Galaxy Express 999 Exhibit

Kadokawa Musashino Museum opens a six-month “Galaxy Express 999” immersive exhibition on April 25, turning the 1979 anime film into a walk-through 3D experience. (kadcul.com) The show runs through October 26 in the museum’s 1,000-square-meter Grand Gallery in Tokorozawa, Saitama, with 12 daily start times from 10:10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (kadcul.com) Museum organizers say the installation uses 32 new 4K laser projectors and an 8.1-channel surround system, with visitors cast as passengers on the 999 alongside Tetsuro and Maetel for about 30 minutes. (kadcul.com) (tokorozawa-sakuratown.com) Tickets are priced at 2,700 yen for adults, 2,200 yen for middle and high school students, 1,500 yen for elementary school students, and free for preschoolers; the museum says advance reservations are recommended. (tokorozawa-sakuratown.com) The exhibition is built from the 1979 theatrical film rather than the television series, expanding scenes from director Rintaro’s movie into a physical environment instead of screening the film straight through. (kadcul.com) (lineup.toei-anim.co.jp) That choice centers a work that first opened in Japan on August 4, 1979 and remains one of Toei Animation’s best-known science-fiction features. (lineup.toei-anim.co.jp) The new score comes from composer Kenji Kawai, whose official biography and the museum’s event page list credits including “Ghost in the Shell,” “Patlabor,” and “Ring.” (kadcul.com) (kenjikawai.com) The installation also adds a full-size train-car photo spot, a 25-meter corridor lined like railroad tracks, and displays of production materials and film setting documents after the main projection sequence. (tokorozawa-sakuratown.com) Kadokawa’s own description ties the story’s themes — mechanical bodies, long life, and what remains human — to current debates over technology and identity. (kadcul.com) The museum is part of Tokorozawa Sakura Town, the pop-culture complex in Saitama where Kadokawa Musashino Museum says it blends literature, art, and entertainment exhibitions under one roof. (kadcul.com) For fans of Leiji Matsumoto, who died in February 2023 at 85, the April 25 opening turns “Galaxy Express 999” back into a departure board: same train, new platform. (kadcul.com) (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp)