Kamen Rider Sightseeing?

[SuaveGorilla]

Hey guys. Please pardon me if this isn't in the correct forum; I wasn't entirely sure where to submit it so I tried to go with what I felt would be the safest.

I'm living in Japan right now in the southernmost area of Fukui-ken, just a stone's throw from Kyoto-ken. I have some time off from work coming up and I can't think of anything that I really feel compelled to do. Then it hit me:

Are there any places in Kyoto or in the area that a Kamen Rider fan would want to see? I remember the samurai movie village that had a ton of tokusatsu gear up on display, but I wanted to know if that was it.

Any pointers are appreciated. Thanks for reading!

[Lunagel]

Toei Studio Land in Uzumasa, Kyoto, has a lot of sentai exhibits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFPIkreYOag

[CarterSensei]

Hmm, where do I begin. I'm more of a Tokyo-boy so if you ever decide to hop a shinkansen to the BIG city, here are some recommendations.

1. Tokyo Tower: The mecca for toku fans. I will warn you that it is a 100% tourist trap, but the view is inspiring. There is a museum inside dedicated to the history of the tower which includes a tribute to the granddaddy of all toku: Gojira! (Cue: Roar sound effect)

2. Akihabara: Everyone recommends this place but I don't care. I am convinced that Akihabara is where good little nerds go when they die. Take some advice, get off the main streets and into the little side shops. Buying a henshin item toy . . . cool, if childish. Buying a henshin item toy in Akihabara . . . badass. Buying a henshin item toy from a mysterious back alley toyshop run by a wise old man, in Akihabara . . . REALLY badass.

3. Just walk around town. Many of the outdoor scenes in sentai/KR are filmed on location around Tokyo. I recommend just picking a start point and wandering. Get a feel for the city.

4. Bandai HQ. If for no other reason than a snapshot of the lifesized statue of KR v1 out front.

As for Kyoto: Just, Kyoto. There is a strange aura to that city that makes it an awesome place to go for any reason, not just toku fandom. Also, there is a movie studio there (blanking on the name right now) that films almost every Samurai period piece Japan produces. I'm fairly certain that several sentai series have used the location as well, but I'm not sure.

[drag-5]

you can't just walk around tokyo!

the one place i know of that has featured in sentai is around the rainbow bridge area. it was in goonger.
if you go across the rainbow bridge towards the bay, then follow the road straight, when you get to a junction,. turn right and you get to the place where that girl went shopping with that guy in an early episode. saki and hant?

if you go away from the bridge but instead of turning right, go straight. there will be a big busy road, go over teh other side and onto pedestrian path., go right, over a bridge, go left and keep walking. you will see a large building that has a square shape with a circle thing in the middle. i think it's something communication tower. if you follow the path until a road just before that building you will pass a fountain. it is that fountain where ryuunosuke punishes himself in an earlier episode of shinkenger.

[futuresphere]

certainly not KR, but Odaiba Shiokaze park in Tokyo has a full-size Gundam protecting it...

[Susan]

That gundam isn't there anymore. They only had it up for 2 months, and now it's been disassembled and taken away, unfortunately.

[futuresphere]

thats very disappointing...one of the few sights I really wanted to see in person

[Nihon_Rider_105]

that Gundam looks amazing :O

[Hypnotikk]

One place you might want to go is the bandai museum in Mibu, Shimotsuga District, Tochigi Prefecture. Kinda in a weird location, really out of the way, if you ask me, but it has Ultraman, Gundam, Godzilla, Super Sentai, and Kamen Rider exhibits plus a Gundam-themed cafe... Check it out on wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandai_Museum

[sarasenian]

Never been there myself but there is a Shocker hideout themed bar somewhere in Kyoto -
2nd floor of the NB building.

map of the secret hideout:
http://www.hotpepper.jp/strJ000017660/

some links with pics:

http://www4.airnet.ne.jp/rebun/rg/501_kyoto/shocker.htm

http://www.neppie.com/blog/?p=1650

http://r.tabelog.com/kyoto/A2603/A26030 ... st/742229/

a pic of their drink coasters with Shocker henchmen saluting:
http://www.kyosho.net/blog/modules/d3bl ... hp?bid=260



they have drinks named after Shocker monsters as well as the early Kamen Riders.

