Toei Hero World Tokusatsu Museum Is Set To Open This December In Japan

There was a time when I thought that the single best reason to go to Japan was that amazing Hello Kitty amusement park that featured a parade where Kitty teamed up with Noah (you know, from the Bible) to lead animals back from the far reaches of the galaxy. I'm still pretty interested in seeing that in person, but on the off chance that I needed something else to check out over there, we now have Toei Hero World to look forward to.

Set to open to the public in Mihama, Japan this December -- just in time for the Christmas spirit to take hold of you and cause you to buy a couple of plane tickets for the CA staff -- Hero World is a museum devoted entirely to the proud history of tokusatsu programs like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (better known over here as the Power Rangers), complete with rides for the kids -- and by that I mean me and Caleb -- who are so devoted to superheroes and their giant dinosaur robots.

The full poster for Hero World, which features my current reigning Favorite Thing In The Entire Universe, Kamen Rider Fourze, is intriguing to say the least. Personally, I'm drawn to the illustration in the lower right-hand corner where kids are riding around on bumper car versions of the Kamen Riders' signature dirtbikes, but the only things we know for sure are going to be there will be exhibits featuring costumes and props from the past 40 years of Toei's well-known franchises. One hopes they have a full-sized Megazord cockpit that you can kick down the door of and punch everyone out, just like the Green Ranger did back in the day.

As you might expect from their prominent role on the poster, the timing of the museum places it towards the end of the current Super Sentai series, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, and right in the middle of the upcoming Rider series, Kamen Rider Gaim, which is largely built around -- and this is absolutely true -- fruit-themed weapons and dance crews.

Obviously, this is something we need to cover firsthand. Stay tuned for more as the story develops.