When the judges realized that Osamu Miyawaki, the creator of Kaiyodo, had submitted a painted Revell model of the Constitution ship to a local art exhibit in 1970, they dismissed his work. “The assembled plastic kit is a form of canvas, just as you need a cloth canvas to paint a picture,” he told the organizers, unfazed. This red bronze coloring, which I accomplished with all of my available skills, fits well with the title Shura (Battle).” With that, he convinced the organizers to change their minds and let his painted model into the show.
The concept of Art-Pla, or the artification of plastic models, continues to be Kaiyodo’s fundamental inspiration. As the firm’s Senior Managing Director, Shūichi Miyawaki (also known as “Senmu”) is the son of Osamu Miyawaki and is proud of the artistic achievements of his company. Senmu boasted that Kaiyodo has collaborated with Takashi Murakami, won awards from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and had its artwork shown at the Palace of Versailles and the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris during a recent tour of the company’s headquarters conducted by ANN. He thinks that the unique selling point of Kaiyodo is that, although producing many items that are regarded as works of art, the company’s pricing are reasonable and its employees take great pride in their work.
This year marks Kaiyodo’s 60th anniversary, and Senmu says the company has always adhered to the motto his father used to start it: to share with everyone the delight of creating plastic models.
In addition to its model kits and figurines of dinosaurs and other animals, Kaiyodo is well-known now for its ARTPLA line, capsule toy figures, Evangelion figures, and its REVOLTECH line of movable figures, which includes robots and anime characters.
Kaiyodo’s past
The company Kaiyodo almost never existed. Osamu Miyawaki needed a stable job in 1964 when he was 36 years old because his son Shūichi was going to attend elementary school. Up until then, he had held over thirty different occupations, but he couldn’t decide whether to start a small business selling plastic models or open an udon shop. He made the decision to let fate decide. He fastened his workout wooden sword to the ceiling, cut the string, and let it drop. He would open an udon business if the sword pointed east or west. And he was going to create a plastic model store if it pointed north or south. Thus, in 1964, Kaiyodo opened its doors in Moriguchi City, Osaka (the renowned sword is today displayed in front of the Kaiyodo Hobby Land museum entrance).
The initial store was only three meters deep and one and a half meters broad. Miyawaki bought supplies from wholesalers on a daily basis. He put in a display window for completed models, and a pool that allowed customers to submerge submarine models took up more than half of the store. He constructed a diorama where clients could operate model tanks and even put up a slot racing course in a corner of the store, complete with firecrackers.
Later, in 1977, he established Hobby Museum as a “play school” in opposition to the then-booming tutoring industry. In addition, he leased a warehouse and constructed a diorama, an exhibition space, a 180-meter slot racing circuit, and a crafts area. During his high school years, BOME, one of Kaiyodo’s most well-known sculptors, joined Senmu in a group called “Zokei-Kyo” and started experimenting with materials like resin to create whatever they desired. After that, they brought those creations to the Hobby Museum for display.
The company collaborated with confectionery manufacturer Furuta in 1999 to introduce a range of chocolate eggs called Choco Egg (which resembled Kinder Eggs in the UK) that had tiny animal figurines within. In three years, they sold 130 million chocolate eggs.
Osamu Miyawaki is currently in his mid-1990s, and according to Senmu, he intends to return to Kochi Prefecture, his birthplace, shortly. He describes how, more than 50 years ago, he would brag that his little shop will one day grow into a massive hobby land in a message posted on the Kaiyodo Hobby Land website:
As a father and son, we have been collecting plastic models and hobby-related goods for over 50 years. We felt it was time to use wonder to encourage children’s creativity and curiosity. But I was ninety-three years old before I realized it.
After all these years, is my dream finally coming true? I’m not sure, but we’ve built this Hobby Land with a lot of aid.
Laugh all you want at this ninety-three-year-old guy who has dedicated his life to turning this boast into a reality.
