Non-Japanese actors participate in Tokusatsu series?
 

Can Non-Japanese actors participate in Tokusatsu series?

Of course they can - they have done in the past and will continue to do so.

Not in major roles admittedly, but I can't imagine there are a whole lot of Japanese-fluent non-Japanese actors in Japan looking to appear on what are (for the most part) kids shows.

Of course I could be wrong, but that's the impression I get.

There is that and just the fact that casting non-japanese actors these shows doesnt make sense from a cultural standpoint.

Thing with japan in comparison to say America is that the percentage of people that belong to another ethnicity that live in japan is very small. So of course Toei would want their target audience to identify with the Main Heroes. And the target audience is mostly japanese children and not foreigners. So to reflect that we get a cast that mostly consists of japanese actors.

For a japanese Kid seeing someone that is caucasian or african or anything that isnt japanese is still kinda weird. Its just not something that is part of their everyday lives.

What if there was an American actor in Super Sentai?

Why would Japanese kids think it's weird? Casual English is considered "Cool" in Japan and wouldn't having a character from the "Cool" country would make things more interesting?

Thats the thing. English as a language is pretty hip in japan. But not foreigners themselfs. Characters like Yakumo or Kinji in Ninninger are cool because they use english phrases. If you are a foreigner you mostly get stared at by children because they dont really know what you are or have never seen a foreigner in person.

Can and have. Both Kamen Rider Kuuga and Daimajin Kanon had European actors and one of the members of the defense team in Ultraman Max was American - he even spoke in English regularly. Super Sentai has had both a Caucasian Ranger (Kyoryuger) and an American-born and raised Japanese actor (Kakuranger). And then there's Mark Musashi, who was born in Japan but grew up in America and has had several roles in tokusatsu, including some stunt acting.

Well, you got guys like Ramirez and the Cat SÃ*th Phantom.

There is also the weird phrase of using Japanese. Like, a white person can be born in Japan, and that can make them Japanese and an Asian can be born in America and that makes them American.

This is another interesting situation. They clearly can, but can they really?

It all comes back to cultural circumstances. When we think of a japanese person we wouldnt in a million years picture a caucasian. Same goes for the people living in japan. Its easier to accept someone of asian ethnicity as an american than it is accepting someone of caucasian ethnicity as japanese.

People born outside of Japan living in Japan are giving the "Gaijin" treatment. If you become full blown Japanese and become one of the culture, you are still view as "Gaijin" going from what I can remember in my history class.

Thats about right. As a foreigner you will never be anything else than a foreigner in the eyes of a japanese. Even if you've been born there.

That was actually one of the reasons they cast Kane Kosugi in Kakuranger; there was apparently a lot of discussion at the time about how to integrate the children of emigrants back into the country and Jiraiya was added to the show to reflect that issue.*

*(at least that's what the wiki says)

More or less yeah. The type of person Jiraiya played is called a nikkeijin. So a japanese that was born and raised outside of japan and doesnt have any real connections to japanese culture/society than any other foreigner has. The problem with nikkeijin at that time was that the native japanese didnt saw him as a foreigner. As a nikkeijin they would still expect you to be fluent in japanese and know their culture and society as well as they do.

Thats where most of the comedy with Jiraiya came from. Him not being familiar with japanese culture and the other Kakuranger just not getting it.

Come to think of it Reuben Langdon who is the English voice of Ken in Street Fighter currently was a tokusatsu hero named B-Fighter Yanma/Mac Windy in B-Fighter Kabuto.

I had been watching Turkish dramas for a while and I would like to reference it if there was an actor or actress from Turkey in a Tokusatsu series?

I know it sounds crazy and it will never happen but what if there was a Tokusatsu series with MotoGP racer, Valentino Rossi?