Former sentai rangers still playing heroes' roles years later

Here's a Flashback Friday thought for fans of pre-Power Rangers sentai shows like Bioman and Fiveman: what do the rangers do long after they have vanquished the villains and their shows have ended?

 

Some former sentai rangers continue to play the heroes' role—but this time as heroes of Japanese tourism, according to a report on Yomiuri Shimbun's The Japan News.

 

The actors who played the rangers are attracting tourists and fans from around the world to a spot in Tokyo, the report said.

 

Such “Sentai Series Tourism” is likely to be even more popular for years to come, it added.

 

One such sentai actor, Michiko Makino, runs Suwa Shoten, a shop selling traditional Japanese preserves in Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo.

 

Makino, now 50, is known to sentai fans as Hikaru Katsuragi (Pink Five, or Kimberly in the Philippines) of - you guessed it - “Chodenshi Bioman.”

 

“I’m very surprised to learn that what I did 30 years ago has such a big impact on people now,” the Japan News report quoted Makino as saying.

 

Chodenshi Bioman belongs to the Super Sentai (Japanese super squadron) genre where the heroes, usually in color-coded costumes, fight evil forces including the so-called monster of the week.

 

The show became a hit when it aired in the Philippines in 1986, though it was first broadcast in Japan in 1984.

 

Fellow former sentai hero Ryosuke Kaizu, who played Takeru (Red Mask) in 1987's "Hikari Sentai Maskman," operates the Misoichi Kami-Shakujii Ten noodle shop near Kami-Shakujii Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line.

 

The establishment run by Kaizu, now 56, is popular especially among visitors from the Philippines and South Korea, the report added.

 

Another former sentai hero, Kei Shindachiya, operates 7’s Bar near Ookayama Station along the Tokyu Meguro and Tokyu Oimachi lines.

 

Now 47, Shindachiya - who played Ken Hoshikawa (Five Blue) in 1990's “Chikyu Sentai Fiveman” - said foreigners visit his bar after learning about it via Facebook.

 

“Because of its location, foreigners who are not fans of tokusatsu come to the bar, too... Many of them are excited once they learn that I appeared in ‘Fiveman.’ Some became regular customers after learning that,” Shindachiya said.

 

Still another Super Sentai alumnus, Ei Hamura, runs Sosei no Tenma, a cafe and bar that features tokusatsu special effects.

 

Hamura, now 41, appeared in 1993's “Gosei Sentai Dairenger” as Shoji, who becomes Tenmaranger.

 

“I had never imagined that such a large number of foreigners would come [to my cafe and bar]. I was urged to write explanations about the cafe’s system in English,” Hamura said.

 

40 years of Super Sentai

 

He said he was surprised that the foreign fans know "very well about tokusatsu in Japan.”

 

Super Sentai marked its 40th anniversary this year, having started in 1975 with “Himitsu Sentai Gorenger” (Star Rangers).

 

"Given their popularity, the five rangers in suits of five different colors could be the heroes for a nation hoping to promote itself as tourism-oriented," The Japan News said.

 

Pilgrimage

 

The Japan News report said fans like British Tom Constantine, 28, is a regular customer of Makino's shop, having watched "Bioman" online 12 years ago.

 

When he visited Makino’s shop for the first time to see Makino, he said he was too nervous to speak Japanese.

 

Other fans visit her shop, some of them taking commemorative photos in front of the store while touring shops operated by former rangers. They buy something from there too, Makino said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News