Japan's tiff with China over copyright infringement is about to take on 'life-size' proportions.

Sotsu Co. is investigating whether a Chinese amusement park copied the design of a large statue of the Gundam robot, first built in Japan last year to resemble the huge fighting machines in the legendary Japanese anime series 'Mobile Suit Gundam.'

The Tokyo-based company, which manages the copyrights to the comic series, said it started looking into the matter after an outsider alerted the company about the statue last week. The company hasn't been in direct contact with Floraland, the Chengdu-based amusement park in question, according to a company spokeswoman.

The amusement park, located in Sichuan Province, says the design is original and its construction began six months ago, according to Japanese news service Kyodo. Like other Japanese cultural exports such as Hello Kitty, the Gundam anime series has become popular among Chinese comic fans.

From the pair of thorn-like antennae down to its chunky bot feet, the 15-meter statue that towers above the Chinese park bears striking similarities to the original 18-meter Gundam war machine first erected on the waterfront of Tokyo's Odaiba island for one month last summer to commemorate the comic series' 30th anniversary. That monstrous icon, designed to evoke a real-size Gundam robot, re-emerged the following July in eastern Shizuoka, where Bandai Co., a unit of game and toymaker Namco Bandai Holdings Co., produces Gundam plastic toy models. The 'life-size' replica of the cult cartoon character attracted millions of tourists, drawing half a million visitors in Shizuoka within the first month.

The controversy stirs up memories of past incidents where a Chinese amusement park was accused of similar product piracy problems. In May 2007, the Japanese media was up in arms when actors dressed in costumes resembling some of Japan's iconic characters, including Hello Kitty and Doraemon, the blue earless cat robot, milled around Shijingshan Amusement Park on the outskirts of Beijing. A furry mascot with the same round ears as Mickey Mouse and an oddly familiar sleepy woman surrounded by seven dwarf-like friends also danced with visitors. The park insisted that all the characters were local creations.

Flickr/OiMax日本东京台场海滨公园(Odaiba)水岸树立的原版高达雕像

日本与中国围绕版权侵犯问题产生的口角，眼看着要发展到了剑拔弩张的地步。

创通公司(Sotsu Co.)正在调查中国一家游乐园是否抄袭了机器人“高达”(Gundam)大型塑像的设计。塑像去年首建于日本，目的是为重现日本传奇动漫系列剧《机动战士高达》(Mobile Suit Gundam)中的巨型作战机器。

创通公司总部位于东京，管理着《机动战士高达》的版权。该公司说，它是在一位局外人上周将塑像一事告知该公司后对此事展开调查的。据该公司一位发言人说，创通还没有与牵涉此事的成都游乐园“国色天香”(Floraland)直接接触。

YouTube比较两座高达塑像的日本电视节目的截屏图据日本共同社(Kyodo)报道，位于四川省的国色天香说，塑像的设计是原创，六个月以前就已经开始建造。和“Hello Kitty”等其他日本文化输出品一样，高达动漫系列剧也受到了中国漫画爱好者的欢迎。

成都国色天香的塑像高15米，从两个刺状触角一直到健壮的机器人大脚，与去年夏季首先在东京台场海滨公园(Odaiba)水岸树了一个月、用以纪念《机动战士高达》30周年的原版高达像有着惊人的相似。过后的7月份，旨在让人联想高达真实大小的庞大塑像又出现在静冈县东部，即游戏与玩具制造商Namco Bandai Holdings Co.旗下公司Bandai Co.生产塑料高达模型的地方。这个“真实大小”的巨大的卡通形象的吸引了数百万游客，第一个月就吸引了静冈县50万参观者。

这起争议让人想起过去其他中国游乐园被指存在类似盗版问题的事例。2007年5月，当演员们身着戏装模仿“Hello Kitty”和机器猫“哆啦A梦”(Doraemon)等日本典型卡通形象、在北京郊区石景山游乐园里转来转去时，日本媒体也是强烈不满。当时跟游客一起舞蹈的还有一个长有米老鼠(Mickey Mouse)一样圆耳朵的毛绒绒的吉祥物，以及七个小矮人环绕、人们十分熟悉的一个睡眼惺忪的女子。石景山游乐园坚称，所有这些形象都是自己创作的。