Another Japanese Inspired Project Makes it to the 10K Club on LEGO Ideas

14th December 2022

Japanese Castle is the latest project on LEGO Ideas to reach 10,000 supporters and be in the running to become an official set.

The project depicts a traditional Japanese castle, built from wood and stone, that would have been placed at sites of strategic importance, such as near ports, river crossings, and crossroads. The build has 2,997 pieces and includes 5 minifigures.

The castle sits next to a small Japanese garden containing a cherry blossom tree, wooden bridge, small waterfall, waterlilies, and plenty of surrounding plants. From the rear view, a fish is even visible below the water.

The interior of the castle is comprised of 8 rooms spread over 5 levels. The bottom floor is made up of an open plan living room, dining room, and kitchen. The 2nd floor houses a large dojo for the Japanese warriors to train, with some weapons, practice dummy, and several pieces of calligraphy on the walls.

Above that is the bedroom and ensuite bathroom, and then moving further on up you find a small study/games room. Finally, there is some attic storage with training supplies. If that wasn't enough, there are some eaves joining to the bedroom and more storage under the floorboards of the 2nd floor.

The project's designer LEGOverwatch is no stranger to the 10K, having reached it on multiple occasions beforehand. In fact, he was two projects currently under review in the second review round of 2022, and two more already in the current and final review round of 2022.

This project joins two other oriental inspired builds with 10,000 supporters, in the form of the Japanese Courtyard and the Golden Clifftop Temple. Clearly Japanese architecture is a hot topic amongst LEGO fans and has been for a little while. Given that LEGO is trying to grow its presence in the East, surely it's only a matter of time until an Asian-themed project gets approved for production. This therefore places the Japanese Castle as a strong contender.

The 32 other projects that have already made it to the review stage are listed below:

• The Winter Village with Working Train
• Wallace and Gromit
• The Alpine Refuge
• Mechanical Flip Clock
• The Clock Tower Park
• Jack Skellington's House
• Lover House
• The House of Open Shutters
• The Cat
• The Modular Arcade
• Jaws
• Zoo
• The Old Western Train Station
• The NeverEnding Story
• Pixar's Up House with Balloons
• Japanese Courtyard Garden
• This Is Fine
• Castle Dracula
• The Travel Suitcase
• Ancient Roman Temple
• Pac-Man Moving Display
• The Lost City
• BOTW Temple of Time
• London Underground
• The Architect's House
• Community
• Sewer Heroes: Fighting the Fatberg
• JWST
• Cipher Machine
• Golden Clifftop Temple
• The Wright Flyer
• Classic Thunderbirds

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