Christmas with Tokusatsu Legends!

Eiichi Asada (left) and Sadao Iizuka. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier tonight, I attended a special Christmas event with two luminaries of the tokusatsu world. I couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas Day.

The event wasn't just about Christmas, of course. It also served as a special birthday event for optical effects wizard Sadao Iizuka, who turns 88 on December 26. I gave Iizuka-san a birthday card in honor of his upcoming milestone.

Iizuka-san held court and shared many stories of his relationship with Eiji Tsuburaya and his work at Toho. I was familiar with just about all of them from my two interviews with him from about two years ago. 

Eiichi Asada. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Eiichi Asada was just as fun as ever to talk with. I followed up with him on something he mentioned in our interview last year. Asada-san talked about how he would go to Ginza and buy making-of books (usually translated into Japanese) about Hollywood blockbusters made in the late 1970s and '80s. He cited the book on Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) as one book that was particularly enlightening.

Asada-san also mentioned that he read in one of the books that the American SFX crews could blow up miniature buildings and rebuild them, which Asada-san was surprised to read, as that was something Toho SFX crews couldn't do.

After that, I showed Asada-san a picture of the pro wrestling tag team Demolition, but he wasn't familiar with them. In fact, he thought they were the band KISS, so I told him they were a team of Road Warrior imitators. Since Asada-san once compared the wrestler Sting to the members of KISS, I wanted to show him wrestlers who looked a lot more like the band!

As you can no doubt see, it was a lot of fun, and a perfect way to spend Christmas Day. January promises to be a busy month for me, so I'm enjoying the slower pace of December. See you next year!

Vantage Point Interviews Returns with Two Great Interviews!

Yoshiro Uchida in March 2022. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Vantage Point Interviews returns with a brand-new vintage account -- this time with former child actor Yoshiro Uchida, who played the young boy Toshio in the Daiei classic Gamera the Giant Monster (1965), a.k.a. Gammera the Invincible (1966). His memories of those days are few, but it's still a fascinating read. Check it out!

Yours truly with Uchida-san after the interview in March 2022.

But that's not all! The second of three interviews with Toho special effects director Eiichi Asada has also been posted! In this interview, Asada-san describes the bulk of his assistant-directing career at Toho during the mid-1970s through the mid-'80s. Asada-san describes what it was like to work under tokusatsu directors Teruyoshi Nakano and Koichi Kawakita.

Eiichi Asada in June 2021. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Asada-san's memories of the Godzilla and other tokusatsu films that he worked on during this time are rather detailed, so don't miss out on this one! Content is once again king at Vantage Point Interviews!

A New Interview About Classic Tokusatsu on Vantage Point Interviews!

With Minoru Kujirai in November 2021.

My interview with animator Minoru Kujirai has just been posted on Vantage Point Interviews. In the interview, Mr. Kujirai discusses working for Toei Animation in the mid-1960s, on which he worked on the animated series King Kong (1967). From there, Mr. Kujirai would briefly work on a few Toei tokusatsu series, including the original Kamen Rider (1971-73), but it would be his work at Tsuburaya Productions throughout the 1970s, including the Ultraman series, that would define his tokusatsu career. Read all about it on Vantage Point Interviews where content is king!

Veteran Tokusatsu Actor Goro Mutsumi Passes Away at the Age of 86

Goro Mutsumi in April 2013. Photo by Brett Homenick.

It has been reported that actor Goro Mutsumi, best known for playing alien leaders Kuronuma in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) and Mugar in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), passed away on June 5, 2021, at the age of 86.

Unfortunately, I'd known that this had been likely since September of last year. I mailed Mutsumi-san a birthday card that month to his home in Kawasaki, which eventually was returned to me unopened. Considering that the New Year's greeting card that I'd sent a few months prior to that wasn't, I immediately became worried that something was wrong. To make matters worse, neither of the two phone numbers I had for him worked anymore. A message to the acting school where he had been recently teaching went unreturned. I didn't want to accept it, but I knew what likely had happened. I'm deeply saddened that my fears have been confirmed.

