Here be dragons

I was in the port of Yokosuka southwest of Tokyo recently and dropped by the new Yokosuka Museum of Art, where installation artist Kenji Yanobe's robotic artwork Giant Torayan is on display. Torayan is a fire-breathing sculpture that's the size of a small house.

See how small the museum attendant is in this photo. She's doing the Japanese "X" sign because you're not allowed to take pictures. The huge funnel-like object behind Torayan emits a deafening steamship blast in case you're not intimidated enough by the baby-faced bot. The spikes on the back of its head are a direct reference to comic icon Astro Boy.

Torayan can also move its head and arms a bit. As it says in the ad above, a pyrotechnics display will be held July 14 at the museum, which is about 35 minutes by bus from JR Yokosuka Station. The sculpture is part of a larger Yanobe installation that includes an army of little men wearing yellow Hazmat suits, some riding a ferris wheel. It's all very surreal.

There's a video of Torayan spewing flame and jamming with Tokyo synth band Mas here.