendo.

▼ Ace pilots Asuka and Mari appear on the Enshu train, along with Eva Units 02 and 08.

There’s also a commemorative Evangelion monument that’ll be put up in the Tenryu neighborhood, shown at the point cued up in the video below, and a large-scale replica of the Spear of Longinus is already in place near the station’s turntable/roundhouse area, which offers tours to fans of Eva and/or rail infrastructure.

The city hall Unit-01 statue, which was officially unveiled in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 20, is viewable from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, and is currently planned to be on display until January 25.

Related: Shin Hamamatsu Project official website
Source: Hamamatsu City, Shin Hamamatsu Project official website
Top image: Shin Hamamatsu Project official website
Insert images: SoraNews24, Shin Hamamatsu Project official website, Enshu Railway
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