In order to publicize the appeal of Fukui Prefecture, nine new dinosaur monuments were installed near Fukui Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, which will open in a little over a year, and were unveiled to the press.
The dinosaur monument was installed on the roof of the tourist exchange center that Fukui City is building in front of the station in conjunction with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in Fukui Prefecture scheduled for the spring of the year after next.
The rooftop can be seen through the window from the platform of Fukui Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, and there are monuments of 9 dinosaurs of 7 types, including the Fukui Titan, whose fossils were excavated in Fukui Prefecture.
In order to greedily promote the charm of Fukui, a small dinosaur was also prepared to bite into the winter delicacy, Echizen crab.
A QR code is pasted on some of the dinosaur pedestals, and when read with a smartphone, the dinosaurs are projected on the scenery visible from the screen using "AR = Augmented Reality" technology.
This rooftop space will be available from October next year when the facility opens.
Muneyasu Komori of Fukui City's Shinkansen Maintenance Division said, "Since this is the first place that people who come by Shinkansen will see, we installed cute dinosaurs to give them a sense of excitement. It was an opportunity to raise awareness of Fukui. I want you to be," he said.