I had the privilege of meeting Mutsumi-san three times -- all of which were in the year 2013. I met him twice in April of that year, both times were to conduct an interview. (The interview ran a bit long, so we agreed to meet a few days later to finish it.) The last meeting, circa July 2013, was purely social. The biggest memory I have of that occasion was that I asked to take photos at the end of the dinner, but, because he had been drinking throughout the evening, he didn't want to be photographed.

In the summer of 2016, I invited him to see Shin Godzilla (2016) with me, but, while he couldn't make it, he said he wasn't even aware that the film was coming out! I thought that was pretty amusing. 

To the best of my memory, I last spoke to Mutsumi-san on the phone in March 2019. He was sometimes hard to get a hold of, and it was never easy making plans with him. I really wish I could have arranged to see him again, but I was never able to do it. But I'm grateful for the time I was able to spend in his company.

I was able to conduct two interviews with Mutsumi-san. The first interview is from 2009, and it was done by correspondence. The second interview was conducted in April 2013 in person. As you could imagine, it's much more detailed and comprehensive. For those of you who'd like to get a sense of Mutsumi-san's life and career, I'd highly recommend reading them.

Rest in peace, Mutsumi-san.

Hideaki Anno Exhibition in Roppongi!

Today, I ventured out to Roppongi's National Art Center to take in its Hideaki Anno Exhibition, which runs until December 19. When I first heard about the gallery, I have to admit that I had no interest in it, as I'm not particularly fond of Anno's work. That all changed when I saw that a good portion of the exhibit focused on Showa-era tokusatsu. In fact, it's almost like a small version of the Tokusatsu DNA exhibitions. That settled everything -- I was going.

I'll admit that my interest waned when the exhibition began focusing on Anno's career instead of the tokusatsu that inspired him. That said, the exhibition covers just about everything you'd ever want to know about him. If you were planning to write his biography, I'd even go so far as to say that this exhibition would be a requirement. It's extremely detailed! Anyway, let's get to the highlights.

The Mechagodzilla 2 suit from Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975).

The Moonlight SY-3 from Destroy All Monsters (1968). 

Capsule-1 from Gorath (1962).

The JX-1 Hayabusa from Gorath.

The Gohten from The War in Space (1977).

Another view of the Gohten.

Suits from Return of Ultraman (1971-72).

Flying props from Ultraman (1966-67), Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and Ultraseven (1967-68).

The rocket from The Space Giants (1966-67). 

Another view of the Jet Jaguar flying prop.

Spectreman, Mirrorman, Ultraseven, Jumborg Ace, and Jumborg 9 masks.

Shin Ultraman, Shin Godzilla, and Shin Kamen Rider.

Smile!

'The War in Space' Comes to an Unusual Place!

A Gohten poster from The War in Space found in the wild in Ikebukuro. Photo by Brett Homenick.

A few weeks ago, I was visiting Ikebukuro's Sunshine City with a friend when I noticed something interesting. Outside a small shop was a poster from Toho's The War in Space hanging on its wall. I didn't have my camera handy at the time, but today I returned to photograph it.  

The store is called Itchomeichibanchi Yorozuya, or the First District, Block 1 General Store. The poster is tacked on the wall outside the shop, so you don't even need to enter the store to see it. It's surrounded by a lot of children's toys, which I suppose is appropriate for the movie. 

It was quite surprising to see a War in Space poster hanging in a random shop, but that's part of the fun of being in Japan!

THE WAR IN SPACE! Catching a Rare Screening of This '70s-Era Tokusatsu Extravaganza!

Teruyoshi Nakano blows out the candle on his birthday cake. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today was quite fun. I attended a slightly early birthday celebration for Toho SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano. The event featured a rare screening of a 35mm print of The War in Space (1977), which I'd never seen on the big screen before. While the print was a bit scratchy, the film looked incredible. The War in Space is not a great film by any means, but it's always fun to watch.

