Japan loves big statues

Last weekend was 3 days long because of the respect the elderly bank holiday. I took a trip to Sendai, in Northern Japan near the sea. A night bus has just started from Matsumoto so now it is cheap(ish) and easy to get to. Sendai has much to recommend it. It's very near to Matsushima bay which justifies it's billing as one of the three best views in Japan. Sendai city centre is very nice and full of trees. Someone planted trees along all the main roads in the city centre and the effect is very nice. These are both heavily advertised in promotional literature of the city.
In contrast to this, the big statue you see pictured is not mentioned anywhere and seems to be an embarrassment to some people in Sendai. It's a 100metre statue of Kannon, the Buddhist god of compassion. It's 3 times the size of the Statue of Liberty. It's in a suburb of Sendai and visible for miles around. I scoured the internet for information and the best I could find is from people's blogs so I don't know if this is all correct. Apparently, It was built in the 90's by a Buddhist sect to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Sendai's city status. The Buddhist sect went bankrupt and the land was sold. A golf course and shopping centre were built around it but it was too expensive to take down the statue. It remains only now 20 metres from a pet superstore on one side a multistory golf driving range on the other. I don't know what the significance of the dragon's mouth by the feet of the statue is but it certainly adds to the tackiness. Inside is a small museum and a lift to near the top. You can see good views from the city from there. The shell of statue is plastic so it's less impressive close up. You can decide for yourself if it's an embarrassing eyesore or an impressive religious monument. I'm leaning towards gaudy eyesore at the moment.
The Kannon statue is the 6th largest statue in the world. All of the largest statues are Buddhas (there are no Muhammed statues obviously). Far from being a one off, there are similar, recently built, large Buddha statues all over Japan including Hokkaido, Ibaraki and Hyogo. These seem to be similarly ignored by the tourist agencies. Only Russia and China compete in terms of massive statues. All of which I find a bit odd for non communist country. Japan is more famous for making all manner of technology and things miniature. Maybe large, ostentatious statues are a counter reaction to this.