If you go, please take pics and post em!

[William_Duel]

The lifesize Gundam may be gone, but Kobe has put up it's equally massive Tetsujin 28 go (precursor to the giant robots were know and love) (AKA Gigantor in the US)

http://animeblips.dailyradar.com/video/ ... be-nagata/

[SuaveGorilla]

Wow, first and foremost I owe people an apology. You guys gave me some really solid suggestions that I enjoyed reading. The fact that it's taken me this long to update this thread with photos from the trip is a case of me completely dropping the ball. Sorry for that. Hopefully the contents of this post'll compensate.

Alright, ultimately I ended up going with the Toei Movie Village (とえい映画村) and the Shocker themed bar.

TOEI MOVIE VILLAGE

For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to visit the Toei Movie Village I recommend going. Decades ago it served as what was essentially the Japanese Hollywood with most movies being filmed on sound stages throughout the property. The rise of competing production companies and the popularity of filming on-location as opposed to on a stage, the studio began to become a financial burden. As such, it was eventually converted to a theme park. General admission is about two thousand two hundred yen.

However, calling it a theme park is a bit of a disservice. It's a hybrid between being an amusement park and a museum. It does have live shows and games you can play and there is a haunted house, but for the most part it's set up to preserve the structures and buildings that were frequently seen in Japanese period pieces not so long ago. You can even visit one of the old sound stages, which has been gutted for the most part with some things left up to show people what it looked like while something was being filmed. It's also not uncommon to see cosplayers taking advantage of what is essentially a quiet ancient Japanese village to make their photos that much more believable (At the time I visited there were a ton of Naruto and Gintama cosplayers).

There are a couple of shopping arcades and centers as well as a food court attached to a series of buildings whose purpose is to exhibit individuals whose contributions were crucial to Toei's success over the years. This also includes exhibits to different shows and equipment that were used.

Finally, what you've been waiting for: The Tokusatsu Wing. Located on the second level and taking up almost it's entirety, this section is a neat stop for the tokusatsu fan, though it admittedly doesn't offer all that much (I'll use Kamen Rider as an example). The rider suits are put out on display and set into a specific pose and that is very neat. However, to achieve optimal efficiency for the room layout their usually grouped very close together and in groups. This ultimately makes it kind of hard to get a decent picture of any of the suits and if you can, you can't usually help but get a few other riders in. Still: That's a small thing to complain about considering that you get to see so many of the suits out on display.

The other thing worth noting is that they don't simply put every suit out (And let's face it: How could they? There have been so many riders over the years it would be absurd to expect them to put them all out). It's hard to clearly determine the bias and how they choose what gets to stay and what goes, though. At first I assumed it was chronological, as there were fewer of the older series suits out and more of the recent ones (For example: Kiva, Ixa, Basha Magnum Kiva, Garuru Saber Kiva, Dogga Hammer Kiva and the movie rider were all out. Only Faiz and Delta were out for 555). Then I noticed that while Decade was out, there was no Diend. What I'm trying to get at with this paragraph is: Sorry to say, but if you go there expecting to see a certain suit out please don't get your hopes up. It's hard to tell what will and won't be there.

Another cool thing is that (And please, if someone here knows I'm wrong, feel free to correct me) I believe the first Den-O movie was filmed there. Specifically the scenes where they were in the village. As a result, they had a collection of props donated by the cast and crew.



