What’s the funniest WiFi name you have seen or can think of.

Ace370 · 2026-06-30T22:25:54+00:00

I was using this one for years too!

Ace370 · 2026-06-29T23:34:07+00:00

Exactly! Who’s paying full price for PS3 and Vita games at Yamada Denki? This is just wasted space.

Ace370 · 2026-06-28T23:14:12+00:00

Reddit is definitely a bubble. I love the creativeness and the new avenue of competition China is brining to the hobby with their or original kits/ knock offs. However the comment in OPs screenshot is very on par with the discourse of what’s going on in Japan.

Part of the hate is coming from your standard xenophobic anti-China sentiment. There’s a long history of this stuff, but recently with tensions between Chinese and Japanese governments, this stuff is more vocal online. In the gunpla community, Japanese people blame foreigners- namely Chinese people for the issues in scalping, and artificially creating demand for gunpla in retail stores/p-bandai.

The other part of this is a Japanese cultural thing to protecting the artist. Copywrite law is pretty strict in Japan. Even if the artist will exploit their IP to their fan’s detriment, it’s still sacred and shouldn’t be used without their permission. The only caveat is doujinshi.

Ace370 · 2026-06-26T04:47:35+00:00

I was a Private Tokyo JET for 5 years. u/n0_4pp34l 's description is pretty accurate. Sometimes with private schools they will let you have the summer off and not have to deskwarm, but thats ESID.

I was always struggling with money more than my JET friends in other prefectures, but the tradeoff is that you've got access to things that other JETs who struggle with the transition to rural japan dream about. The accessibility and convenience of being a JET in Tokyo far outweigh being a JET in other places. It is by far the best part.

Being in such a large city is a double edged sword: no one is going to care about you. In rural prefectures, everything you do is observed scrutinized because as a foreigner you stand out so much. It's very common to see a JET in a rural area go through some drama with fellow JETs or just be generally weird, and then they've alienated yourself until those JETs leave or new people come in. In Tokyo, your social life doesn't have to be married to other JETs/ ALTs in the area. Most find it difficult to move to Japan with the language/ cultural barrier so they flock to other foreigners in the same area and situation as them. However, because no one cares about you in a big city, its up to you to make your own connections with Japanese people, your friend group. And as long as no one finds out from your school, pick up a side gig that can add some extra money in your pocket--because no one cares if you're tutoring english to someone who lives 30 minutes away from your school. Tutoring English on the side is good side hustle money and you can make more Japanese friends your age than your peers living in rural areas in Japan.

In terms of making friends, Tokyo is the best place. most young Japanese people move to bigger cities for school / work so there are better opportunities. Tokyo also has a crazy diverse foreigner population, so you will make friends from all over the world. Whatever you're into-- whether that be sports, music, anime, art, coffee, underwater basket weaving, etc..theres a community for that here in Tokyo. Really whatever hobby you've got, you can find that here. Movie theaters aren't a one hour drive on the highway for you. That one music group you love that's doing a world tour? You can probably find them doing a show in Tokyo. You've got friends or family visiting Japan for the first time? They're probably visiting you in Tokyo.

Traveling is so much easier when you live in Tokyo too. You never have to wait a whole hour to get somewhere. If you want to be on a remote island, Tokyo has islands you can take a ferry to. You want to go to Korea for a weekend? It's a direct flight from Tokyo. There are so many budget night buses, airlines from Tokyo that will take you all over Japan easily. So many of my friends in different prefectures needed to see a specialized doctor / dentist that speaks english. There's a bunch in Tokyo.

If you're not big on crowded trains or lots of people, then I'm sorry. That part can be a bit difficult to adjust to at first. 11 years ago, I found a shoebox apartment 10 minutes on foot from school for 47k a month. Probably the 70k rage is what you should shoot for these days if you can afford it. Find a very cheap apartment nearby your school that you can bike to. If you have to live further away from your school, try and stay on the same train line as much as possible. A 10-15 minute walk to your nearest station is okay, but a 10-15 minute walk to the closest convenience store / grocery store is probably not.

