Man in Power Ranger costume becomes hero of Tokyo subway station

August 22, 2013 8:37 PM

Man in Power Ranger costume becomes hero of Tokyo subway station Compared to how Kanemasu started, he claims that people have been more positive in their response. “When I first began, people basically said, ‘Get away from me, you weirdo’,” he recalled.
posted by KokuRyu (44 comments total)

Since this is in Japan, wouldn't he technically be dressed as the Dragon Ranger instead? /pedantry
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:42 PM on August 22, 2013

That's cool.

It was shocking to me travelling in Japan with a baby in a pram just how bad the urban form was. I couldn't imagine being wheelchair bound - certainly no Disability Access Act or the like inaction!
posted by wilful at 8:52 PM on August 22, 2013

Heh! Over the years here in Tokyo, I myself have done a large amount of helping overwhelmed moms carry baby strollers up and down stairs at rail stations. Not to mention helping older people by carrying their suitcases, parcels, etc up or down flights of stairs. It's actually the kind of assistance that is, well, kind of unusual here. People are always rally surprised and grateful that a stranger would offer.

Perhaps I should get a green suit. A little hot for that right now in August, though...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:56 PM on August 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

One of the Super Sentai, sure, but not Dragon Ranger, specifically.

I refuse to call them Power Rangers.

Maybe it's because I grew up in Manila and got the Sentai shows direct from Japan; and growing up with a sister and three cousins, it was easy for us to be the rangers. I was the yellow one in the first show, Himitsu Sentai Goranger.
posted by linux at 8:57 PM on August 22, 2013

People are always rally surprised and grateful that a stranger would offer.

Really? When I was in Tokyo last year, people were super helpful. But then I was clearly bewildered and clueless tourist who was obviously hopelessly lost.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:05 PM on August 22, 2013

Here in the US, the larger you are, the more people trust you. It's weird. I get asked for directions constantly, when they'll basically ignore the shorter and slighter people with me, even tho I have only the vaguest ideas of nearby street orientations. If I ask to pick up any valuable object for them, including oversized purses or children, they agree immediately and with thanks.

A superhero costume would probably have the same effect - "Oh, here's someone physically powerful (according to their TV show) offering to help, I will let them carry my stroller down the stairs without pepper-spraying them!"
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:09 PM on August 22, 2013

Really? When I was in Tokyo last year, people were super helpful.

Helping confused looking tourists is different from what I'm talking about. I can't tell you how many times I've seen mothers with strollers and old folks with heavy bags, struggling to get them up or down a flight of stairs, being passed by entirely oblivious able-bodied young people. People who could easily offer help but just don't. I see it all the time, which is why I've so often stopped to help. No one else was offering.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:15 PM on August 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

A superhero costume would probably have the same effect - "Oh, here's someone physically powerful (according to their TV show) offering to help, I will let them carry my stroller down the stairs without pepper-spraying them!"

They might just pepper spray you.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:16 PM on August 22, 2013

There aren't many elevators in rail stations. Combine that with a propensity for forgetting how to queue properly...
posted by KokuRyu at 9:17 PM on August 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Helping confused looking tourists is different from what I'm talking about. I can't tell you how many times I've seen mothers with strollers and old folks with heavy bags, struggling to get them up or down a flight of stairs, being passed by entirely oblivious able-bodied young people. People who could easily offer help but just don't. I see it all the time, which is why I've so often stopped to help. No one else was offering.

I suppose I just assumed that if they would help an idiot like me, they would also be helpful to harried young mothers...etc.

Having said that, I help people with bags and prams all the time in Sydney. And yes, people are usually surprised that someone offers.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:18 PM on August 22, 2013

But I am certainly not svelte enough to pull off the Power Ranger look.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:20 PM on August 22, 2013

Here in the US, the larger you are, the more people trust you.

That's an interesting thought. I know people will pick me out of a crowd to ask for help but I've never connected it to size.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:21 PM on August 22, 2013

A superhero costume would probably have the same effect - "Oh, here's someone physically powerful (according to their TV show) offering to help, I will let them carry my stroller down the stairs without pepper-spraying them!"

I am reminded of a recent conversation with a friend. She had read a whole bunch of prepper/disaster managements/high stress situation blogs and noticed how they seemed to say to keep a construction helmet or otherwise authority-indicating clothing item in your "kit", stopping short of impersonating an officer. And she maintained there was no lady-gendered equivalent of the same kind of authority-imparting clothing as for gentleman-gendered clothing. We argued for a bit and figured "Nun" was as close as it got (again, short of impersonating an officer) and that was a stretch at best.
posted by The Whelk at 9:23 PM on August 22, 2013

So only tangentially related to the thread, but there's an old guy with long, white hair but bald on top who braids his beard, putting little colored beads in it, and wears a schoolgirl costume who I have seen at Shinjuku station twice. Strangely, nobody was paying any attention to him. I thought he was some random crazy dude, but at this Comiket I saw him again in the same outfit, this time walking around accompanied by a woman cosplaying in the same schoolgirl outfit.

