Ultraman is a Japanese icon, guardian of Tokyo against all kinds of horrible invaders since 1966. His branding can be found everywhere, from plastic bento lunchboxes to bikes, cell-phone straps, and kids’ ride.
My buddy Scott was out walking the streets near his home in northern Tokyo and stumbled across this one-armed Ultraman. It doesn’t really qualify as a haikyo since it seems that it may still function, despite the missing arm and rust-coated surface. 10-yen will give your kids a ride into battle with whatever crazy alien-suited baddie the Man had to face.
Scott very kindly took these photos for use on this site. I converted them all to B&W.
Bold guardian to us all (for 10yen).
What mysteries await inside Ultraman? Probably the ossified corpse of his driver- Hayata, of the Science Patrol.
Stop! Who goes there?
You probably hadn’t realized from the above photos what a silly pose he was in. Of course, he’s flying. It does look odd though. Superman never flew like this.
With the other members of the Science Patrol.
The Science Patrol wait, as ever, for the right moment to serve…
It must be a simple ride. I guess from the pump we can see here that it just goes up and down a bit.
And that’s it. Read more about Ultraman on Wikipedia.
See more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the galleries:
[album id=4 template=compact]You can also see a curation of world ruins in the ruins gallery.