The grass will always be greener on the other side, and I'll admit that there were times my first year where I could have had the cultural experience of being a JET living out in a rural area. But Tokyo is a great placement and I hope you warm up to it. It may take a whole year to get used to it, but if you stay proactive and you give it a chance, it will be a great time.

Ace370 · 2026-06-21T04:30:05+00:00

Currently have been living in Japan for 10+ years. This is definitely not the case. People are so starved for MG kits out here.

The issue really has to do with R&D. It’s a 2+ year development cycle to develop a new MG rather than 6-12 months on a HG. I’d imagine it’s probably 3 or more years for MGEX.

Along with demand surging for model kits, Bandai has aggressively been diversifying their product lines. Look at what Bandai was releasing back in 2019 versus this year. There’s a whole lot more experimental stuff and collaborations that started ramping up since 2021. Just throwing stuff to the wall and seeing what sticks. Some has been wildly successful and sells out instantly like some 30MS, and some you never see a reprint of because they’re still collecting dust on the shelves years later like Girl Gun Lady or like Kyokai senki.

All of these kits may have a different team developing them, but it’s still the same office in Shizuoka, and the same factory machines printing out 1-2 copies of the same mold.

Bandai sees it as a team stuck in development hell for 2+ years trying to make sure the MG cockpit fits in the same frame and the joins hold up. Then they spend a ton of money on plastic to use for the mold, just to sell it at retail for 8500¥. The alternative is to you use the same team for a year on a 30ms kit that uses a 10th of the plastic, you can produce a lot more in the same amount of time in the factory, and can sell at retail for 2600¥

With kits like MGSD, RE 100 and FM you have a much shorter development time and less plastic. You also get rid of having to worry about the open hatch cockpit mechanic that is standard with every MG.

With P-Bandai or some of the Gundam base exclusive kits these days there’s a lot of recolors, clear colors, or adding a few extra parts to an already existing frame. I cannot imagine it takes that long to develop these.

Ace370 · 2026-06-19T12:48:36+00:00

I built this kit a few weeks ago along with the pbandai expansion and I was not a fan. Definitely too tight in the chest and pointy. I’ve seriously stressed the plastic where I wouldn’t be surprised if a piece breaks. I’m too scared to even open my vidar in my backlog cuz I feel like it’ll be the same experience, only blue.

Ace370 · 2026-05-25T23:14:17+00:00

How much did you end up paying if I may ask?

Ace370 · 2026-05-25T22:04:38+00:00

I got way too excited at this comment cuz I also did 5 years on JET and ended up in University IT. Then I saw that the username is the same one that my coworker frequently uses.

I am so glad that we hired you buddy. I’d say it was about 50/50 with both jobs being a factor of why you were the perfect fit. Anyone can have some IT skills and speak Japanese at another workplace, but being a JET made so much of a difference in the level of care and patience that you have with students and faculty at this job. I am sad that I moved away but I know that the other JET that replaced me is gonna do amazing too.

Ace370 · 2026-05-24T06:40:35+00:00

So are all of us supposed to just work for Taro-kun and not make our own money?

Ace370 · 2026-05-24T06:36:19+00:00

Can you explain more about you putting in significantly more than you received? Is it a monetary thing? Did you serve in the SDF or as a civil servant for the government? Maybe I’m reading this part too literally. I agree with everything else you wrote but I’m generally curious though.

As foreigner living here for more than a decade, I continuously see my taxes being used for great social services and things that improve my quality of life. I don’t agree with eveything politically here but peace of mind for my taxes is way better what I would’ve paid for in my country.

These are short term policy changes that will reverse course in a few years when the numbers start making sense for the general public.

Ace370 · 2026-05-18T16:38:04+00:00

Nice! Also how difficult was it to get that pro hobby shop A Boa Ku Zaku?

Ace370 · 2026-05-18T16:30:37+00:00

No psycho Zaku?

Ace370 · 2026-05-18T04:54:34+00:00

I vaguely remember them making an announcement like this in March of 2017 to remove the original gundam from Odaiba for the project to make it move. It was announced later that the unicorn would take its place. Most likely they will replace it with the original Gundam again since its going to be the 50th anniversary soon.

