Hello, Kapinozuka here.
Early last month, there was a railway event called the Tobu Fan Fiesta, so I went to check it out. I’m sure there are others that had put together a basic event report, so I thought I should change the focus and put the spotlight
on the Tetsudo Musume instead.
Tomytec
At the Tomytec booth, there was an announcement advert for the [Tetsudo Musume PLUS] slated for 2011 release.
Apparently it was actually announced at the Makuhari Hobby Show as well, but they have only reviled this character for the time being.
5 years since the release of "Tetsudo Musume ~Railway Uniform Collection vol.1~"
The sentence brings expectations of its expansion for the coming future.
Out of the three characters the girl in the middle is named Yuuko Iwase (provisional name), and apparently the attendant of Toyama Light Rail.
No.[+02], it says.
The one to the left is [+01], and to the right is [+03].
We can only see the silhouette for the two on the side at the moment.
At the Tomytec booth, they also had things like the
Manual Front Rollsign Tobu Series 8000(Component Model), and
Tobu Series 100 Spacia(N-Scale),
Power Unit For Railway Collection etc. on sale, and for those that spent over a certain
amount, they were giving out one
Tetsudou Musume Station Poster Vol.1 that were yet to be released for sales at the time.
But of course, you won’t know which poster you got until you buy it.
Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company (Tsukuba Express)
At the booth of Tsukuba Express, there was a limited edition "Mirai Akiha" on sale.
This was the item which were sold at the event "Tsukuba Express Fest", which was held in early November last year. And being an item you can only get from the events that Tsukuba Express participates in, it is a pretty rare
figurine indeed.
The packaging was in mono-color print, really giving it that limited edition look.
Kurihashi Business and Industry Society
The Tobu Fan Fiesta event venue is held in the Tobu Railway Minami-Kurihashi Vehicle Management District.
And as the local area is the town of Kurihashi (became a part of Kuki City in March 2010), the Kurihashi Business and Industry Society had participated as well... and things were just crazy!
A life-size panel of Minami Kurihashi was greatly welcoming everyone!
Minami Kurihashi (CV: Aya Hirano!) is the Station Service Clerk (a.k.a. Station Staff) of Tobu Railways Kita-Senju.
The illustration is by Koyori Sorahana, and has a very energetic girly feel to it.
And over here, the life-size panel of Akana Kurihashi!
Akana Kurihashi is Minami Kurihashi’s cousin, and is the on-car sales girl of the Limited Express Spacia.
Now that’s cute.
Ah, a 2011 calendar is on sale.
They are the Kurihashi Business and Industrial Society original products, so they can only be bought in Kurihashi.
Other than that, there were accessory straps of Minami Kurihashi and Akane Kurihashi as well.
It’s a regional limited product, so it can only be bought in Kurihashi.
And it so important, I had to say it twice.
Plus, there were things like "Minami Kurihashi Japanese Towel", "Minami-chan Tumbler", "Pure Rice Sake Minami", "Natural Spring Water/Diluting Water Minami", "Love Seaweed"(?)...
Woah, they have everything!
But its regionally limited product so you must come to Kurihashi to buy them!
It’s so impor... (rest abbreviated)
By the way, there was a summer festival held in August 2010 that featured Minami Kurihashi.
They had interesting items such as a talk show that featured a special guest, Noto Mamiko that does the voice acting for Kinu Watarase, also a Tetsudo Musume Tobu, as well as Minami Kurihashi dance and other fun stuff.
So it looks like Minami Kurihashi has really become a mascot character of Kurihashi.
I say she has surpassed the boundaries of Tetsudo Musume already!
That’s right.
It’s been 5 years since the birth of uniform figurine series called Tetsudo Musume.
And some of these characters are being actively used to revitalize their area and town as their image character.
They aren’t just figurines, something much greater with new possibilities continuing to grow, in my opinion.
So hurray to the figures that influence towns, and look forward to whats in store for these Tetsudo Musume!
By Kapinozuka (Sorry for the article being late)
Extra.
The images from the event.
Feel of the Venue
The exit of Minami Kurihashi Station was super crowded with people going to the Tobu Fan Fiesta.
There were only about 4 automatic ticketing gates, so there is a flood of people when the train arrives.
There was a queue of people at the front gate of Minami-Kurihashi Vehicle Management District.
There was also a memorabilia being handed out at reception as well.
The Series 30000 parked in the factory building.
It was used for the conductor’s announcement experience this time.
The speaker and mic of the Series 30000 have great sound quality, so it would be nice to let your beautiful voice ring thorough the on-car broadcast!
(I personally think it has the best broadcasting equipment out of the commuters’ train of Tobu Railway.)
These here are the trains that were lined up for the Photography Section.
There are the representative trains of Tobu lined up, and the Series 8000 that’s in this photo isn’t the one from the main line, but one from the Tojyo Line.
It was brought to the venue just for this event, via the Chichibu Railway.
*this image was taken after the event finished.
There were small attractions on the stage as well.
At this time, there were Tobu related mascot characters gathered up!
To left, Toppy from Tobu Zoo, Tom from Tobu World Square to the right, and Mime second from the right, and at the center, Sorakara from Tokyo Sky Tree...!
However, Oshinari wasn’t there...
*The lighting condition at this time was caused the photo to turn out like this.
There were also many gourmet food stalls from places near the line, so you could enjoy a variety of things such as "Sano Ramen", "Utsunomiya Dumplings", "Fried Noodles with Potato" , "Tobu Original
Lunch set" etc. Yum!
The reason there are only imaged from the morning and afternoon, is because I was too busy eating.
That, and the visit to the factory/workshop of course!.
~Related link~
Tomytec - Tetsudo Musume
Kurihashi Business and Industrial Society
Tobu Railways