TravelSep 4, 2026 JST· By Shu, Tokyo

Gundam Base Tokyo After the Unicorn Statue: Odaiba in 2026

The life-size Unicorn Gundam left Odaiba on Aug 31, 2026. What Gundam Base Tokyo, its 2F Annex and DiverCity still offer Gunpla buyers: access and hours.

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The life-size Unicorn Gundam in front of DiverCity Tokyo Plaza ended its exhibition on August 31, 2026, after eight years and eleven months on the Odaiba waterfront, and as of September 4 Bandai Namco has not announced a successor, a relocation, or what happens to the statue itself. THE GUNDAM BASE TOKYO on the 7th floor of the same building is a separate facility and keeps operating as normal. So the question for anyone planning a Tokyo trip this fall or winter is simple: without the robot, is Odaiba still worth half a day?

Our honest answer: yes if you want Gundam Base limited kits and goods, the smaller 2F Annex, and a waterfront afternoon; no if the statue was the point. This route covers what is actually there in September 2026, with hours and purchase rules from the official store and building pages, and fares from timetable sites.

Why go, and why not

The case for going is the store. Gundam Base Tokyo is Bandai Spirits’ flagship store for Gunpla, about 600 tsubo (roughly 21,000 square feet) on one floor, built around four zones the company describes as buy, build, see and learn. It sells “Gundam Base limited” items that do not reach ordinary hobby shops, and on the same site the Tokyo Annex on the 2nd floor stocks Gunpla and Gundam souvenir goods in a compact 42-tsubo space (about 1,500 square feet). If you already buy from Premium Bandai through a proxy, this is the place to skip the middleman for the store-exclusive items, and to see the current lineup at retail before the Gunpla price revision Bandai has announced for January to March 2027 takes effect.

The case against: the statue was the reason most overseas visitors came to this corner of Odaiba, and it is gone. The final ceremony was held on August 29 with composer Hiroyuki Sawano and singer SennaRin performing, a special farewell video ran from August 22 through the last day, and Bandai sent it off with the Mega Size 1/48 Unicorn Gundam Ver. TWC FINAL kit. None of that is left to see. If a life-size Gundam is what you are after, the only permanent life-size Gundam still on display and performing that we could confirm is the RX-93ff ν Gundam at LaLaport Fukuoka, open since April 25, 2022, with hourly daytime shows from 10:00 to 18:00 and evening shows at 19:00, 19:30, 20:00, 20:30 and 21:00. GUNDAM FACTORY YOKOHAMA closed on March 31, 2024. And if your trip is in 2027, THE GUNDAM BASE OSAKA is slated to open at Lucua Umeda in February, which will put a Gundam Base at JR Osaka Station without a detour.

For everyone else, read on. Odaiba has lost some of its landmarks in the past few years, and it helps to know which ones before you plan around a guidebook.

Getting to DiverCity Tokyo Plaza

The address is 1-1-10 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064. Two rail lines serve it.

• Yurikamome from Shimbashi. The elevated line runs from Shimbashi (JR and subway lines) over the Rainbow Bridge to Daiba station (U07), the stop Yurikamome’s own site lists as nearest to DiverCity. Per timetable sites, Shimbashi to Daiba is about 15 minutes and ¥330 (about $2) one way with no transfer. The walk from Daiba to DiverCity is about five minutes. This is the scenic way in; sit at the front if you can.
• Rinkai Line to Tokyo Teleport. The Rinkai Line’s guide gives DiverCity as about three minutes on foot from Tokyo Teleport station’s B exit. From Osaki (JR Yamanote), per timetable sites, it is about 11 minutes and ¥340 (about $2) one way. Trains from Shinjuku run through onto the Rinkai Line via the JR Saikyo Line without a transfer at Osaki; we have not verified that fare and time, so check a route app.
• From Tokyo Station. There is no direct train. Take the JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku line two stops south to Shimbashi and switch to the Yurikamome, or reach Toyosu and ride the Yurikamome in from its other end.
• From Haneda Airport. An Airport Limousine Bus line serves the Odaiba and Ariake area; we could not confirm from the operator’s page whether it stops at DiverCity, so check the stop list before relying on it. By rail, take the Tokyo Monorail to Tennozu Isle and change to the Rinkai Line for Tokyo Teleport.

A Suica or Pasmo IC card (physical or in your phone) works on all of these. Fares above are per timetable sites as of September 4, 2026 and change with the annual revisions.

The model half-day route

DiverCity’s shops open at 11:00 on weekdays and 10:00 on weekends and holidays, and Gundam Base Tokyo follows the building. The times below assume a weekend; on a weekday, shift everything one hour later and note the shops close at 20:00 instead of 21:00.

10:00 — TOKYO ANNEX, 2F

Start small. The Annex on the 2nd floor is a 42-tsubo satellite stocked with Gunpla and Gundam souvenir goods, listed on the official site with the same address and the same hours as the main store. It is the quick stop for gifts and the smaller boxes, and it is worth checking first for two reasons: it can close independently of the main store (it posted a temporary closure for August 29, 2026, for example), and if what you want is here you can skip the line upstairs. Fifteen to twenty minutes.

10:30 — THE GUNDAM BASE TOKYO, 7F

Take the elevator to the 7th floor. This is the main event: the shop zone with the full current Gunpla catalog and the Gundam Base limited items, plus the build, exhibition and learning areas around it. The official purchase rules, posted in the store’s operating notice, are the thing overseas visitors most often get wrong, so read them before you queue:

Plan your basket before you reach the register, because there is no second trip. Ten items is generous for a hobbyist and tight for a group buyer, which is the point.

