Life-size robotic dinosaurs populate Fukui train station
FUKUI, Japan >> A project to install 23 dinosaur monuments in front of JR Fukui Station was completed last month.
The city and the Fukui prefectural governments began planning for the dinosaur statues in 2015, with the goal of attracting visitors to the prefecture. Fukui has become known as a “dinosaur kingdom” after numerous dinosaur fossils were discovered in the area.
The final monument — a life-size robotic version of the predatory dinosaur suchomimus — was unveiled on Sept. 18. The moving statue, 32 feet long and 13 feet tall, has a long mouth similar to that of an alligator and sharp claws. Fossilized teeth of a dinosaur presumed to belong to the same family as the suchomimus have been discovered in the prefecture.
The robot can move its neck and mouth and even cry.
JR Fukui Station — now a stop on the Hokuriku Shinkansen — also features a Tyrannosaurus rex that roars and regularly moves its head, as well as a triceratops that moves its head every 10 minutes.