Touring Japan’s Gundam Factory With Armored Core’s Chief Producer

Game Informer toured the Bandai hobby center Shinkan in the summer of 2009, in the midst of an impending typhoon. This 132,000 square-foot facility is where Bandai Entertainment manufactures their iconic Gundam kit. This facility, located in Shizuoka in Japan, is where you can find a brand new Gundam kit in your local retailer. The factory contains 35 plastic color-molding machines – 25 electric and 10 hydraulic – all helping produce millions of models yearly.

Miyuki Nakagiri from Bandai Spirits, who is an expert in the operation of the factory, guides us around the facility. Our translator during this tour is Atsuo Yoshimura, a video game production manager who’s worked at Bandai Namco for the last 17 years. Notably, Yoshimura worked on last year’s Elden Ring – Game Informer’s 2022 Game of the Year, and most recently, Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon. Yoshimura played an important role in the coordination of Game Informer’s Recent Armored Core VI Cover Story Trip 

Watch Us Take You to Japan’s Gundam Manufacturing Factory