COSTUMES AND TOKUSATSU! An Evening with a Pair of Toho Legends!

Makoto Ikeda (left) and Eiichi Asada. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Yesterday (Monday, February 12) was a Japanese holiday, but I still had to request it off from work. But it was well worth it, as I got to attend an event headlined by the wonderful tokusatsu director Eiichi Asada, as well as another guest I'd never met before -- Makoto Ikeda. If you've never heard of him before, you're in luck! I've got some information for you.

Makoto Ikeda. Photo by Brett Homenick,

Makoto Ikeda was born in 1939 in Konoshima, Kasaoka City, Okayama Prefecture. In 1957, he joined Kyoto Costume, which at the time was in charge of costumes for Toho Studios. (In 1963, Kyoto Costume became a subsidiary of the Toho Group.) Afterward, he worked on numerous Toho productions in the studio's costume department, beginning with Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958).

Following that experience, Ikeda-san primarily worked on costumes for the films by directors Hiroshi Inagaki, Senkichi Taniguchi, and Kihachi Okamoto. At Mifune Productions, he was in charge of costumes from Kihachi Okamoto's Red Lion (1969) through Hiroshi Inagaki's Incident at Blood Pass (1970). His close relationship with Toshiro Mifune led to Ikeda's work on the international co-production Red Sun (1971), directed by Terence Young and starring Mifune and Charles Bronson. 

Ikeda-san's other credits at Toho include: Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender (1959), Inao: Story of an Iron Arm (1959), Seniors, Juniors, Co-Workers (1959), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Atragon (1963), Warring Clans (1963), The Lost World of Sinbad (1963), Monster Zero (1965), Ironfinger (1965), Come Marry Me (1966), Japan's Longest Day (1967), and Epoch of Murder Madness (1967).

Ikeda-san was also an assistant director on Kihachi Okamoto's The Human Bullet (1968). In 1979, he was transferred from Kyoto Costume to Oriental Land where he was in charge of the costumes for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland.

Not only was Ikeda-san extremely approachable and affable, he had many strong memories of the movies he worked on. When I asked Ikeda-san what his most fun experience on a movie was, he answered that it was Red Lion.

I also asked him if he might have been involved with Kenji Sahara's fake beard in Atragon, but Ikeda-san told me that he'd usually only be involved with smaller amounts of facial hair, like a moustache.

Ikeda-san has written several books about his film experiences, but he also said he isn't very handy with computers. When I asked him how he wrote his books, he answered it was all by hand. Pretty impressive!

Eiichi Asada. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Asada-san was also a lot of fun to spend the evening with. I told him I didn't think Godzilla Minus One (2023) is tokusatsu due its being exclusively CG, but he disagreed and said that the various layers of VFX involved qualify it as such. I certainly respect his viewpoint (and he has more than earned it!), but I still see things differently.

When I arrived, Asada-san asked me about my plans in March, and I explained everything to him. Later on, our conversation turned to the city of Palm Springs, and Asada-san remembered Troy Donahue singing a song about the city. Perhaps it's in the movie Palm Springs Weekend (1963), which I've never seen, but maybe I should!

Eiichi Asada with Teruyoshi Nakano's hat. Photo by Brett Homenick.

One other thing I'll mention about Asada-san is that he said to our group that people don't need to be able to speak each other's languages perfectly in order to communicate, as body language can make up for many of the differences. I heartily agree.

Toward the end, another attendee brought out Teruyoshi Nakano's trademark hat, which Asada-san put on to pose for a few photos. In a way, it was like the passing of the torch from one tokusatsu director to another. 

Suffice it to say, I'm glad to I took the day off to attend this event! Meeting a Toho legend I'd never met before would have been reason enough, but Asada-san's kindness simply pushed it over the top. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Monday evening this much!