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| Tsukiji Hongan-ji. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
On Saturday evening, January 14, I attended a performance featuring actress Yumiko Tanaka. The show was held next to Tsukiji Hongan-ji, a beautiful Buddhist temple, in Tsukiji. Due to my work schedule, I missed the first half of the show and arrived during intermission. I only caught the second half of the performance, which was essentially a comedic variety show that featured a lot of Showa-era songs, styles, and dances.
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| Yumiko Tanaka (right) sings onstage with her fellow performers. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Tanaka-san stars in Kamen Rider Super-1 (1980-81) as Harumi Kusanami and also appears in a small role toward the beginning of Godzilla 1985 (1984) in a scene with Ken Tanaka (which was edited out of the American release). Tanaka-san's various performances during the show were highly entertaining. She's certainly a multi-talented performer!
The main reason I attended the show was to participate in the dinner that was being organized by one of my friends. After the performance, a group of us headed to a nearby izakaya for a special New Year's celebration. At the dinner, I became acquainted with a couple of fellow tokusatsu fans whom I'd never met before at any other event.
Tanaka-san sat at the table next to mine, so I was able to communicate with her fairly easily. She's just as friendly as she's always been. I always get a kick out of seeing her.
She signed autographs for anyone who brought items for her to sign. I've had her sign a few things over the years, so I didn't bring anything to get autographed. But it turns out I didn't have to. My friend gave out a signed photo to each attendee featuring both Tanaka-san and actress Keiko Nishi, who played TAC member Noriko Mikawa on Ultraman Ace (1972-73).
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| Yumiko Tanaka. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Speaking of Nishi-san, she also attended the show and dinner, which was a big surprise to me. I hadn't seen her since her cafe in Ginza closed a couple of years ago. When she saw me just after the show got out, she mentioned that it had been a long time since we last met.
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| Yumiko Tanaka signs Kamen Rider Super-1 memorabilia for a fan. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Nishi-san joined the dinner on the private basis, i.e., not as a featured guest, but she was still friendly enough to sign the photos for attendees and posed for the photo below. Also there was actor Mitsuhiro Sano, who played TAC member Kozo Yoshimura in Ultraman Ace, who was just as awesome. It's always great to spend an evening with such friendly people.
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| With Keiko Nishi. |
And that's a wrap! It was a fun evening, and, even though I got home close to midnight, it was a great time. Hope to do it again!
