Heading back to the hotel after a long, hot day of shinkansens, samurai, sentai, and ninjas.

One of the famous world heritage sites Kyoto is known for.

Obviously, not one of world heritage sites Kyoto is known for...

Headed into downtown Kyoto. 

Destination:  Teramachi Street, and the Super-Position second-hand toy store.  If you are looking for rare toys, vinyl + candy-toy trading figures, and just about anything involving pop-culture Japan, this is heaven.  You will have a better chance of finding the rarer items both here and Osaka's Den Den Town than in Tokyo itself.  Actually cleaned out my wish-list here of all major items at prices I could live with.

A view from front of the Super-Position store, looking north.

The entrance of the Teramachi Shopping Street.  Despite the sun having gone down, it was still miserably humid outside.

Taking the Kyoto subway system back to the main JR Kyoto Station.  The raised yellow pattern in the floor are guides for the visually impaired to navigate with.  These were on the sidewalks, the station floors, in the hotel stairwells, historical attractions, and in just about every major population center we visited in Japan.  Very remarkable that this was implemented on a national level (though, it made hauling roller luggage a complete pain everytime we had to cross one of these).

A hot bowl of tonkatsu ramen and potstickers.  A somewhat odd choice for dinner after an extremely hot day, but it was reasonably priced and quite filling.

Geishas are apparently the iconic symbol of Kyoto.  Never got to see one in person while I was there, but saw plenty of them in image form.

That finishes Kyoto, on to Osaka and Kobe next time.

   Very interesting, those sentai characters in the museum...

   Am I correct in guessing that this would be Japan's corresponding genre with American superheroes?  I was a bit curious about the team concept and its dominance of Japanese fiction for years.  There were also lone heroes (Kamen Rider), but the majority of their shows revolved around a standard 5-member team.

   I would compare most Sentai groups to the original X-Men or Fantastic Four, given the uniforms.  Most of them appear to be akin to Batman, with giant robots or hypertechnology backing up their martial arts prowess.  Super-powered heroes appear to be the exception.

Carmen, I can't really give an answer about sentai being counterparts to American superheroes, since I'm not really an expert on that genre.  I will say that the team concept of sentai (5 elements working as one whole) goes back to the "group is more important than the individual" mindset that is a big part of Japanese society, as opposed the American concept of "unique individuals united by a common cause" IMO . 

Not to forget that whole sentai genre is extremely toy-etic as well. ;)

There has been a recent surge in interest for American-style (Amecomi) superheroes in Japan, thanks to the TIGER AND BUNNY  anime TV series, which took MYSTERY MEN's idea of a superhero with corporate logos slapped all over his costume, crossed it with reality TV, and added a more darker take on the sentai concept with affiliated supers competing for public popularity.  I saw a couple episodes of that show while in Japan, and overall it seemed a bit too cynical for my tastes (I actually think the original BUBBLEGUM CRISIS anime was far more closer to a American superhero comic IMO).

   As an American, the social consciousness of the Japanese does escape me on many occasions.  I guess I'm thinking a little bit of the role played by characters such as Amuro Ray from the Gundam series, where you have an individual who seems somewhat of an exception to the rule, but who ends up working together with others to see a conflict resolved by the end of the series.  That, Space Cruiser Yamato ("Star Blazers"), and the three series combined into the "Robotech" franchise in the States appealed more to me.

   When they started bringing over Sentai series ("Power Rangers"), I was firmly in the American mindset where the individual volunteers to work with a team.  That aspect of thought in me cannot comprehend the collective as defined in Asian cultures.