--- --- # Meet the Japanese Spider-Man by [Joseph C. Lin](/author/joseph-c-lin/) ## Joseph C. Lin May 2, 2014 7:33 PM CUT by [Joseph C. Lin](/author/joseph-c-lin/) ## Joseph C. Lin May 2, 2014 7:33 PM CUT The world might be currently abuzz about Andrew Garfield in _The Amazing Spider-Man 2_, but did you know that Japan has its own Spider-Man as well? Premiering back in 1978, the Japanese live-action television series was produced by Toie Company under license from Marvel and lasted for 41 episodes. The series revolved around Takuya Yamashiro, played by Shinji Todō, a motorcycle racer who is given spider-like powers after an injection of blood from the last surviving person of the Planet Spider. Like any self-respecting Spider-Man, Yamashiro can shoot webs, but what separates him from his American counterpart is the fact that he gets his own giant robot. I repeat, _he gets his own giant robot_. Named Leopardon, the robot helps Yamashiro defeat a bevy of alien baddies. Toei’s experience with this would help lay the foundation for its _Super Sentai_ franchise, which would eventually be adapted in the U.S. to become the _Power Rangers._ A Spider-Man that’s also a Power Ranger? Hollywood, that’s the plot to your next reboot right there. The Amazing Spider Man 2 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/86135/meet-the-japanese-spider-man/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/86135/meet-the-japanese-spider-man/"},"headline":"Meet the Japanese Spider-Man","datePublished":"2014-05-02T19:33:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:22.454Z","description":"Move over Andrew Garfield","url":"https://time.com/86135/meet-the-japanese-spider-man/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Marvel","Appreciation","Spider-Man"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph C. Lin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-c-lin/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/86135/meet-the-japanese-spider-man/","name":"Meet the Japanese Spider-Man"}}]}] ```