Busy model manufacturers attended Japan’s scaled down 59th annual Shizuoka Hobby Show on May 13 and 14, 2021. During its previous 58 years, the event held in Shizuoka, Japan, had grown to fill two exhibit halls with displays for tens of thousands attendees. This year, because of travel restrictions and health precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hobby show was limited to industry professionals and media. But according to attendees, sales are booming and the show was a success.  

Shizuoka bills itself as a “Model City” and companies that call it home, like Tamiya, Bandai, Hasegawa, and Fujimi are seeing a rising demand for their kits. Here are a few of the new products we saw at the show, some of which have hit the international market, and others that are on their way for the second half of the year.