Kids With Guns
Private gun ownership all but illegal in Japan? NO PROBLEMO! Tokyo Marui has your back! It's fascinating to see how Japan's incredibly strict gun laws have given rise to an industry specializing in ultra-realistic simulacra of weaponry. These are "airsoft guns," which incorporate a battery-powered mechanism that lets them shoot little plastic BBs instead of bullets. People use these to play "Saba-ge," or "survival games," here in Japan, similar to paintball games in the USA. But unlike paintball guns, these suckers look exactly like real firearms. These pictures were all taken at the 47th Shizuoka Hobby Show, which is being held in (duh) Shizuoka through the 18th.
Awwww! You KNOW it's a good day when you don't even have to use your totally kawaii AK. What could be better for the kids than cuddly l'il assault rifle?
Answer: "Automatic Electric Gun BOYS," a hot new series of replica submachineguns scaled down just for kids! The rumors are true:
all-Caucasian pre-pubescent S.W.A.T. teams are popping up all over Japan.
This M4 is supposed to be a perfect replica of the standard firearms issued to employees of Blackwater and other private military subcontractors. Note the on-the-scene photos of cool corporate commandos in jeans and T-shirts. Over here, it seems, America's guns for hire are just another set of characters from yet another gritty war drama playing out on TV screens. Let's Mercenary!
Guilty pleasure...! I recently found an automatic airsoft P-90, the inspiration for several of Masamune's gun designs. It's just a cheap one (not a genuine Tokyo Marui) but it's really fun to shoot and so forth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1TxyHlK-0&feature=related
If anyone ever made Deckard's gun from Blade Runner as an airsoft I'd probably want that too.
Posted by: Mr.Dandy | May 16, 2008 at 06:38 PM
I wonder how Mr. Kalashnikov would feel about that cutie AK.
Posted by: Roger | May 16, 2008 at 08:03 PM
Good question. Model companies have to license fighter jet designs from aircraft manufacturers, for example, so one would assume the same is true of replica guns -- at least the modern ones. I wonder how those conversations start: "Hello, we'd like to make a toy of your 'Saturday Night Special'..."
Posted by: Matt | May 16, 2008 at 08:35 PM
Mr. Dandy:
Hartford Co. has heard your call.
http://www.hartford.co.jp/m2019/index.htm#m2019stnd
you can thank me by buying me one too... :)
Posted by: Steve Harrison | May 17, 2008 at 08:57 AM
'Konnichi wa! Watashi wa AK-kun desu!' Aww. :-)
And Tokyo Marui makes lovely replicas, but they're heart attack expensive. The P90 usually averages about $200 - $250. You pay for quality, I guess...
Posted by: Davecat | May 17, 2008 at 05:21 PM
I have the P-90 as well, I brought it for about £100 some years ago and got quite a lot of fun out of it shooting ation figures in the backgarden. Since then airsoft guns have been made completely illegal over here and mine hasn't left the loft in years. :(
Davecat, yeah they are very high quality products, the SOC's of faux weaposn if you will.
Posted by: Fort Max | May 19, 2008 at 05:40 PM
Holy shit! I want! My brother got an airsoft shotgun that might have looked real if it weren't for the big-ass orange thing on the barrel screaming 'I AM NOT A REAL GUN' (thereby making it useless in my movies).
Posted by: digitalboy | May 20, 2008 at 07:55 AM
Speaking of dangerous weapons, did you see that Hello Kitty was just named some sort of goodwill ambassador to China?
Posted by: The Constructivist | May 20, 2008 at 09:50 AM
Is she packing heat?
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9852603-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave
Posted by: Matt | May 20, 2008 at 10:11 AM
@ Steve Harrison:
Awesome! $400 would be worth it, too bad it'd never get though customs...
Posted by: Mr.Dandy | May 20, 2008 at 07:29 PM
ANN just has her with a flower
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-05-19/hello-kitty-named-japan-tourism-ambassador-to-china
The Lede's photo is ambiguous at best
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/another-cartoon-envoy-in-japan/?hp
Gotta catch that Daily Show clip Nizza mentions...
Posted by: The Constructivist | May 21, 2008 at 03:34 AM
im trying to find 1 black and 1 sliver pistol to buy so i can have my own ebony and ivory like in Devil May Cry.
Posted by: Zoneaire | April 08, 2009 at 05:22 AM
Alot of airsoft rifles now are looking just like the real deal. It's pretty controversial but you can get exact weights and materials of originals. Like here AEG Airsoft Guns.
Posted by: AEG Airsoft Guns | April 08, 2009 at 09:47 AM
Airsoft Guns are so much fun.
I found a great website for the best deals
Posted by: Mike | May 19, 2009 at 01:55 AM