Shizuoka City turns itself into a 1:1 scale plastic model city — ACC Japan Grand Prix

Shizuoka City is the quiet powerhouse of Japan's plastic model industry: more than 80% of the models sold in the country are made there, and the city bills itself as the 'model world capital'. But few of the people who snapped together a Tamiya or Bandai kit ever thought of Shizuoka as a destination, and the Covid-19 pandemic had hit its tourism hard.

In 2020, the city and Hakuhodo Kettle launched the Shizuoka City Plastic Model Project (静岡市プラモデル化計画). The idea was not to advertise the industry but to redesign the city itself as a 1:1 scale plastic model. Real objects — a postbox, a phone booth, tourist signs, benches, street lights and photo spots — were rebuilt as oversized, pre-assembly model parts, still fully functional.

Each monument took about six months with local model manufacturers and factory craftsmen, who paid close attention to the safety and the details that make a plastic model feel authentic. The first four Plamonuments, including a working plastic-model postbox that local schoolchildren used for the first mailing, were unveiled on 19 March 2021. The project's announcement video had already passed 1.5 million YouTube views, and visitor photos went viral.

The project became a tourist attraction in its own right, revitalizing a tourism industry that had been severely affected by Covid-19. It also swept Japan's and Asia's creative awards: the 2022 ACC Tokyo Creativity Awards Grand Prix, a Gold Design Lotus at ADFEST 2023, a place in the D&AD Annual 2023, and the top Brand Experience prize at the 76th Ad Dentsu Awards.