Customers stopping by the Okabayashi Shoten produce market here might wonder about the creativeness of the store owner: an array of popular anime characters is on display in and outside the shop, along with the various fruits and vegetables.
Masamichi Okabayashi, 63, the store owner, whose hobby is building plastic models, made the figures by hand out of cardboard. The large statues are a part of a series of projects offered across the country to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the “Mobile Suit Gundam” animated TV series.
The vegetable and fruit stand has introduced large 1/12 scale models of the Gundam F91 and Char’s Zaku robots in its storefront. The started making cardboard sculptures about three years ago after wanting to do something with old boxes piled up in his store.
