Tokusatsu Is Back!

Teruyoshi Nakano. Photo by Brett Homenick.

As COVID-19 restrictions continue to be lifted, events in Japan are slowly but surely starting to come back. It will still be a long while before things get back to normal, but I'll take what I can get. Tonight, the first tokusatsu-related event in a couple of months was held, and naturally I had to attend.

The guest of honor was legendary SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano, no stranger to such events. Many precautions were taken to ensure that the coronavirus would not spread, and given Nakano-san's age, I was relieved to see that. The other special guest was Takashi Naganuma, a veteran Toho model maker.

Takashi Naganuma. Photo by Brett Homenick.

One interesting thing was that I got to see clips from a Japanese SDF PR film (made with the cooperation of Toho) that featured the late Shigeo Kato as a fisherman thrown overboard during a storm, who was rescued by the SDF. I was also surprised to see that a few shots from the film were used as stock footage in Godzilla 1985. (The shots in question were the ones in which the SDF is searching for Godzilla at sea.) 

Safety first!

As usual, lots of fun and many laughs were had during the evening. It was great to return to the events after a couple of months. Hopefully, things will continue to open up and get better.