Toei Japan Channel Set to Bring Tokusatsu to US Streaming

Toei announced Toei Japan Channel in September 2013, a new internet pay-streaming service aimed primarily at the roughly four hundred thousand Japanese residents living in the United States. The channel’s stated plan was to expand within about a year to include English-subtitled programming, opening the door to an official, close-to-simultaneous US release for Kamen Rider and other tokusatsu series.

Yasuhiko Nakashima of Toei’s International Sales Division framed the move as a response to ongoing interest in Japanese pop culture abroad, saying the company saw an opportunity to showcase its tokusatsu hero shows and hoped to eventually offer series to international audiences close to their original Japanese broadcast.