Night Parade of Dinosaurs in Tokyo; Lifelike Dinosaurs to Stomp Their Way Through Tokyo National Museum

By Kenneth Valencich / The Japan News

13:12 JST, July 21, 2024

A night parade of dinosaurs is coming to the Tokyo National Museum for two nights in September, where people can see the creatures up close without risk of being eaten. In a stage show titled “DINO-A-LIVE Dinosaur Grand Night Parade,” lifelike dinosaurs accompanied by human handlers will stomp, roar and even fight each other.

An innovative production company called ON-ART Corp. makes the richly detailed —and patented — suits in cooperation with the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum and also runs the show. Based on its own studies of the movements of modern-day animals, the Higashikurume, Tokyo-based firm gives each creature its own quirks and idle movements that keeps them from looking stiff or artificial.

Over a dozen varieties of dinosaur have been built so far, including carnivores like the Tyrannosaurus, and herbivores like the Ankylosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus shown in a preview for the press earlier this month was impressively large at 8 meters long. But a larger 12-meter-long model has made an appearance in the past. The Ankylosaurus comes in at 7.6 meters long, which fits neatly into the size range for its species.

What began as a solo project by Kazuya Kanemaru, the president of ON-ART, painting murals and making models for museums, has ballooned into a massive, ambitious project. “The dinosaurs are constantly changing. There are many that have gotten injuries during earlier shows that still carry the scars,” he said.

ON-ART debuted its first dinosaur, an Allosaurus, in 2007. Since then, they’ve done numerous performances across Japan and one in Kuwait and are constantly working to expand the roster. The firm hopes to bring performances to more countries around the world.

The night parade will be held on Sept. 27 and 28, and reservations can be made starting Aug. 8.