I was going to ask if he was some kind of established character, but I decided to Google first and the answer is yes.
posted by 23 at 9:24 PM on August 22, 2013 [3 favorites]

I know people will pick me out of a crowd to ask for help but I've never connected it to size.

I wonder if it's not because bigger people are unthreatening, but because they're more likely to be unthreatened. I'm not going to approach a tiny female stranger because I know well that getting approached by a stranger is a bit of a pulse-pounding adventure under the best of circumstances, but Captain America over there can probably take it.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:28 PM on August 22, 2013 [3 favorites]

And she maintained there was no lady-gendered equivalent of the same kind of authority-imparting clothing as for gentleman-gendered clothing.

Skirt-suit with sneakers. This is a woman who's in charge because suit with a skirt, and she's in sneakers because 1) she planned ahead and had sneakers and 2) Shit moves fast, she's ready for it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:42 PM on August 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have to agree with Flapjax here - offering locational assistance is one thing, but physical assistance isn't something people do or expect. Even just holding the door in the office for someone not immediately behind me can provoke quite a range of reactions.

There was a series of television commercials or something that showed people having internal conflicts over situations like this - one in particular was a young lady on a train seeing an old lady and vacillating over whether to offer her seat on the train. On the one hand the old lady would probably like to sit down, but on the other hand it could be rude to imply that she's infirm and you can't ask because she'd refuse out of politeness. In the show this was humorously defused when the old lady noticed the younger one awkwardly half-sitting and pro-actively refused the seat with a joke, but in real life I guess people worry about offering assistance being offensive somehow, which would lead to paralysis and inaction.
posted by 23 at 9:44 PM on August 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was going to ask if he was some kind of established character, but I decided to Google first and the answer is yes.

Well, OK, that dude is pretty awesome.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:02 PM on August 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

this comment on that page blew my mind and I don't even know why

a masked guy in your face sort of blurs the distinctions between reality and fiction. When you see it on TV you can get away. Just imagine if Superman showed up at the Fukushima plant to help out. Chances are people would be freaked out.
posted by Sebmojo at 10:17 PM on August 22, 2013

There's another thing at work here I believe, which is that if you are a foreigner like flapjax, people are going to react to you (somewhat) differently when accepting or offering help. I propose that, if you are not Japanese, there is less at stake, cultural-awkwardness-wise, in accepting or offering help--you're already an anomaly, so to speak. And so I wonder if this masked guy is working in the same "outside-the-norm-so-okay" kind of space.

It also makes it easier to handle situations like the one 23 lays out, where you can just be a dumb foreigner and do nice things without worrying about their cultural import. Or maybe it's just me, dunno.
posted by dubitable at 10:18 PM on August 22, 2013 [4 favorites]

And yeah, I remember this one time when there were these two young women in Omotesando lugging a suitcase up and down some stairs. I was with a buddy who is a slightly older Japanese man. I offered to help them carry the suitcase and they pretty resoundingly refused. I was confused, and I asked my friend about it, and he said something to the effect of, "what you did was good and not incorrect culturally-speaking, but Japanese people always refuse help." Ah well.
posted by dubitable at 10:20 PM on August 22, 2013

...in real life I guess people worry about offering assistance being offensive somehow, which would lead to paralysis and inaction.

I'm curious - is it not taught in primary school in Japan explicitly to respect and aid the elders, like maybe in a civics class? Offer them seats, help them with heavy stuff, etc. This was drilled into me as a kid while growing up in Korea and taking civics. I recall elementary school textbooks with illustrations showing kids getting out of seats to offer to elderly people. Or maybe it used to be taught but now it's not? My own experience is a long time ago, back in late '70s.

Obviously Korea isn't Japan, but this is an area that overlaps a lot culturally and I figured there would be similar teachings at a young age. And being taught something doesn't mean you'll do it; I don't know firsthand how much deference/helping you find every day in Korea today. I'm just surprised they felt the need to make tv ads to explore the issue when I assumed it's clearly stated from a young age.
posted by shortfuse at 10:23 PM on August 22, 2013

I, too, do the try to help thing, stuff like chasing down a parent who doesn't realize their infant lost a shoe. I've occasionally gotten screaming babies to stop crying by making goofy faces, and so on.

