Ultraman World M78 Toy and Goods Shop (Osaka, Japan)

Ultraman World M78 is the name of the official Tsubaraya Production shops that sell all sorts of goods from the Ultraman series. Well-stocked shelves hold clothes, toys, and everything in between.

There are a number of M78 shops throughout Japan. I believe the Osaka branch is quite new, having just opened in March. It's located on the B1 level of a shopping mall near Umeda station.  Here are the details:

Tel: 06-6375-2778
Address: 大阪府大阪市北区芝田1-1-3阪急三番街北館B1F
Shopping Mall Location: Click here
Website (for all the M78 stores): Click here
Hours: 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Here's a video I shot of the store:

Ultraman Treasures Set

\In my previous Super Festival report, I showed a photo of the new Ultraman Treasures set. Here's a detailed look at some of the contents.

Detailed contents. Apparently, there are 50 items inside, including a range of reproductions of vehicle blueprints, character sketches, and other period pieces which provide a behind the scenes look at one of Japan's most famous tokusatsu series.

 More after the jump:

Ultraman Ace Exhibit at Super Festival 72

The tokusatsu focus of Super Festival 72 was Ultraman Ace. As with past shows, the organizers did a great job putting together an exhibit of Ultraman Ace items. That included toys, books, scripts, and what look like props from the show. Here's a look:

 More after the jump:

Super rare vintage Bullmark Takkong kaiju spotted!

Takkong

One of the facts of life in Japan is most homes are small. There aren't cavernous attics or basements where boxes of childhood belongings can be kept after their play value is spent. So by and large, unless you're planning on auditioning for Extreme Hoarders, things like old toys get tossed. In fact, it actually costs money to dispose of large items like furniture and refrigerators. I'll go so far as to say that often before buying something, you think twice about how tough it will be to keep, store, and/or toss it!

Anyway, combine this fact of life with the size of the giant Takkong sofubi figure made by Bullmark in the early 1970s, and you have a recipe for a future rare toy. And rare it is. This Ultraman villain emerges so infrequently that the uber-veteran kaiju aficionado who has it says he has only seen TWO in recent decades.

Takkong appeared in the first two episodes of Return of Ultraman in April, 1971. That was the fourth series in the venerable franchise. Takkong battled another sea monster, Zazahn, who ultimately triumphed. On an interesting side note, a casualty of the Takkong vs. Zazahn battle was Hideki Go. The poor fellow met an untimely end, but he merged with Ultraman Jack (then called New Ultraman) to become the series' hero.

On the far side of side notes, isn't it interesting how macabre these shows were? Consider how many (Ultraman. Kamen Rider, etc.) involved bringing people back from the dead (often in rites laced with deeply religious overtones) to then become the reincarnated hero. I wonder what Joseph Campbell would have to say.

Another note about Takkong - the kaiju (like many others) was designed by Tsubaraya Pro maestro Iketani Senkatsu.

You might be waiting for the punchline - the price. The seller was asking 1,500,000 yen. Quite an ask, but if you just like the look of the figure and don't pine for the original, Bullmark issued a repro (in another color way) in the early 2000s.

And that's a look at Takkong, a rare beast indeed. A big thanks to JP for assisting with the info!

JR Ultraman Winter Stamp Rally in Tokyo

Tsuburaya Productions and JR (Japan Rail) have teamed up for another Ultraman stamp rally. In a way it's heart warming to see kids and adults lining up at train stations to stamp their booklets. Common wisdom in some circles may be that traditional arts and physical objects are passe in today's digital world, but such excitement over something as simple as a mono-color impression is proof positive that the "analog is dead" crowd has gotten ahead of itself.

Asagaya Station

So, let's look at this promotion. It starts with a free booklet handed out at Tokyo JR stations.

Stamp Booklet

Beautiful graphics all around for this promotion, including the stamp booklet, posters, and displays.

 More after the jump:

Ultraman x Family Mart Winter Festa

Tsubaraya and convenience store chain Family Mart have partnered up on another Ultraman promotion.

Who's your Dada?

Stores across Tokyo (and I'm assuming the rest of Japan) are decked out with Ultraman displays, banners, posters, and other cool stuff. And of course there are exclusive goods, stickers, cards, and more.

Scenes from a store:

 More after the jump:

Ultraman X Family Mart UltraHalloween Party Promotion

Two things that are well-loved in Japan are Ultraman and Halloween. And convenience stores. Three - there are THREE things well-loved in Japan...you know the bit.

Anyway for a 10-day stretch, when you buy a couple of goodies at a Family Mart, you get a free Ultraman or kaiju sheet that you can punch out to make your own swingin' Ultra display!

It's pretty simple, Buy two of these snacks...

...and get yourself a spooky Baltan + Pigmon set..

...or less spooky but still pretty cool Ultraman X + Ultraman set. The cut outs are perforated so they're easy to punch out and display.

The UltraHalloween Party ends on October 31. The big guy himself is at Family Mart to greet you! (And they have free Wifi, which is Ultracool too.)

Ultraman Goods Exhibit at Super Festival 69

Exhibit of various Ultraman goods at Super Festival 69, including toys, books, drawings, helmets, and more!

