Giant Unit-01 Statue from "Evangelion" Brought 1.1 Billion Yen to Hamamatsu Town
On March 23, Hamamatsu released figures for its "Shin Hamamatsu Project": erecting a 6‑meter statue of Unit‑01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion produced an economic impact of about 1.1 billion yen (approx. 6.9 million USD).
The installation itself cost 52 million yen (327,000 USD). Mayor Yusuke Nakano said that "the results exceeded expectations."
The Shin Evangelion Movie:|| is set around Village‑3, near the ruined Tokyo‑3; because that fictional locale was modeled on Hamamatsu, people came to the city hall to see the statue in person. Around 51,800 visitors stopped by Unit‑01 overall, with roughly 34,700 arriving on weekends and public holidays.
A city survey found the crowd wasn’t only local — visitors came from nearby Asian areas (e.g., Taiwan and mainland China) and from farther afield, including the USA, Brazil, Germany and France.
Staff at city hall observed the adjacent parking lot stayed fairly open, a sign that many visitors wandered beyond the plaza rather than clustering only at the statue — which, not incidentally, matched one of the project’s aims.
Collaboration goods and themed restaurant sales added roughly 8 million yen (50,000 USD) to the totals. Also, participation in tours at Tenryū‑Hamanako train stations — sites that inspired locations in the film — rose about 1.5x vs. the previous year.
Hamamatsu is already sketching next fiscal year’s Evangelion activities. Expect more collab menus and merch, plus a new "Culture of Mosaic" event where visitors can make Evangelion‑themed pieces from flowers.