Most people here just don't help out. A week or two ago, I got on the train (early on a Saturday, I think) and a man was sprawled all over the floor of the train in the corner. Drunk, tired, whatever. Shoes off, sort of in the middle of the train. People just stepped over him, until one woman (oldish grandmother type) leaned over, picked up his shoes, and set them down next to him. I was kind of surprised, but the way I look at it, she wasn't doing it to help him, she was doing it to minimize the trouble he was causing others.

I don't go out so much by train anymore, but I when I used to go out in Chiba (end of the Sobu line), on my way back home (usually last trainish), I'd walk through the train, waking up the people who'd passed out, letting them know they were at the end of the line, and they might want to get off. I got a lot of strange looks doing that.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:29 PM on August 22, 2013

I'm curious - is it not taught in primary school in Japan explicitly to respect and aid the elders, like maybe in a civics class? Offer them seats, help them with heavy stuff, etc.

Sure. In elementary and junior high school there is a weekly class reserved especially for this sort of thing called "Dotoku", or "Moral Education." Can you imagine such a class in a non-denominational public school in North America?

But ultimately Dotoku is just a class (and, no offense to Japanese teachers, who excel at leadership, and excel at fostering leadership, it's also taught be teachers who are typically the children of teachers, and so have never really resided outside the bubble of teaching), and so is very abstract.

Despite the "teachable moments" in class (one way I learned Japanese was to attend language arts, history, and Moral Education classes), you can't really teach people to behave from a textbook.

On the other hand, leave your wallet on the train, and someone will return it to you, typically with the cash left in it.

While I would never say that Japan is an indifferent society, and I would never say people are as helpful to complete (Japanese) strangers as people are in Canada.

It could be because of the concept of "nakama", which I guess translates as "group." For example, when a woman marries (at least in the countryside, and at least in my wife's generation who came of age in the 80's), she leaves her father's family and joins the new family.

She would be expected to devote all of her energies to her husband's family, including caregiving when the inlaws get old.

Her parents are supposed to depend on the eldest son. No eldest son? Too bad, the priority is the husband's family. If there is time left, her parents.

I think it's relevant - people save their energies for the people they share bonds with.

I don't think it's a better or worse situation, it's just a different culture.

Cultures change and evolve. For example, here in Canada, I would say the biggest difference between me as a parent, and my parents as parents, is EQ. I was hit and yelled at a lot as a child. I don't do that to my kids, and nobody in my cohort does.

My dad was hit with a knotted rope when he was growing up in the 1950's. All of my mother's friends smoke and drank during pregnancy.

So, perhaps Japan will change. And perhaps some day in Canada when I leave my wallet on the bus, no one will steal it.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:17 PM on August 22, 2013

Most subway stations in the country have no elevator, not even an escalator. Stairs are also dimly lit,

Wow, that's seriously denting my culturally-blinkered image of Japan here. I mean, this is the most-used subway system in the world with three billion-with-a-B rides annually.

I surmise that this largely reflects the age and geography of the system -- for instance this station was built in 2008 and is about as Space Odyssey as you'd expect. It's probable, also, that as with larger systems in the US, older stations in residential neighborhoods are less likely to receive upgrades than heavily-used stations in commercial and destination areas.
posted by dhartung at 12:02 AM on August 23, 2013

Ah, there is one important exception to the helping people thing - staff at a restaurant or similar. If you leave something at your table or whatnot they will chase you across the street to return it, as happened to me just a week or two ago. This does not apply to taxi drivers and cellphones, though, since they worry about liability.

shortfuse, the ads were not a politeness campaign - awkward situations that everyone was familiar with were just used for comic material rather than to make a point, and not all of them were politeness issues. There are politeness campaigns in the subway, but they're equally about reasonable and weird things (don't play loud music, don't smoke, don't use makeup on the train, don't keep your phone on near the polite seats).

dhartung, yeah, the issue is that while the system has pretty much always been built well for whenever it was built, there's a lot of stations and some are just old now.
posted by 23 at 12:37 AM on August 23, 2013

23, maybe I've been here too long, but the examples you give for the 'weird things' for the manner poster seem pretty reasonable to me. On the other hand, I've seen some recently for 'don't take up the lavaballs position' 'don't sleep while lying across the seats' and even 'don't bring ridiculously large baggage on the train during rush hour.' Those seem pretty reasonable to me, too.
posted by Ghidorah at 1:31 AM on August 23, 2013