Banso pop up book

Plastic models

I wonder what the story behind these helmets is.

 More after the jump:

Super Festival 67 - Ultraman Leo Exhibition / スーパーフェスティバル 67 - ウルトラマンレオ展

One of the highlights of Super Festival 67 was an exhibition of Ultraman Leo goods. A single cabinet contained a beautifully curated collection of toys, books, models, scripts, and other items related to the show. Here's a detailed look at the cabinet.

Gorgeous assortment of sofubi toys

 More after the jump:

Japan Rail (JR) x Ultraman promotion - prizes galore!

I spotted this poster at a JR station advertising an upcoming JR x Ultraman promotion. It's marked JR East, which is primarily the area around Tokyo and heading north towards the edge of Hokkaido.

The Tokyo-centered promotion will run from January 13 - February 27. The little sequential numbers on the bottom of the poster run through the details. From what I can make out (please take this as a rough outline, as I can't claim to be able to translate the guidelines perfectly), it starts with (1) buying a pamphlet, after which (2) you can go around to JR stations and collect 64 different stamps representing heroes and kaiju from four Ultraman series. Here's the full treasure map. For example, here is the kaiju associated with Nakano station:

Then (3) a total of 12 original menkos are available as giveaways. The promotion website says you get 2 menkos by collecting 10 stamps. So I'd guess you can get all 12 menkos by filling up most of the stamp book. Here are a number of them:

*Geeky side note – these are called “maru menkos,” meaning “round menkos.” Paper menkos like this have been around a long time – more than 100 years. During the Meiji and Taisho eras, they often portrayed generals, samurai, etc. During the Showa era, and especially from the 1950s on, menkos featured a much broader range of subjects, including movie stars, cartoon characters, and other pop culture icons. (The other popular menko shape, which seemed to reach a height of popularity in the 1960s, are rectangular.)*

OK, back to Ultraman. Next up (4) there are 10 different Ultraman acrylic stands available. You get one for free after spending 300 yen at one of 10 "goal stores" with a Suica card. There are 1,000 of each type. Here's one of them:

Also, if you  collect all 64 stamps, there's yet another prize available. Now getting that would be a lot of leg work!

Finally (5) there are 78 bonus prizes that are chosen by lottery. Wow, if I've got it right, the top prize is a visit by Ultra Seven to your house! That's pretty wild.

Anyway, click here to visit the promotional website.

This rabbit hole turned out to be a lot deeper than I expected. What started with a simple photograph of a poster turned into a Dantean labyrinth that overmatched the single can of Kirin I had tonight. So, well done.

Once again we learn several key lessons: (1) Ultraman is still insanely popular in Japan. (2) Major public institutions are perfectly comfortable with promotional tie-ins involving nearly 50-year-old tokusatsu heroes. (3) If you're going to do something, make it complicated enough that only the truly devoted will pour the time and effort needed to figure it out and maximize the prize winnings.

I have to say, those menkos and acrylic stands look pretty cool! But what would I serve Ultraman Seven? I wonder if he likes Kirin...

Paper Board Dice Games

In my previous post, I talked about the possible origin of Chicken Fever. One of the sources I referred to was a paper board game played with a pair of dice. Here are a few more of these colorful, portable games which seem to have enjoyed some popularity in the 1970s. I'm not sure of the rules, but they're still fun to look at.

The above pic is of an Ultra Seven game. It's got a lot of action sequences and kaiju illustrations. Here are some closeups:

I guess you got points as you moved across the board. (?)

Maybe landing on 105 got you fried and you had to go back some spaces? I dunno. My guess is kids made up the rules, which is a lot more fun anyway!

 More after the jump:

Extremely rare vintage 12" Takara figures

Here's some real vintage lore. I wanted to put these up for general reference, as I've never even seen one of these boxed, and here is a large group. These are 12" tokusatsu figures by Takara, made in the early 70s.

Most of them are priced at $3,000-$4,000 each but are all unsold, so who knows if that's a realistic price. I guess when there are so few of them out there, whoever has them can make up the price.

With apologies in advance for the image quality. It was dark and raining.

Ultraman Ace. This is priced at a cool 1 million yen ($10,000).

 More after the jump:

Kamen Rider Big Picture Book 仮面ライダー大図鑑 (+ Ultraman + Super Sentai)

 

Sometimes the coolest things are the ones you spot by chance. Like the line from The Wire goes, you have to have "soft eyes" so you can spot what's out there. Well, technically, in the show a vet teacher was schooling the new cop turned teach about running a classroom....anyway I like the phrase.

On a random shelf scan, I spotted this excellent Kamen Rider book published by ポプラ社 -> Poplar. It's called the 仮面ライダー大図鑑 -> Kamen Rider Big Picture Book  The cover advertises it as an all-in-one guide to Kamen Rider, and from the pictures and content, it's hard to argue.

The book introduces the Kamen Riders + their villains, starting from 1-go.

Gorgeous photos of the heroes, villains, and bikes.

Stronger + baddies in Disco/Rocky/WWE/Come-hither poses.

 More after the jump: