TAC DESTROYS ALL KAIJU! Hanging Out with Ultra-Series Star Shunichi Okita!

The artwork just outside the restaurant-bar La Shion tells you all you need to know! Photo by Brett Homenick.

I've just returned home from another fun and friendly evening at La Shion, and I enjoyed spending time with actor Shunichi Okita. Okita-san is best known for playing TAC member Ichiro Yamanaka in Ultraman Ace (1972-73), but (like fellow Ace cast member Keiko Nishi), he got his start at Nikkatsu Studios, acting in such movies as Tokyo Drifter (1966).

Striking a pose with Shunichi Okita, one of Tokyo's coolest residents!

Okita-san eventually began appearing in Toho movies, such as Red Lion (1969), which stars Toshiro Mifune. He also is in Kihachi Okamoto's Battle of Okinawa (1971).  But it is his co-starring role in Ultraman Ace that his fans hold in the highest regard.

At the bar this evening was a friendly fellow who certainly knew his stuff when it came to Toho movies. We swapped stories and memories. He was amazed by how much I knew, and I was just as surprised that he knew as much as he did. (He didn't seem to be that much older than I am.)

October is shaping up to be a huge month for me (I know, I say that every month!), but it is especially true this time out. Watch this space for all the latest!