Hobby Land Kaiyodo
The company’s headquarters are situated in Kadoma-shi, Osaka, and the Kaiyodo Hobby Land museum is easily accessible by foot. The museum opened its doors in 2021. It occupies the entire third floor of a shopping center where it is situated. The slogan on a flyer for the location reads, “Come Together! It definitely lives up to the phrase “Children of today! Children of the past!” With thousands of figures, it’s a veritable gold mine of figure, model, and garage kit history.
I can’t stress this enough. Countless thousands of models and figures can be found at the museum.
The friendship between Miyawaki and special effects artist and director Chris Walas (Gremlins, The Fly, The Fly II) is also highlighted in a section of the museum. In 1993, the two hosted the first-ever transportable, full-scale dinosaur exhibition. The museum has artifacts from the Gremlins movie along with life-size reproductions of Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus heads.
Together with early figures from the company’s shift from a shop to a figure maker, early figures from Miyawaki’s collection over the course of the last 60 years, and a collection of miniatures assembled by the late actor Eiichi Imashimizu are also on exhibit at Kaiyodo Hobby Land.
Additionally, a sizable section features representative pieces from a number of sculptors, including Kuniaki Teraoka, Akira Tani, Nobuchika Ohtsu, Yuko Shimizu, Goro Furuta, Tetsuya Umeda, Kinoshita Takashi, Takuma Katsuo, Katsuhisa Yamaguchi, BOME, and others.
Every day, the museum offers one-hour figure painting sessions; no reservations are required, provided there is space. Dinosaur and other living figures can be painted by those who are interested. In ours, we were to paint a traditional feline riding a sword.
Every visitor to the museum receives a complimentary coin to use on their preferred gacha machine, and there are capsule machines located throughout. The museum also features changing temporary exhibitions; the one that was on display when we visited was dedicated to Daicon Film.
In addition, Kaiyodo manages the Kaiyodo Hobby Museum and Kaiyodo Kappa Museum in Shimanto-cho, Kochi Prefecture, as well as the Kaiyodo Figure Museum Kurokabe Ryuyukan in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture.
Headquarters of Kaiyodo
When taking a tour of the Kaiyodo headquarters, it’s clear that everyone genuinely enjoys what they do. particularly Senmu. The first place we visited was the warehouse, where we were greeted by the real “maneki neko” (lucky cat) in the foyer. Amid walls and walls of boxes of figures, there was a full-size 88mm Flak anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun, which Senmu mentions casually, that he bought from Hayao Miyazaki at auction. Next to it was a box containing a Tamiya model kit of the exact same weapon.
The headquarters include facilities designated for painting, sculpture, and design. Workers were busy at work in each of these areas, which appeared to be disorganized due to crowding. They were all eager to talk and pleased to show us what they were working on. The environment was laid back and informal, showcasing everyone’s artistic talents.
Ota House Guided Tours
In collaboration with the city of Kadoma, Kaiyodo and seesaw are building “Ota House,” a new guest home near the headquarters and Hobby Land. When we visited, the guest home was still under construction, but it was set to open in late January.
Ota House has a communal kitchen area and two guest rooms. Designed with a laid-back idea of “a friend’s house that is filled with things you like,” the guest house comes equipped with toys, novels, figures, and all the painting supplies guests need to try their hand at figure painting. According to the guesthouse’s website, it’s a place where otaku and love can be discovered.
The figure exhibits at the guest home are overseen by Gorō Furuta, the renowned sculptor and painter of biological figures in Kaiyodo.
Reservations can be found on the house’s website and are made via AirBnB. Those with an interest might also visit Ota House’s Instagram page.
In December, Kaiyodo also began offering public tours, which included trips to various museums connected to Kaiyodo as well as Kaiyodo Hobby Land.
If you are at all fond of plastic models or figurines and you happen to have a spare day in Osaka, Kaiyodo Hobby Land is a great place to spend it, feeling both nostalgic and in awe of the beauty of this artistic medium.