The bottom line is: This isn't a must-stop for tokusatsu fans. If you have a couple of days in Kyoto for sightseeing, I absolutely recommend going. It's a fun place to go and worthwhile to anyone with an interest in film or just Japanese movies. If you're there just for tokusatsu, I don't know if the price of admission would make it worth your while. The fact that you can get your picture taken with the current rider, though? That might sell it for you (I have a picture of me and whoever it was they had dressed up as Double for the photo-op).

THE SHOCKER BAR

As per request, this is the one that has a lot of pictures.

First up I'll start with what might be my only criticism of the place: How difficult it is to find. This isn't something you can blame on the Shocker Bar, though. Nor can you blame the map that you guys gave me (Thanks, by the way). Rather, it's a result of just about every other location in Kyoto: It's just a hard place to find your way around in. I might be biased because I live in a rural village where the roads are relatively quiet and things are easy to spot, but Kyoto's a very easy place to get lost in. And when you're looking for a small bar in a busy district, well, you can see where you might have a problem. If you're going to do this, scout it out ahead of time so that you know where to find it.

The sign:



I was hoping it said "free wings." Still pretty cool.



Once you find the place, it is really cool. It really brings its A-Game with the "hideout" motif. The walls have been made to look like the stony interior of a cave with the table area set up to look like a prison cell within a cave.

Accommodating:



Less accommodating:



In case you weren't clear on where they stood:



The place is small enough to be cozy without feeling cramped (I'm a pretty big guy and a foreigner on top of that, so that's impressive). However, the website that was linked earlier did a decent job of misleading me on the sizes. Also, those kicking rider photos? I thought they were wall decorations. Turns out they're just carefully placed figurines.



So the place isn't huge, but it doesn't have to be. It hits its mark with the hideout motif, a relaxed atmosphere and a really, really friendly staff. It's not like these guys were bending over backwards to make sure I was happy, but they were just very cool and laid back.

Just like that site advertised, the drinks are named after Riders and famous enemies. On top of that, you can't turn around without seeing something Rider-related.

If you turn away from the bar:



If you turn back to the bar:





There's not much else I can add to my commentary on the bar besides another note on how friendly the staff was (Still feel I'm falling short on communicating how chill they were). So let's move on to the bottom line.

The Shocker Bar is primarily that: A bar. It's not an otaku haven or a spot for people to just gush about their favorite parts of Kamen Rider. It's a place to go, chill and have some drinks in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. Basically, if someone's looking to nerd it up, this shouldn't be one of their primary destinations. If you're looking for a bar in Kyoto, this one has my vote.

I feel like between the Toei Movie Village and the Shocker Bar Kyoto makes a decent place for a tokusatsu fan to stop by, though the two of those things together won't take you more than half a day. For a casual fan, Kyoto is an awesome place to go. Between the Movie Village, the bar and the hundreds of other things Kyoto offers to a tourist you'd be hard pressed to be bored or disappointed.


Guys, thanks again for all the tips you gave me. If it wasn't for that, I might not have bothered with the trip in the first place. This was a LOT to read and I'm sorry for that, but hopefully a couple of you got something neat out of it. If anyone here wants to go to either of these locations, please feel free to message or E-Mail me so I can try to give you useful tips or advice.

And again: Thank you, guys!


Edit: Takenoko, a big thank you to you for advertising this thread on the main page in the first place. And another for linking it a second time after I wrote up the review. Thanks!

[Kogashi]

0_o ... Shocker, Bar... ... So who's for pooling together resources to hit that place up?

I don't care if it's just a Kamen Rider themed bar, that is still cool.

[C00rDiNaT0r]

Weird. When I visited Toei Movie Village in late June, they had Kaixa on display:

Spoiler

Maybe they just keep taking the older ones out to fit more new stuff.

[Raida|23]

That gundam isn't there anymore. They only had it up for 2 months, and now it's been disassembled and taken away, unfortunately.

It'll be back, though. It'll be relocated next summer, in Shizuoka, and it'll be there for almost an year; after that, it'll move at anothe prefecture.

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