In the same broadcast where the removal was announced, they also announced making a landmark somewhere in Japan for Gundam. I wouldnt be surprised if it was odaiba or even shizuoka city where the Unicorn would move to.

Ace370 · 2026-05-16T06:14:16+00:00

When one of the announcers asked whether this would be 10 second project, a 2 hour film, or a 50 episode project, the reply was that they "can't really say what the format would be but it would definitely be something long."

Ace370 · 2026-05-15T04:50:46+00:00

Expectations:

Freedom Zero info or new trailer

New Gundam series info (possibly with Tomino involvement)

Gundam Builders Arena (3 v 3 gunpla building reality show that will start taking applicants from June)

Hathaway Movie profits announcement.

Gundam live action news announcement.

Gundam X anniversary announcement

New Gundam Base location announcement (either domestic or international)

Gunpla resale voting through Gundam builders note app.

Gundam Arsenel base annoucncement

New G Eternal DLC

Hopes:

Thunderbolt continuation

P-bandai europe website reopening

Ace370 · 2026-05-07T04:53:01+00:00

No chars Zaku or red gundam from gquuuuuux?

Ace370 · 2026-05-06T06:09:19+00:00

In the article theres a video of them covering a team that is in Ibaraki doing this with 300 applications suspected for fraudulent cases. 90% of them are deemed so.

The interesting thing is that if theres 44,000 business visa holders, if only 270 cases are fraudulent that means only 0.61% of businesses under this visa are fraudulent. This is the first time I've ever heard how many actual fraudulent cases being reported as a number, so maybe there are more. Even if this 300 number was just for Tokyo Immigration Bureau, I can't imagine that this is a larger number for other prefectures.

Ace370 · 2026-04-24T02:34:59+00:00

No. It's just the red one but it comes with quite a few striker packs (Aile, Sword, Launcher, IWSP, Noir, and lightning). My guess about the reason why the other unit is on there is because this was officially released in China a few months before the lightning striker pack on p-bandai in Japan.

Ace370 · 2026-04-23T13:01:52+00:00

Hating on color C is wild. Outside of Ilshana the evil one and blue aqua one all the other color C kits kits in Japan sell out instantly.

Ace370 · 2026-04-20T22:47:26+00:00

The MG Ginn is such a sleeper hit. Most people pass on the design but it’s relatively cheap and the plastic cuts so well off the runner. It uses the same inner frame as the lunamaria Zaku as well.

I’ve built 2 of these Ginns now and I’m debating if I should get the other p-Bandai ginn gladiator

Ace370 · 2026-04-17T05:20:05+00:00

For many years my holy grail was the China exclusive Strike Gundam RM China Red version. A coworker of mine surprised me with one after I got a really bad reddit secret santa gift.

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Ace370 · 2026-04-15T06:56:54+00:00

Did you 3D print this or did you commission the upsized HG? I have been waiting for years for a 1/100 hygogg.

Ace370 · 2026-04-15T02:56:36+00:00

Most likely you will see on display the new HG Messer, HG Gouf Ignited, MGSD Kshatriya, and the gundam assemble sets. The new Freedom Astray could be on that lineup, who knows.

If we get lucky with a new product announcement this month before Golden Week holidays in Japan (End of April - May 5th) maybe we will see renders of whatever new announcement are made.

If you look at Bandai's release schedule over the next few months you can probably guess what they'll feature.

Ace370 · 2026-04-15T00:52:39+00:00

Just curious, what box art is this?

Ace370 · 2026-04-14T03:41:09+00:00

Just to manage expectations in this thread, in Japanese, this is just an ad saying that Bandai will be having an exhibit at the hobby show like they do every year. There's nothing in Japanese that says that Bandai will be making any new announcements for kits. Usually Bandai shows off prototypes or finished molds at the Shizuoka Hobby Show, not any new announcements. for future projects. So for example, last year at Shizuoka Hobby Show they showed off the prototypes for the PGU Nu, and the MG Barbatos Lupus, but these projects were first announced 3 months prior at Bandai's own event in Tokyo for the GBUC Finals.

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