Celebrating Halloween in Tokyo with Mothra's Moll!

With Megumi Kobayashi.

Today, Sunday, October 25, I attended a special Halloween-themed event hosted by actress-singer Megumi Kobayashi. If you're familiar with Kobayashi-san, it's almost certainly from her starring role as Moll in all three of the Rebirth of Mothra movies from the late 1990s. She also appears as Miyuki Aizawa in Gamera the Brave (2006). 

As it was a Halloween party, Kobayashi-san appeared in an orange wig and wielded a magic wand during the afternoon's festivities. She was a very charismatic and engaging host, talking to everyone who attended and asking questions about each attendee. She asked me about my background and remembered the details well enough that, when another person arrived late and began asking me questions, Kobayashi-san took the initiative by answering his questions about me herself! At least now I know the person I want to write my biography.

I asked Kobayashi-san talked about working with directors Okihiro Yoneda and Kunio Miyoshi, to which she described how kind and supportive they both were. Despite how SFX-heavy many of her scenes were, I was surprised to hear that she had very little interaction with Koichi Kawakita and Kenji Suzuki during the making of the films. 

She also talked about visiting the U.S., in particular Hawaii and New York. She visited New York about 30 years ago as part of her work on a TV program, going many places there and trying out the food. (Man, sign me up for that kind of work!) She was very impressed with the culture of NYC.

When the time came to sign autographs, she asked how to spell my name, and, when she wrote it out on paper, she commented on how cool it was. Hey, she said it, not me, and I'll take her word for it! 

In total, I was there for four hours, and I had a really good time. Kobayashi-san was a great host, and she more than made it worthwhile for me. I hope to see her again very soon! 

A Great Evening with a Great Kaiju Suit Actor!

Mizuho Yoshida. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today (Wednesday, November 1) marked another great meeting with a Toho luminary. After we met Yasuhiko Saijo, my friend Jacob and I made a beeline for kaiju suit actor Mizuho Yoshida's stunt gym for our next appointment. Jacob had arranged to meet with Yoshida-san and invited me to join him. With an offer that good, how could I say no?

We met Yoshida-san at the gym where his suit-acting colleague Akira Ohashi was leading a class. Stuntman and action director Makoto Yokoyama was also there and greeted us, too. I was particularly impressed by Yokoyama-san's English-language skills. Yoshida-san recommended that we go to a quieter place to continue the conversation, so we went to a nearby cafe.

I assisted Jacob with his questions, and we had a fun and informative conversation. Yoshida-san was quite thoughtful and candid in his answers. Yoshida-san signed a couple of things for Jacob, and we posed for a few more photos. 

But that wasn't all! Yoshida-san recommended that we eat dinner together. We agreed on the type of dinner we wanted, and Yoshida-san chose a restaurant in Akihabara that we walked to. We ended up having a delicious shabu-shabu dinner with Yoshida-san essentially making it for us at the table. (That's the second Godzilla suit actor to make dinner for me and Jacob!) During the dinner, Yoshida-san talked more about his career, such as suit-acting onstage alongside Hiroshi Fujioka, as well as his appearance in a Wonda coffee commercial, which was filmed after GMK (2001) wrapped. 

Mizuho Yoshida and his kaiju counterpart. Photo by Brett Homenick.

But that still wasn't all! After dinner, Yoshida-san took us inside Akihabara Station, which was hosting a Godzilla pop-up store. Coincidentally, there was a GMK-themed jacket on sale, which was too good a photo opportunity to pass up. We arrived just before closing, so we had just enough time to look around the store. 

Suffice it to say, today was full of surprises. I had no idea that we'd be hanging out with Yoshida-san in a grand total of four different locations. But that's a testament to the kind of person he is. I'm certainly grateful for the hospitality Yoshida-san showed us today. Many thanks!

An Afternoon with the Creator of Kaiju!

Hideo Okamoto. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier today, I spent the afternoon with kaiju designer Hideo Okamoto. His credits are legendary, but his best-known projects are Orochi the Eight-Headed Dragon (1994), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Rebirth of Mothra (1996), Rebirth of Mothra II (1997), and Godzilla 2000 (1999).

Suffice it to say, it was a fun and informative time. Okamoto-san had many wonderful stories to tell about his career. I hope to meet him again soon!

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!

REBIRTH OF MOTHRA II! The Director Joins SFX Alums for a Special Screening!

 Director Kunio Miyoshi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today, I attended a special screening of Rebirth of Mothra II (1997), which was the first time I'd seen the film in many years. Overall, it was OK. I expected worse, and even though it bored me to distraction a few times, I still had a good time with it.

The guest of honor was Rebirth of Mothra II director Kunio Miyoshi. Prior to his helming Mothra II, e was an assistant director on Conflagration (1975) and Deathquake (1980), as well as chief assistant director on Sayonara Jupiter (1984), Reiko (1991), Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), Orochi the Eight-Headed Dragon (1994), Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), and Rebirth of Mothra (1996).

Toshifumi Shimizu. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Production manager and assistant director Toshifumi Shimizu was another guest. He worked on every Godzilla movie in the Millennium series as either assistant director or visual effects supervision assistant.

From left to right: Yosuke Nakano, Kunio Miyoshi, yours truly with a shooting script, and Toshifumi Shimizu.

SFX assistant director Yosuke Nakano was another guest, as well. I really regretted having to leave the event a bit earlier than I usually do, but that's life. As brief as it all was for me, it was a heck of a good time.