For the limited items, the official goods list is the reference. Examples from the current list: the Purinui Mascot Gotochi Haro Tokyo Ver., a plush Haro released August 1, 2026, at ¥1,760 (about $12) tax-in, with Fukuoka and Hokkaido versions sold at those stores; and the Pake-kore box-art collection pieces, such as the MG 1/100 Gundam Base limited Unicorn Gundam (Crystal of Light) and the RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam Ver. 3.0, at ¥1,540 (about $10) each. Limited runs come and go, so check the goods page the week you travel.

The store has a painting room; we could not confirm fees or whether booking is required from the official site, so ask at the counter if you want to paint on site. Give the floor 60 to 90 minutes, more on a launch day.

12:00 — Lunch in the building

DiverCity’s food court is open until 22:00 on weekends (21:00 on weekdays) and the sit-down restaurants until 22:00 daily, per the building’s hours page. Gundam Base also runs a Gundam Cafe kitchen car with monthly themed menus; September 2026’s is a Mobile Suit Gundam SEED menu. The official page shows the details only in images, so we cannot give prices or its exact spot; look for it when you are on the Gundam Base floor.

13:00 — The plaza where the statue stood

Walk out to the Festival Plaza on the ground level, the spot in front of the building where the Unicorn Gundam stood from September 2017. Whether the statue is still physically standing behind hoarding or already removed had not been reported by any Japanese outlet we could find as of September 4, 2026; expect the area to be closed off or under works, and do not plan the day around a photo. If Bandai announces a successor, we will update this page.

13:30 — Gashacoco and the rest of DiverCity

Bandai’s own capsule-toy locator lists a Gashacoco (ガシャココ) shop inside DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. Capsule toys are the cheapest, lightest souvenirs on this route and the easiest to fit around a Gunpla box. Thirty minutes, less if you are not hunting a specific series.

14:00 — Decks Tokyo Beach and the Fuji TV deck

Decks Tokyo Beach, the older mall on the Daiba station side, is operating, with Tokyo Joypolis, Sega’s indoor amusement park, inside it. Across the way is the Fuji TV headquarters with its spherical observation deck, Hachitama; per listing sites it is open until 18:00 with last entry at 17:30, closed Mondays (or the next weekday when Monday is a holiday), and costs ¥800 (about $5). We did not verify those from Fuji TV’s own page, so check before you go. The deck is the cheapest paid view of the Rainbow Bridge on this side of the bay, and the path along Odaiba Marine Park runs back toward the Yurikamome.

Optional extension — teamLab Planets in Toyosu

If you want an evening attraction, teamLab Planets is a short Yurikamome ride away at Shin-Toyosu, about a minute from the station. It is in Toyosu, not Odaiba, and it is not teamLab Borderless, which is across the bay at Azabudai Hills. Per ticket sites it runs until the end of 2027 with timed entry, adult tickets from ¥3,200 (about $20), and sells out on weekends; book the slot before you leave home.

What is no longer there

Odaiba has changed enough since 2022 that older itineraries will mislead you. Palette Town, the complex on the other side of Tokyo Teleport station, closed on August 31, 2022; its giant Ferris wheel and Zepp Tokyo are gone. The VenusFort building was reused as Immersive Fort Tokyo, which opened in March 2024 and closed on February 28, 2026. And the Unicorn Gundam ended August 31, 2026. If a blog post you are reading mentions any of these as a stop, it predates the current Odaiba.

Practical notes

Hours. The official store page lists Gundam Base Tokyo at 10:00 to 21:00, “following the facility,” and the store’s operating notice gives the split: weekdays 11:00 to 20:00, weekends and holidays 10:00 to 21:00, matching DiverCity’s shop hours. Hours change on event days and for inventory; the store posted a shortened 11:00 to 19:00 day on July 29, 2026, and another shortened day on August 26, and the Annex closed for August 29. Check the news page on gundam-base.net the night before.

Launch and event days. On certain release days the store uses an advance lottery or web ticket system for entry; on general days no ticket is needed. Separately, the exhibition areas can be restricted during events while the shop stays open, as on February 7, 2026, when the GBWC 13th world final was held on the floor. If your visit lands on a big Gunpla release, look for the entry notice before you travel out.

Tax-free. The Gundam Base site does not mention tax-free shopping anywhere we could find, and we could not confirm it from DiverCity’s pages either. Bring your passport and ask at the register; do not count on it in your budget.

Carrying kits home. Gunpla boxes are light but bulky. HG boxes stack in a carry-on; MG and larger, and anything Mega Size, will not. Options in order of cost: pack them in checked luggage (kits usually survive if the runners stay in the box), have the hotel hold them, or ship them home by Japan Post EMS from a post office, keeping the store receipt for customs. Coin lockers at Daiba and Tokyo Teleport are useful on the way in, not the way out.

Cash and cards. We have not confirmed which payment methods the store takes, so carry some cash; the gashapon machines downstairs are where coins still matter.

Combining with Akihabara. The Rinkai Line and Yurikamome both connect to the JR loop, so Odaiba in the morning and our Akihabara half-day figure route in the afternoon is a workable one-day pair, with Akihabara’s Tamashii Nations Store Tokyo as the Bandai counterpart for figures. For the items Gundam Base sells only through its online shop, the Premium Bandai and Tamashii web-exclusive guide covers the proxy route from the US.

Booking and extras

Nothing on this route needs a reservation except teamLab Planets, which sells timed tickets on its own site, and the Gundam Base entry ticket on launch days, which is issued by the store rather than sold.

📦Buying Gunpla in person and shipping it home? Japan Post EMS accepts boxed kits; keep the store receipt for customs, and you may owe import duty on arrival depending on the declared value.

Series:Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

Tags: traveltokyoodaibagundam-basegunplabandai-spirits