Sci-Fi Japan has a short article on the Ultraman Shopping Street located in the Tokyo suburbs of Soshigaya:

[SciFi Japan Link]

G-Tour 2 visited the area for lunch prior to the tour of Toho Studios (see earlier pages for photo coverage)

Bill, that is some of the coolest stuff ever!

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Thanks Craig!  There is more stuff to come (eventually).

Wilson, what you saw was still evident during my trip last August.  That black taxi in the above Shibuya crossing photo ended up having to hold his position in the middle of the intersection when the lights changed and waited until the pedestrians had cleared completely, as opposed to gunning his way though like they'd do in the Western countries.

The JR train stations had escalators and elevators to allow passengers to reach the platforms, but the metropolitan subways only had stairs.  Amusing to see markers on the up-stairs out of a Tokyo subway for how many calories you have burned by that point.

Bill, are you going to Yamatour 2012 that is Starblazers related?

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Charlie,

Unfortunately no, and I presume so. ;)

This is all I could find on what you mentioned:

http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=663

Yeah, it's the same starblazers.com guys, though "Yamatour" is more of a private jaunt put on by Tim Eldred and friends.  Still, it would have been great to participate in one too.

G-Tour is more or less open to all fans of tokusatsu (Japanese SFX) movies and TV series, though the next one may have to wait until a more favorable Yen / Dollar exchange rate comes about.

And now, continuing the coverage of G-Tour 2's adventures across Japan.  Destination: Kyoto.

August 6th, 2011 (the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, BTW)

Departed Tokyo's JR Shinagawa Station on the Shinkansen bullet train:

The signs in all the main JR stations are bilingual.  This shows the three types of bullet trains service available:  The Kodama type is the slowest of three, stopping at every station along the route.  The Hikari type (what we were taking to Kyoto) stops only at select stations and is the fastest service a JR Rail Pass holder can use.  The Nozomi type is the express service of the system, only stopping at the major stations along the route (the final destination listed is Hakata station, which is in the city of Fukuoka on the far end of Western Japan).

One interesting note about the Japanese countryside:  I always assumed that the photos of the rice paddies and grasslands of Japan were always altered to give them that almost artificial bright green color...  Obviously, I was mistaken.

Inside the massive JR Kyoto Station.  So huge that the monster Gamera was able to battle Iris inside here in GAMERA 3.

Kyoto Tower, last seen being blasted by Godzilla in GODZILLA VS. MECHA-GODZILLA (1992)

A long series of escalators leading up toward the restaurant level for lunch break.  Half-way point.

Boarding the G-Tour 2 bus, headed to our next destination:

The Toei Eigamura, or Toei Motion Picture Park.

The park mascot.