Brand-New Content on Vantage Point Interviews!

Atsushi Hagiwara in May 2022. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Check out my new interview on Vantage Point Interviews with Atsushi Hagiwara, a Japanese modelmaker who has worked on numerous Godzilla, Gamera, and other tokusatsu productions since the mid-1980s. In particular, Hagiwara-san goes into detail about his work on the ambitious SFX film Sayonara Jupiter (1984). Content continues to be king on Vantage Point Interviews!

Ultraman Jack Warms Up a Cold January Evening in Style!

With Atsushi Hagiwara.

Tonight, Friday, January 20, I attended a special event featuring two special guests -- Return of Ultraman (1971-72) suit actor Eiichi Kikuchi and Toho modelmaker Atsushi Hagiwara. Due to my work schedule, I arrived later than almost everyone else (as usual), but that certainly didn't stop me from enjoying myself.

Eiichi Kikuchi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

As luck would have it, I was seated in between Hagiwara-san and Kikuchi-san. Hagiwara-san brought several photo albums featuring his modeling work (as well as that of his colleagues) on the Toho sci-fi epic Sayonara Jupiter (1984). There were some doubles among one of the photo albums, so Hagiwara-san surprisingly gave me the extras as a gift. I certainly wasn't expecting that, but it was nice to receive!

He also told me an interesting story about his younger brother, Akira, who also worked as a modelmaker on various Toho movies. Akira used Atsushi's home phone number (at the time) to put on the number plate of one of the High-Power Laser Beam Vehicles seen in Godzilla 1985 (1984). Now there's an in-joke I don't think any of us knew about!

Eiichi Kikuchi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Also on hand was suit actor Eiichi Kikuchi, who showed attendees several collages with various photos from his suit-acting career, as well as more recent photos with other suit actors and assorted luminaries from the world of tokusatsu. Kikuchi-san was in great spirits, and I was happy to share a couple of fist bumps with him. He also seemed happy to try out a bit of English, which of course I'd always encourage him to try.

After posing for the above photo, I asked Kikuchi-san to sign a shikishi board for a friend of mine, which he gladly did. Kikuchi-san went above and beyond to give my friend an elaborate autograph, which I'm sure will please my buddy. 

I expected to have a lot of fun, but this exceeded my expectations. Can't wait to do it again!

Attending a Gathering of Tokusatsu Fans and Pros!

Atsushi Hagiwara. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Friday, May 20, I attended a tokusatsu gathering of fans and professionals. Two of the pros on hand were ones I'd never met before, so I was eager to make their acquaintance.

One of them was Atsushi Hagiwara, who helped build many of the spaceships for Sayonara Jupiter (1984), one of Toho's most ambitious tokusatsu films of all time. Whatever you might say about the quality of the storytelling, no one can deny the quality of the SFX work. Hagiwara-san was surprised that I was familiar with his work, but it is most definitely great work!

Hideo Okamoto. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Also on hand was kaiju designer extraordinaire Hideo Okamoto. His credits are legendary, but his best-known projects are Yamato Takeru (1994), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Rebirth of Mothra (1996), Rebirth of Mothra II (1997), and Godzilla 2000 (1999). 

I didn't have much of a chance to chat with him, so I just expressed my admiration for his work. He seemed pleased by that.

Overall, it was a fun evening, and the recently released Shin Ultraman was a hot topic of conversation.  A lot of interesting opinions were shared!