An Evening with an Independent Kaiju Filmmaker and a Tsuburaya Productions Star!

Minoru Kawasaki and Shota Minami. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier tonight (Wednesday, May 3), I attended a special event with independent filmmaker Minoru Kawasaki and actor Shota Minami. It's currently Golden Week in Japan, and the trains were absolutely packed with holidaymakers on the way there. I didn't think things would be so busy!

I arrived late to the event, and the guests were already signing autographs. When Kawasaki-san saw me, he recognized me and waved at me. He asked Minami-san if he knew me, but Minami-san didn't and greeted me as someone he was meeting for the first time. More on that a bit later.

Minoru Kawasaki's keychain gift. Photo by Brett Homenick.

After signing autographs and posing for pics, it was time for the social gathering. Kawasaki-san offered a variety of keychains featuring his likeness from the time he was a boy. I chose the one above. As I recall, the photo was taken when he was in elementary school.

Minoru Kawasaki holds his Suddenly Young Guy pamphlet. Photo by Brett Homenick.

One other interesting item Kawasaki-san pulled out was this Toho-style pamphlet of an amateur movie he made in 1985 -- Suddenly Young Guy. I had a chance to thumb through it, and it was really well done. It really captured the style of the Showa-era Toho pamphlets really well.

Most of the conversation focused on a variety of tokusatsu topics. Kawasaki-san asked me who my favorite tokusatsu actress was, figuring it must be Kumi Mizuno. I told him it was actually Yumi Shirakawa, which prompted Kawasaki-san to discuss not only Shirakawa-san's other tokusatsu roles (especially The Mysterians and The H-Man) but also the career of Hideaki Nitani, her late husband.

We also talked about Tadao Nakamaru, Hiroshi Fujioka, and numerous other topics. It was a fun chat, and I really appreciate the attention Kawasaki-san showed me this evening.

Shota Minami. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Also on hand was Shota Minami. Minami-san played Rei in the TV series Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey (2008–09), as well as Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie (2009). Toward the end of the evening, I had the opportunity to pull out the photo I have when he and I met at an event with Koji Moritsugu eight years ago. Suffice it to say, he was surprised to see it. Given that we'd only met once briefly almost a decade ago, it's no surprise he didn't recognize me. 

Minami-san was very friendly, and I got to hang around him much more than I did eight years ago. Overall, it was a wonderful event, and I'm quite glad I decided to go. Let's do it again soon!

ULTRA SEVEN RETURNS! Koji Moritsugu Hosts Fans in Fujisawa!

Ultra-stars Koji Moritsugu (left) and Shota Minami (right) pose for photos after a recent talk show event at Joli Chapeau. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

May 23 saw a joint talk show and autograph event at Koji Moritsugu's cafe Joli Chapeau in Fujisawa, Kanagawa. Moritsugu-san played Dan Moroboshi in Tsuburaya Productions' Ultra Seven (1967-68), which is perhaps the most popular Ultra-series of them all.

Moritsugu-san usually has an Ultra-related guest to join him for his fan events, and this time he was joined by actor Shota Minami. Minami-san played Rei in the TV series Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey (2008–2009), as well as Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie (2009). Minami-san seemed to attract several younger women to the event who were rather eager to meet him.

After signing autographs for the attendees, Moritsugu-san and Minami-san settled in for their talk show. Led by Moritsugu-san, the pair swapped stories about working in the Ultra-series, as well as attending the various fan events related to the franchise. At one point, on the subject of Hong Kong, Moritsugu-san started using a few random English phrases, which drew laughter from the audience. Naturally, I laughed, too!

After the two fielded questions from the audience, the two guests posed for photos. As usual, Moritsugu-san was extremely friendly and outgoing, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Minami-san was, too. He certainly seemed very appreciative of his fans.

Another successful event wrapped, and I had another wonderful time. I must thank Moritsugu-san for his hospitality and Minami-san for being a wonderful guest. I am looking forward to the next time I can attend Moritsugu-san's fan meetings. They're Ultra-good!