Actor Makoto Akatsuka, Who Appeared in the Ultraman and Kamen Rider Series, Passes Away at Age 73

Makoto Akatsuka in November 2022. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Film and television actor Makoto Akatsuka passed away on July 4 at a hospital in Ibaraki Prefecture of esophageal cancer. He was 73.

Mr. Akatsuka, who was born on March 19, 1951, began his professional film career in 1967 with Toho, playing youthful character in a variety of productions. He plays Sangoro in the film Double Suicide (1969), Mamoru Watanabe in Wet Sand in August (1971), Chuji Saito in Yoji Yamada's The Village (1975), the grandson in the Tora-san film Tora's Pure Love (1976), a chimpira in The Yellow Handkerchief (1977), Otomatsu Kawase in Nomugi Pass (1979), Makoto in Tora-san Goes North (1987), a policeman in Tora-san Makes Excuses (1992), and Yazaki in the Oscar-nominated The Twilight Samurai (2002).

On television, he appears uncredited in episode 12 of Ultraman Ace (1972-73), episode 11 of Jekyll and Hyde (1973) as a toy factory worker, Fight! Dragon (1974) as Kojiro Musashi, the all-star TV movie Tokyo Earthquake Magnitude 8.1 (1980) as Hiroshi Sakaki, episode 28 of Kamen Rider Black (1987-88) as Tsunekichi Koyama, and Kamen Rider Black RX (1988-89) as the recurring character Shunkichi Sahara.

I met Mr. Akatsuka only once in November 2022. It was after a stage performance in Daikanyama, Tokyo. I approached him after the show to introduce myself and mentioned my interest in tokusatsu productions, specifically mentioning Ultraman Ace. He was very kind, and I enjoyed meeting him.

His acting resume was impressive enough that I did consider reaching out to him for an interview, but, given his recent health issues, it probably wasn't very likely, anyway. I'm sure he had many fascinating stories to tell.

Rest in peace, Mr. Akatsuka.

Halloween in Roppongi!

"Muh fellow Americans..." sez President Ted Thomas during his triumphant return to Tokyo.

Last night was my first Halloween in Roppongi. The crowd was much smaller than Shibuya, but it was still a lot of fun. Here are just a couple of the sights I saw. Enjoy!

Paying a Visit to Tora-san!

 The Tora-san statue outside Shibamata Station. Photo by Brett Homenick.

For the first time since 2013, I went to Shibamata Station to check out the various Tora-san sights in the area. Of course, I'd already seen the Tora-san statue during my previous visit. 

Tora-san and his sister, Sakura, outside Shibamata Station. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

But I hadn't seen the statue of Tora-san's sister, Sakura, who was played in the long-running film series by actress Chieko Baisho. There's a good reason for that. The bronze Sakura statue was dedicated in 2017.

The statue of Sakura (actress Chieko Baisho). Photo by Brett Homenick.

Of interest to Godzilla fans is that Chieko Baisho is married to composer Reijiro Koroku, who wrote the score to Godzilla 1985 (1984). Not that many Godzilla series composers have bronze statues of their wives in Tokyo.

After checking out the statues, I made my way over to the Tora-san Museum as well as the Yoji Yamada Museum. Yoji Yamada is the director most closely associated with the Tora-san series, although he has directed numerous films outside the series, such as The Yellow Handkerchief (1977) and The Twilight Samurai (2002).

Overall, it was a fun day in the company of Tora-san, and I should start paying more attention to the Tora-san movies. I've enjoyed the ones I've seen, so why not? Let's give 'em another spin!

OUT AND ABOUT IN ASAKUSA! A Nighttime View of the Area!

Tora-san (actor Kiyoshi Atsumi) welcomes visitors to Asakusa. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Tonight I paid a visit to Asakusa, one of my favorite places in Tokyo. I had some extra time to kill, so I wandered around a bit and photographed the area. The images are rather self-explanatory, so I'll let them do the talking. Enjoy!

Tokyo: A Weekend Recap

Hanging with actress Shelley Sweeney, one of my favorite people in Tokyo!

Okay, folks, here's a quick recap of some of my activities over the weekend.

I had a great dinner with Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster director Yoshimitsu Banno. He discussed some of his recent projects, his life growing up, and a few other things.

I also got to meet Tora-san in Asakusa!

Well, actually, I saw the Toho war epic The Imperial Navy (1981) on the big screen. It was made even more interesting by occasional bickering in the audience by older Japanese men!

Hanging with my buddy Ulf Otsuki. If you don't know him by now, read more of this blog!

At the Cine Pathos in Ginza with director Yoshikazu Ishii and William Ferguson of Neptune Media. We attended a Kumi Mizuno film event, which screened Matango (1963) and War of the Gargantuas (1966). Ms. Mizuno then was interviewed onstage and gave out signed copies of her new book to the crowd. She and her manager recognized me and greeted me warmly. Definitely a highlight of a fun weekend with friends!