Govpla?

I tried some plastic model kits as a kid, but they can be quite hard, requiring a great deal of patience and attention to detail. A couple of cruddy-looking biplanes and tanks later, I quickly gave up on it.

▼ So many wasted decals…

But years later, with kids of my own, I tried some Japanese kits based on the Gundam style of interlocking snap parts, and found them really amazing. By removing the trickier aspects of glue and paint, Gunpla kits became far more accessible for beginners, but still allowed people to express their creativity with their own customizations beyond the basic kits. They’re really well designed and should be considered the pride of Japan alongside other pop culture arts of anime, manga, and video games, but they rarely get that level of acknowledgment.

Former Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and some other members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the plastic model industry are working to correct that, by holding the first meeting of the Parliamentary League to Promote MOKEI (Model Kit) Culture on 24 March. Their aim is to get the culture of modeling classified as a cultural asset of Japan and subject to the same official support and promotion that other assets get.

They plan to do this through various channels, one of which is Cool Japan, an initiative started over a decade ago with the purpose of promoting all the “cool” things Japan has to offer internationally but very little to show for it. I have to admit, I thought Cool Japan finally died a while ago after billions and billions of yen in bad investments, but like Jason raising a decayed but tenacious arm above the water of Crystal Lake, it just seems to keep reemerging every few years to terrorize us with its ineffectiveness.

In fact, just the notion of letting Cool Japan help the modeling culture in the country made many people online nervous.

“So much for the plastic model industry…”
“I guess they caught a whiff of money from plastic models.”
“Oh, they’ve made another useless thing.”
“Stop doing this. Manga creators still aren’t getting paid.”
“Perfect timing to promote a petroleum-based product!”
“I’m not sure there’ll even be any plastic left in a month.”
“How many times are they going to keep doing this?”
“I feel like they’re actually trying to destroy the industry.”

Those people can rest a little easy for now, as this is just an informal parliamentary league and doesn’t directly set any policy, but its members will likely push for plastic models more in programs such as… ugh, Cool Japan.

Still, it is fair to say plastic models like Gunpla should be getting more credit and recognition as a fun and interesting hobby that many people have elevated to works of art. During the meeting, comedian Tetsuo Sato gave a passionate speech about the topic, in which he pointed out that models don’t have the connected entertainment value that other things do, citing Beyblade as an example of tops that were just rebranded and marketed really well.

Until someone does come out with a model-making anime series to promote the pursuit, I’ll do my part by encouraging everyone who comes to Japan to pick up a kit as a souvenir and try it out. There are lots of entry-grade kits from all kinds of series that are surprisingly cheap, lightweight, and fun.

Source: Nikkei, My Game News Flash, FNN, Twitter/@nikkei
Photos ©SoraNews24
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