My goal today was Hirakata Park, an amusement park right in the middle of an Osaka suburb. It’s one of Japan’s oldest amusement parks and while hardly as flashy as Universal Studios (which is also here in Osaka) has a good amount of attractions and costs much less.

However my goal for attending today wasn’t the park itself, but what was being held in their exhibition center:

I had assumed that park entry was required to see this exhibition, but it had its own separate entrance and ticket. I hastily paid and walked right in!

I’ll be brutally objective: the entry fee (¥2500) was excessive for what this exhibition was, and the lack of any English (or non Japanese language) I found unusual as well. It also spread itself a bit thin by trying to cater to 60 years of fans, which admittedly would be a great challenge.

It began with large displays like the ones shown above for every Showa-era Ultra, detailing the host, basic story, pivotal moments and notable additions to the larger franchise. These were extremely well done and my phone had no difficulty translating them.

It continued into rooms for the Heisei and Reiwa eras of the franchise, and I liked how the design of these displays matched the basic designs of the shows from their successive era. By the time we reach the current (Reiwa) era the displays were bursting with colour and light and even replaced static photos with screens showing videos. While it was slow due to translation, I read every one of the displays.

Next was a display of the uniforms of the various defense agencies which are a common element of Ultraman series. According to what I read these are original uniforms used in filming, which surprised me since I had no knowledge of what was going to be in this exhibit before entering!

The next room contained a beautiful display of posters for dozens of Ultraman films that have been released over the years. Even though all the Ultraman series are now available in the USA, most of these films haven’t yet been translated and released so this room was of great interest to me.

This was a short corridor you walk through while being watched by many Ultras. The choice of which Ultras watch you was unusual and some are even villains (like Dark Zagi and Jugglus Juggler)! It was well done though, and my photo makes it look much better lit than it was in real life.

Next was another surprise: monster suits used in the shows! They had six in total, including Zetton. I very much doubt this is the Zetton suit from 1966, but since I could get up and close to it I could see it was fairly beaten up especially on the joints.

These were great to see. In the past I’ve seen a monster suit here and there but it was fun to see so many at once including monsters I recognized, such as ‘Alien Hipporito’ above.

The next room introduced Ultraman Teo, the new series that starts screening next month. This was a statue and not a suit (I think) but it was very well made and I enjoyed getting a good look at the eyes and his ‘color timer’ (even if they’re not called them any more).

I assumed this was the end of the exhibit, which although brief I had enjoyed, since the next room was empty. But I soon found out it was a holding area for when the exhibit was busy, since the ultimate exhibit was in the final room.

This was a massive room containing three large perpendicular screens. For scale, the black section at the bottom was about waist height. The screens showed an expertly edited ten-minute video that used original footage taken from all the different series to introduce the basic premise of the franchise and every Ultra from the 60 year history of the show.

The Ultraman franchise is steeped in nostalgia, and this video was the work of a grandmaster when it came to tugging the heartstrings of everyone that’s ever enjoyed an Ultra series. But then they began to literally spotlight each Ultra individually, and at that point I realized the screens were transparent, and behind them was a massive statue gallery of all the Ultras, who became visible when they were lit.

Of course at the end they backlit all three screens and the audience (just me in the giant room alone) was amazed to see over 50 different Ultras standing all around them.

I was very moved by this video and the reveal of all the Ultras. I’m not ashamed to say I shed a tear, which I suppose is evidence of how much I’ve grown to love this franchise 🙂

As is usual for these sorts of things in Japan, the final stop was a massive gift shop with almost entirely exclusive items for sale. I made some purchases, but I passed on the $5000 4 cm tall solid gold Ultraman ‘statue’, as cute as he was!

And that was the Ultraman exhibition; not worth it for most people, but truly special for Ultraman fans, myself included. I’ll remember that last part in particular for a long time.

Since I had unknowingly purchased a park entry ticket before going to the exhibition, of course I went in for a look. Ride tickets were separate, and when I saw the Ferris wheel you know I had to ride it!

This is an impressive amusement park of the old style. It had financial trouble and almost closed a couple of decades ago, but from what I read it’s doing well these days and is beloved by those that live in Osaka. I would have liked to go on more rides than just the Wheel. The reason I didn’t? This:

Not only was it super hot, the humidity was also very high and it was deeply unpleasant just being outside. I hurried from shade to shade making sure I at least saw everything before leaving.

I regret not checking out ‘Naughty Witches Labyrinth’ though:

Afterwards I did some more shopping (postcards, stamps and gacha toys) before a gourmet meal so hot it fogged up my glasses:

The more I visit Osaka the more I like it, and I know I’ll be back one day. But tomorrow I leave on another bullet train to move onto my next destination on this Japan adventure. It’s a place I know almost nothing about, except I’ve wanted to visit for years. I wonder what I’ll discover? Stay tuned…