THE NAGASAWA FILTRATION PLANT REVISITED! A Filming Location for Many Tokusatsu Productions!

The Nagasawa Filtration Plant. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today (Tuesday, March 19), I braved heavy winds to pay another visit to the Nagasawa Filtration Plant (a.k.a. the Nagasawa Purification Plant) in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. This particular building was used as a filming location for countless tokusatsu movies and TV programs dating back to the early 1960s.

Among other titles, it has been featured in Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961), Gorath (1962), episode 2 of Ultraman (1966-67), the Super Sentai series, and perhaps most famously as Jounan University's Institute of Biochemistry in Kamen Rider (1971-73).

I last visited the plant back in March 2016. Hard to believe it's been eight years, but there you go. At any rate, I clearly remember that you aren't allowed to get too close to the building without prior approval (such as joining an official tour of the facility), so I made sure to stay outside the gate. 

Still, as tokusatsu buffs, we're more concerned with the outside of the building than the inside since that's what we saw in our favorite flicks. It was great to see the plant again after so long. It isn't exactly the easiest spot to visit since it's quite far from any train station, which is the main reason it's taken me so long to return, but it's well worth seeing if you have the chance. Here are my snapshots from earlier today. Enjoy! 

Revisiting Yokohama Marine Tower (and Other Locations)!

The exit that takes you to Yokohama Marine Tower. Photo by Brett Homenick.

During King Ghidorah's raid on Yokohama in the popular Godzilla series entry Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster (1964), the space beast's gravity rays destroy a tower in one of the film's most impressive effects shots. That structure is Yokohama Marine Tower.

Yokohama Marine Tower is accessible by taking Exit 4 from Motomachi-Chukagai Station on the Minatomirai Line. It's only about a minute walk from the station. It's also very close to Yamashita Park. Best of all, it's so big that it's impossible to miss!

I paid my first visit to the tower in a few years, and it was a great opportunity to take in the sights again. While I didn't enter the tower, just seeing it from the outside was enough for me. After all, that's how we see it in Ghidrah! 

While in the area, I also saw Cosmo Clock 21, which is a humongous Ferris wheel, and the InterContinental Yokohama Grand, both of which appear in Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992). Also nearby was the Yokohama Bay Bridge, which is a GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) location.

It was a lot of fun to see these places again in person. Here's what I saw. Enjoy!

The Cosmo Clock 21 (the Ferris wheel on the left) and the InterContinental Yokohama Grand (the crescent-shaped structure on the right). Photo by Brett Homenick.

The Yokohama Bay Bridge. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Revisiting Dracula's Former Abode in Tokyo!

The entrance to Kyu-Furukawa Gardens. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today (Thursday, January 25), I braved freezing temperatures and strong winds to pay another visit to Kyu-Furukawa Gardens in Kita, Tokyo. I go into more details about the location here, but, suffice it to say, it has been used as a filming location for a number of movies -- most notably Evil of Dracula (1974). 

What I wasn't expecting was that the Western-style house on the property, which of course is the filming location in question, would be under renovation. Still, it was a rather unique sight to behold, so it was interesting to see. (You can see those photos below.) A staff member I spoke with told me the renovations will be going on until March, so maybe I'll return around that time to see the finished renovations. I guess we'll see how that goes.

Until then, here's what I saw today. Enjoy!

Revisiting the Spot Where Seatopians Once Drove!

The street corner from which the Seatopian agents flee after having kidnapped Rokuro. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Today, Friday, January 19, I paid another visit to Suzukakedai Station in Machida, Tokyo, after last having been there less than a year ago. As I posted about at the time, this area was used as a Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) filming location. The specific place was Yanagi Park (Willow Park in English), which is about a five-minute walk from the station.

This is where Rokuro (Hiroyuki Kawase) is kidnapped by the Seatopian agents while riding his Baby Rider. The location can also be seen when Hiroshi Jinkawa (Yutaka Hayashi) tries to catch up with the kidnapped brothers Goro Ibuki (Katsuhiko Sasaki) and Rokuro in his car, just before getting chased by other Seatopian agents.

When I visited the spot last year, it was pretty easy to find the general area where certain scenes were shot. One thing I didn't identify until after I got home, however, was the Spirit of Willow (Yanagi no Sei) monument. This monument can be seen very briefly when Rokuro is kidnapped, but it is much clearer when Hiroshi Jinkawa is driving past it after escaping his Seatopian captor. Photos of the monument are below. (It's the tall, narrow structure with two points at the top.)

As a result, one of my goals was to pay more attention to the monument, which looks exactly as it does in the movie. (It's just interesting that I never noticed it until comparing photos of the present-day park with what we see in the flick.)

There's not much else to say, except that it was a lot of fun to walk around a Megalon filming location, which still thankfully is still quite recognizable. Anyway, let's get on to the good stuff!