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| Bin Furuya. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
On Saturday, March 9, I attended another special event headlined by the original Ultraman suit actor Bin Furuya. Furuya-san got his start as a Toho New Face in 1960 alongside future Ultraman (1966-67) cast member Masanari Nihei.
By the time I arrived, the first half of the event was already winding down. I brought a few items for Furuya-san to sign (two vintage Ultraman cards along with a vintage Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster one), and luckily there was still time to get them signed. Afterward, we posed for pictures with Furuya-san.
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| Bin Furuya. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
When that portion of the event wrapped, Furuya-san asked me to join him onstage (to the extent you could call the platform he was standing on a stage, I suppose) and asked me to say a few words to the gathered audience in Japanese, which I did my best to do. He then said a few words of his own, which, as you'd expect, were very heartfelt and generous.
After that, we moved on to the dinner event. Furuya-san sat down next to me early on and asked me about where I'd be living in California.
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| Bin Furuya. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
We used the little dishes holding various food items to represent various cities, and I essentially made a map of California (and even Arizona and Nevada), using the dishes to mark the location of the cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc. I pointed out how far it would take to drive from my home to these particular places, which was something Furuya-san was particularly curious about.
One of the dishes contained radish, and, when my tablemate encouraged me to eat it, I said, "Daikon haiyu," which means "radish actor" in Japanese. A "radish actor" in Japan means a rather stiff performer, which got a laugh out of Furuya-san. (I certainly wasn't talking about him!)
Given that this was an event with Furuya-san, the topic of James Dean eventually came up. Furuya-san mentioned the film East of Eden (1955) in Japanese, so I mentioned how to pronounce Eden in English, which (naturally) is a bit different from the Japanese way. Furuya-san seemed interested to learn the English pronunciation and repeated it a few times during the evening.
While we were sitting next to each other, Furuya-san took out his phone and asked the person sitting across from us to take our photo. I've said it countless times before, but it's always a blast when one of the guests at events like this wants to get a photo with you.
During the evening, Furuya-san mentioned the sheer number of actors I've met throughout the years and how many autographs I've gotten. He seemed quite impressed, especially with some of the rarer folks who don't usually do events. Well, it's a lot of fun!
We also spent a little bit of time talking about Furuya-san's days as a New Face at Toho and some of his early roles at the studio. Of course, he doesn't remember much about some of his more obscure appearances, like Gorath (1962), very well. Then again, he was essentially an extra during that time, so what would there be to say after all these years?
We also reminisced about the time Furuya-san visited Gifu Prefecture in 2013. Someone at the table asked me if that was the first time I met Furuya-san, but it certainly wasn't. By that time, I'd traveled halfway across the world with him!
At the end of the evening, Furuya-san asked me to stand up and again addressed the audience with me next to him (though, technically speaking, I was positioned in front of him this time). Suffice it to say, it was a great evening with a great gentleman, whom I hope to visit again very soon.
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