Japanese Politicians Are Thinking about Building Gundam. Like, Real, Working Gundam.

The Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled Japan for over fifty years after World War II, is not actually "liberal". Rather, the party is conservative. Well known party members, Tadamori Oshima and Bunmei Ibuki, are slated to discuss biped robots and now the LDP is "seriously considering the development of Gundam."

Back in 2008, it was estimated that a working (not just a full scale mock-up), one-to-one scale would cost US$725,000,000 for parts and materials. That figure doesn't include the cost of labor or the cost of insanity required to build such a machine.

These politicians probably do not mean they want to make a 60-foot tall, 43.7 metric ton Gundam replica (at least I hope they don't), but instead, large mecha contraptions that could be used by, presumably, the country's Self Defense Force. In an age of drone attacks, however, mecha don't exactly seem ideal on the battlefield.

Just imagine Epyon Gundam, Deathscythe Gundam, or even G Gundam in real life.