Ah, sorry - the list was supposed to be both normal and strange things - not smoking and no loud music is kind of obviously bad. No makeup is also kind of obvious, though I know coming from places without significant public transportation it was weird to me at first that anyone would even try to do makeup on a train (and I still can't recall seeing it done except on empty last trains, where it seems harmless). The "turn your phone off" (not just "don't talk on it") thing is the one that stands out as it's completely ignored and seems kind of a strange thing to insist on.
posted by 23 at 1:42 AM on August 23, 2013

The phone thing I think is a holdover from very early days of cell phone adoption here. No one does it at all, of course, but I like that there is a very firm 'don't make phone calls on the train' culture here. It's all the more jarring when someone breaks the rules, but for the most part, it's pretty nice.
posted by Ghidorah at 1:44 AM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

...makeup on a train (and I still can't recall seeing it done except on empty last trains, where it seems harmless).

23, you definitely ain't riding the trains I'm riding*...

*self link
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:54 AM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

Someone once explained the Japanese not-helping-out thing to me, for example in the above example of the man sprawled out in the train, as a way to save face for you, the guy sprawled out in the train. If they stop and offer to help, they are drawing attention to your weakness, your vulnerability, or your failure. It isn't considered callous to keep going about your business; it is allowing you to maintain your dignity and go on as if everything is okay.

A couple of my friends experienced corresponding situations first-hand through bicycle accidents (with potholes, bollards) that resulted in injury but not trauma, where they were on the ground bleeding and near tears, until other foreign students passed. Another friend accidentally humiliated a local guy by asking him if he needed help after he smashed his motorbike into a bollard and its fiberglass shell shattered into pieces.

That said, I have gotten help after more significant medical situations, when I was lost (and when I was not), and more. In my office, it was de rigueur to hold the door open behind you even to the point of making colleagues do the awkward-run. This is all in Ibaraki-ken.
posted by whatzit at 2:47 AM on August 23, 2013

From 23's link:

Japanese site IT Media met Kobayashi and asked him the question on everyone's mind: Why do you dress like a Japanese schoolgirl? "That's a difficult question," said Kobayashi. "It's not really something I've thought too deeply about. Hrm. I guess it's because sailor suits look good on me?"

Rock on middle aged Japanese dude!
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 3:32 AM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

How common is this practice of smooshing people onto the trains? Those people seem helpful.
posted by orme at 4:21 AM on August 23, 2013

This seems like a fine place to mention the Korean film Superman ieotdeon sanai (A Man Who Was Superman), about a guy who goes around helping people because he thinks he's Superman. It's comic and tragic and kind of wonderful, and it might make you cry. I certainly cried.

When I lived in Tokyo I helped strangers sometimes, mostly old ladies with baggage and young mothers with strollers, usually up and down stairs. It's definitely true that being a red-bearded, head-shorn giant allows a level of freedom in breaking social norms that may not be available to Japanese people; however, I knew a couple Japanese guys who did the same thing I did. They were from way out in the sticks, for what it's worth -- one of them was an honest-to-goodness farm-boy -- and their reasons were basically the same as mine: I was a Boy Scout as a kid, and I always felt like if I helped people, maybe that meant someone, somewhere was giving my mom a hand. And sure enough, when I talked with her, she'd tell me about the nice young woman who gave her directions or the young man who carried her groceries to the car.

I do the same thing here in New York, especially helping elderly women cross Queens Boulevard. It's scary, and I can tell giving them a hand to hold fills them with confidence. Since my mom died I don't do it for the same selfish karmic reasons, it's just nice to see old ladies smile. I was crossing the street either way, so it's not really going above and beyond. It just keeps the world turning.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:38 AM on August 23, 2013 [2 favorites]

How common is this practice of smooshing people onto the trains? Those people seem helpful.

Not terribly common -- usually the platform attendants are just there to make sure clothing, bags, or umbrellas aren't trapped in the doors.

That GIF is probably from the Denentoshi Line, which is one of the worst lines for crowding -- but it doesn't get that bad unless there is an accident or something during morning rush hour that causes a delay. Delays = the same amount of people on fewer trains = overcrowding.
posted by armage at 4:45 AM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

I knew a couple Japanese guys who did the same thing I did. They were from way out in the sticks, for what it's worth -- one of them was an honest-to-goodness farm-boy

I do wonder how much of this particular social dynamic is due to hyper-urbanism - the bystander effect for instance is an actual phenomena. I can only really offer an anecdote, as I'd been in Japan for all of an hour and a half or so when I offered my seat on the Narita-Tokyo train to an elderly lady. It was a little bit of an awkward situation, as my Japanese wasn't great, and I felt sort of silly being not only the only non Japanese person in the carriage but also the only one to offer my seat - would they think that I was trying to show them up with my politeness was an actual thought that ran through my head. She was pretty happy to sit down though, and I have no idea what she said to me but it sounded positive.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 4:54 AM on August 23, 2013

And she maintained there was no lady-gendered equivalent of the same kind of authority-imparting clothing as for gentleman-gendered clothing

Nothing gendered any more about a construction helmet!