Teruyoshi Nakano and Takashi Naganuma examine the Gohten. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Following the screening, Nakano-san blew out the candle on his birthday cake, but before anyone could eat, it was time for the Q&A event with Nakano-san and Naganuma-san. Of course, The War in Space was a quick shoot, and this came across in their memories they shared. 

One funny story happened over dinner. I asked Nakano-san about whether the Space Beastman was influenced by Star Wars. Nakano-san joked that since The War in Space was released in Japan before Star Wars, it was actually Star Wars that copied the character. That got a big laugh from our table!

Happy birthday, Nakano-san!

THE WAR IN SPACE! SFX Director Nakano Busts Myths About Toho's '70s Space Opera!

SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano and model maker Takashi Naganuma talk all things Zone Fighter. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I just returned from another fantastic event with Toho's dynamic duo: Teruyoshi Nakano and Takashi Naganuma. The two SFX titans have worked on many projects together, but Zone Fighter was the focus of tonight's discussion. 

Takashi Naganuma. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The highlight of the evening for me, though, came when I had the chance to ask a question that I'd wanted to ask for a long time but kept slipping my mind. While it's certainly not the most pressing issue in Toho history, I'd been curious for years about The War in Space (1977). 

SFX director Teruysohi Nakano. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Most fans in the West believe that the film was largely inspired by Star Wars, but I've also heard it claimed (with no evidence, of course) that it was actually the cartoon Space Battleship Yamato that Toho used for inspiration.

Granted, I doubt many folks care about the true origins of The War in Space, but given the uncertainty, I had to ask one of the film's principal creators. So I proffered the question: Which one really inspired The War in Space?

The answer I received truly surprised me. Neither, Nakano-san answered. The true inspiration? Old Hollywood pirate movies! As random as it may sound, that's how The War in Space's SFX director answered the question of what inspired the movie. At least we can finally forget the unsupported rumor that Yamato had anything to do with it.

Those unexpected bits of Toho trivia are just one of the reasons I love evenings like this. I'm glad I remembered to ask the question after all this time!

Teruyoshi Nakano pals around with his old friend, Zone Fighter. Photo by Brett Homenick.

That about sums it up for this rather cool night. Yesterday's typhoon is long gone, so I didn't even need to bring an umbrella tonight. That said, given the day's heat and humidity, I can't wait for fall to get here!

AN ANIMATING DISCUSSION! Meeting Animator-Designer Minoru Kujirai!

Minoru Kujirai at a restaurant in Hino, Tokyo. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Saturday, February 13, I was pleased to have a chance to spend an evening with animator-designer Minoru Kujirai, whose work has been featured in many classic TV show and films. He began his career as an animator at Toei Studios, working on many cartoons that the studio produced.

In the 1970s, he turned his attention to live-action tokusatsu, and not only continued to work for Toei (on the Kamen Rider series) but eventually went to Tsuburaya Productions. At Tsuburaya, Kujirai-san worked on the Ultra-series (namely Ultraman Taro and Ultraman Leo), designing the beams for Ultraman and his kaiju foes. He later worked on movies like The War in Space (1977) and Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis (1988).

Yours truly with Kujirai-san, following dinner and a lively conversation.

It was a wonderful experience to get to know not just an unsung hero of tokusatsu, but also a fellow fan. I can't thank Kujirai-san enough for his kindness and hospitality. Let's meet again soon!

GORO MUTSUMI'S MEMORIES! Toho's Go-To Villain of the 1970s Opens Up!

Following a great interview with Goro Mutsumi, we posed for a couple of photos.

Vantage Points Interviews strikes again with an excellent Q&A with Toho actor Goro Mutsumi, best remembered for his villainous roles as the alien leader in classic films like Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), and The War in Space (1977).

Goro Mutsumi ponders a question during our interview in April 2013. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Our interview covers a wide range of aspects of Mutsumi-san's life and acting career. While his memories of his tokusatsu roles have faded over the years, his other recollections are as sharp and as interesting as you'll find in any other interview. Check it out for yourself!

A light-hearted moment with a legend of the Japanese silver screen in April 2013. 

It's all there on Vantage Point Interviews. Don't miss it, be there!