Japan sure knows how to say thanks in a unique way! Super Sentai (not to be confused with hentai!) were on hand to save the day in Taiwan by rescuing an area from rubbish, in a street-cleaning event that began as a way of showing gratitude for Taiwan’s contributions to the Tohoku disaster relief effort. And what expresses those feelings better than people running around in flashy skin-tight suits?
These Japanese Super Sentai heroes appeared far away from their home country at Neiwan Station in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. On March 2 around 20 people in Super Sentai and kaijuu Godzilla costumes were spotted cleaning and picking up trash around the station.
‘Sentai‘ in Japanese literally refers to a squadron, and is a military term. However, you’re also likely to hear it used to refer to the Super Sentai Series, a long-running Japanese superhero franchise. This distinctly Japanese brand of superhero dresses in colourful head-to-toe lycra suits with only a small visor to see out of. If that makes you think of Power Rangers, then you’re not far off – the Super Sentai Series was the inspiration behind the American costumed heroes.
The organiser of this clean-up event is actually a Japanese NGO based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Every year, starting from 2012, they have been organizing the activities as a way of saying thank you for the support received from Taiwan at the time of the 2011 Tohoku disaster. And how did the cosplay come into it? It supposedly started with a representative of the NGO who felt that ‘there aren’t many interesting events in Japan’, and took to the net calling for more of this kind of thing. Really, though, we think people just wanted an excuse to don those costumes crumpled up in the backs of their wardrobes. After all, no one’s ever going to know it was you…
You don’t have to squeeze yourself into a lycra onesie to join in though. The event attracts all kinds of people from local Taiwanese officials, to Japanese celebrities, and university students who clearly have too much free time on their hands. This year the whole troop consisted of over 100 people. The event was also held simultaneously in Nagoya, but strangely we’ve not seen any reports yet of Super Sentai cameos in Japan.
Check out the video below for the surreal scenes, featuring bizarre dances and hand waving.
Source: Toychan Net, YouTube