I have had good results wearing a t-shirt with STAFF or CREW printed on it, black pants, very sensible shoes, and a radio on your belt. For bonus points, a lanyard with a large bunch of keys and laminated doodads, and a couple of people out of ear shot having conversations full of code words over the radio.

I try not to use my powers for evil.
posted by emilyw at 6:37 AM on August 23, 2013

Most subway stations in the country have no elevator, not even an escalator.

To be accurate, most rail transit stations in the country aren't below ground, the stations don't have stairs, they aren't even indoors.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:05 AM on August 23, 2013

Most subway stations in the country have no elevator, not even an escalator.

To be accurate, most rail transit stations in the country aren't below ground, the stations don't have stairs, they aren't even indoors.

Yeah, well, that's why emilyw said "subway stations" and not "rail transit stations". To be accurate.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:21 AM on August 23, 2013

Huh? I wasn't quoteing emilyw, it's in TFA.

Of course you're right, flapjax. But a lot of people have this idea of Tokyo (and by extension Japan) as a completely underground rail transit system. Even on the subway, there are plenty of stations where you don't need to use any stairs. Most people are thinking this, when the reality is more often like this.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:54 AM on August 23, 2013

Okay, okay, I'll rephrase:

"Most rail stations in the country don't even have elevators"

And you most definitely DO need to use stairs to get over the tracks to the opposite platform. Or, you would need to use steps to get up to platform height.

I am a trainspotter, so these details are important to me!
posted by KokuRyu at 2:31 PM on August 23, 2013

You know, I actually wrote a sentence about how you don't need a stairs unless you enter on the wrong side of the station and have to cross the tracks. But then I deleted it because I figured nobody cared about these sorts of details. I stand corrected.

Anyway, I looked hard around the web for pics of the old outdoor JR stations that have those huge enclosed stairways to get you over to the other side of the tracks. I found a good pic of one at Nanaehama. These stations are way out in the boonies so I don't know why the tracks are fenced off so you can't just walk across. But this is JR Hokkaido, and I suppose the winter weather has something to do with it.

Nanaehama is just one station down from Kamiiso where I used to live. It is basically the middle of nowhere. I remember leaving my lodgings at 6AM so I could catch the train to Hakodate and be at school by 8. I always had to move fast to get there on time, lugging my bag full of paper dictionaries and homework to the station, oh my aching back. One day I saw the train was already there and just leaving the station. For some stupid reason, I started running toward it, like I expected it to stop or something. And much to my surprise, it did! JR trains never do that. Oh you should have heard the bang when all the cars came together for an abrupt stop. And oh you should have seen the looks I got when I got on the train. I was never late again. That is just about the worst thing you can do, inconvenience a whole group of people, with your wagamama. I think the engineer wanted to teach me a lesson.
posted by charlie don't surf at 3:56 PM on August 23, 2013

In terms of crowded trains, it can be useful to point out what is considered 'capacity.' 100% capacity on a Japanese train means that every seat is taken, and every handstrap or pole is being used. That alone is pretty full.

The Tozai subway line, which runs from Chiba through central Tokyo, into Nakano (on the other side of Shinjuku) often runs at 200% capacity during rush hour. Every seat, every strap is in use, and somehow they managed to double that number by cramming through as many more people as they can.

When I was still doing a lot of business English classes at night, I had the misfortune to ride that train. One of my 'fondest' memories of the train was when, completely packed in, the salaryman behind me decided to use my back as a pillow, and lean into me and go to sleep. I wasn't thrilled by it, and from time to time would twist or bump him to try to get him to stand on his own power, rather than force me to hold him, as well as myself, upright. The best part was getting home to find out that that oyaji motherfucker was a pomade user, and I had a nice dark pomade stain that ruined my shirt. I am not a fan of the Tozai line.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:31 PM on August 23, 2013

I wonder if it's not because bigger people are unthreatening, but because they're more likely to be unthreatened. I'm not going to approach a tiny female stranger because I know well that getting approached by a stranger is a bit of a pulse-pounding adventure under the best of circumstances, but Captain America over there can probably take it.

That's a good point, I do seem to walk through a safer world than most.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:36 PM on August 23, 2013