Model Train Convention at Tokyo Big Site

I was at International Model Train Convention held at Big Site in Tokyo on August 17, 2013,and helped my friend's member shop. He is one of my high school classmates and has been selling LED interior illumination lights for model trains.

He is one of those railway train mania. He designed some of the LED lights he sells as he was an electronic engineer in his previous life.

To go to Big Site, I took Yurikamome line and got off at the "Kokusai Tenjijo Shomen-Genkan Mae" station. You can walk up to Big Site directly from there. I liked Big Site's huge, red three-dimensional symbol mark, which looked to me very Californian.

Once open, people started pouring in and the exhibition floor got very crowded, which was more than I expected.

Pic：Model trains running against the background picture of a mountain.

Model trains of variable sizes and colors were running in and out very realistic model mountains, towns populated with people, and fields, passing by model stations (with people) and over rivers and roads (with various model vehicles) with whirring sounds here and their in the convention floor. I was slowly getting why some people get enthralled with very realistic world of miniatures with emphasis on trains.

Pic：Model trains running in a miniature landscape garden.

The average patrons of the convention were pot-bellied men of 30s and 40s, wearing T-shirt and long sleeved top. Women are definitely minority but according to my friend, their number had been gradually increasing over the years. My impression was that some of the women are engineers. There were many fathers with their kids, and children gave lots of energy to the exhibition floor. I talked to foreigners such as German and Chinese.

"The train is coming into the 3rd platform... The train is passing by the 2nd platform... Please stand back behind the white line to avoid danger." I think that almost all train users have gotten tired of those announcement female voice. However, for those railroad fans, those sweet voices may be another ultimate object of their passion. At one booth, each time model trains approach the model station, those announcements were heard, which was very frequently. Never tired of looking at trains or hearing the announcements - The convention is the space where manias can express such intimate feelings toward trains and females, represented by sweet voices, without any reservation.

Pic：Toy gardens are so detailed, almost superior to model trains. Dr. Hyao Kawai, a psychologist who uses a toy garden for analysis, would love it.

The above is one of my favorite exhibits. The upper, half-sphere part of the contrivance spins as you rotate the handle on the lower part. That rotates the background scenery of a Bullet Train and gives you an impression of as if the train is running, although it actually remains at the bottom all the while. You can see special local products such as apple, brevoort fish and sushi studded on the half-sphere background surface.

The creator of the half-spere says, "I am not a railroad fan but love to build things like these. That's why I put them on the exhibition."

Another of his work. The background blue is refreshing. I love this one best.