KOJI MORITSUGU AND MASANARI NIHEI JOIN FORCES! The Legendary Tsuburaya Actors Team Up in Fujisawa!

Koji Moritsugu (left) and Masanari Nihei (right) reminisce their heroic outings at Tsuburaya Productions. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

August 15 saw a special event at Joli Chapeau in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, that brought Koji Moritsugu (Ultra Seven's Dan Moroboshi) and Masanari Nihei (Ito/Ide from Ultraman) together for a Q&A and signing event.

Masanari Nihei spoke about working for Toho and Tsuburaya Productions. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Nihei-san began by talking about his film career at Toho, working on tokusatsu classics like Mothra (1961) and Gorath (1962). After that, the conversation shifted to Tsuburaya Productions, which is, of course, what the audience wanted to hear.

Koji Moritsugu offers his thoughts during the Q&A session. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Overall, the event was another success, and it followed the usual pattern of fan events organized by Joli Chapeau. The first event is the autograph session, followed by the Q&A, and the final event is the photo session.

Yours truly with Masanari Nihei. Although he is mostly celebrated for his roles in Tsuburaya TV productions, I have to admit that I'm more a fan of his Toho film work.

Nihei-san was every bit as jolly and gregarious as I expected him to be. Moritsugu-san was as friendly as usual. At one point during the photo session, he was humming John Barry's James Bond theme music! Suffice it to say, he's a fun guy to hang around.

Your humble blogmeister with Dan Moroboshi himself, Koji Moritsugu.

I had a blast, and I'm very thankful for finally having a chance to meet Nihei-san. It's always great to meet Toho actors, and he appears in quite a few classics. His work on Ultraman will always be his most famous work, but as a movie guy, I have to give the nod to his Toho films.

That's a wrap! See you all next time!