Remember my recent post on the Japanese Defence Ministry having a symposium on “Towards Realization of Gundam“. It turns out be be just a publicity stunt as I’ve predicted.

Its actually just a suit of “advanced personal equipment system” that combines a bulletproof vest with electronic gear, including a helmet-mounted display. The display monitors information about the wearer’s surroundings, through video feeds from other locations and global positioning system (GPS) data, and health status during ground combat.

According to their spokesperson who told the Sankei Shinbum,

“We’ve been somewhat perplexed by the overwhelming response. One of the researchers that is developing ways to computerize our uniformed personnel had nicknamed [the system] “Gundam” several years ago, so we wrote that [in the symposium's program].” Nevertheless, the spokesperson encouraged fans of the Gundam anime to come the public exhibits.

Bah, yeah rite, I’m sure it was just a coincidence. I bet they were trying to gain media and public attention before the event. Nonetheless, thats what I call good marketing. — d(ﾟ∀ﾟ)b —