Asia-Pacific

Ultraman stands tall in Shanghai’s new theme park area

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Child fans of the Ultraman series participate in a ceremony to inaugurate a new theme park area in front of a huge statue of Ultraman Zero in Shanghai on Sunday.

By Akiko Yoshinaga / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

10:27 JST, July 28, 2022

SHANGHAI — An area featuring superhero characters of the Ultraman series has been unveiled in Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park, a theme park in Shanghai.

The new area, meant to appeal to all ages, includes booths where related goods are sold. It is scheduled to fully open on Saturday.

A business agency firm representing Tsuburaya Productions Co., which produces the Ultraman series, gave the theme park permission to use the characters.

The indoor and outdoor spaces of the new area cover about 2,000 square meters in total.

A 12-meter-tall statue of Ultraman Zero towers over the area, and a total of about 400 items such as precious figures and devices for metamorphosing into Ultraman characters are exhibited.

The Ultraman series, made in Japan, is highly popular in China. A 10-year-old third-grade elementary school student in Shanghai, who visited the theme park, said: “I like Ultraman Zero. It’s fun because there’s lots of stuff I like here.”