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Yoshifumi Tajima
Yoshifumi Tajima (4 August 1918 – 10 September 2009) was an actor in Japanese ''kaiju'' films, best known for his role as Kumayama in '' Mothra vs. Godzilla''. He was born in Kobe, Japan. Selected filmography * ''Pu-san'' (1953) * ''Hiroba no kodoku'' (1953) - Tachikawa * ''Waseda daigaku'' (1953) - Detective * ''Mitsuyu-sen'' (1954) - Soga * ''Otsukisama ni wa warui kedo'' (1954) * ''Ore no kenjû wa subayai'' (1954) * ''Tenka taihei'' (1955) * ''Ai no onimotsu'' (1955) * ''Shônen shikeishû'' (1955) * ''Ôkami'' (1955) * '' Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple'' (1955) - Yoshioka samurai * ''Yakan chûgaku'' (1955) * ''Aijô'' (1956) - Tamura * ''Shujinsen'' (1956) * ''Rodan'' (1956) - Izeki, reporter of Seibu Nippou * ''Kono futari ni sachi are'' (1957) * ''Ninjitsu'' (1957) * ''Zoku Ôban: Fûun hen'' (1957) - Yamaka * ''Saigo no dasso'' (1957) - Chin * ''Hadairo no tsuki'' (1957) - Jimbo * ''Datsugokushû'' (1957) * ''Zoku aoi sanmyaku Yukiko no maki'' (1957) * ''T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaiju
is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monsters. The ''kaiju'' genre is a subgenre of ''tokusatsu'' entertainment. The 1954 film ''Godzilla'' is commonly regarded as the first ''kaiju'' film. ''Kaiju'' characters are often somewhat metaphorical in nature; Godzilla, for example, serves as a metaphor for nuclear weapons, reflecting the fears of post-war Japan following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the '' Lucky Dragon 5'' incident. Other notable examples of ''kaiju'' characters include Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Gamera. Etymology The Japanese word ''kaijū'' originally referred to monsters and creatures from ancient Japanese legends; it earlier appeared in the Chinese ''Classic of Mountains and Seas''. After ''sakoku'' had ended and Japan was opened to f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High And Low (1963 Film)
is a 1963 Japanese police procedural crime film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai and Kyōko Kagawa. The film is loosely based on the 1959 novel '' King's Ransom'' by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter). Plot A wealthy executive named Kingo Gondo ( Toshiro Mifune) is in a struggle to gain control of a company called National Shoes. One faction wants the company to make cheap, low quality shoes for the impulse market as opposed to the sturdy and high quality shoes currently being produced. Gondo believes that the long-term future of the company will be best served by well made shoes with modern styling, though this plan is unpopular because it means lower profits in the short term. He has secretly set up a leveraged buyout to gain control of the company, mortgaging all he has. Just as he is about to put his plan into action, he receives a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his son, Jun. Gondo is prepared to pay the ransom, but the call is d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isoroku (film)
is a 2011 Japanese biographical film about Isoroku Yamamoto. Other English home media titles of the film are ''The Admiral'', and ''Admiral Yamamoto''. English titles not used in home video releases are ''Yamamoto Isoroku, the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet'' and ''Admiral Isoroku''. Plot The final 5 years of Isoroku Yamamoto's military career is shown through his family life. Yamamoto was a great naval strategist who climbed up the ranks in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Yamamoto was against many of the Imperial Japanese Army's decisions. He opposed the signing of the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1939 and attempted to prevent the impending conflict with the United States amid World War II. This caused disdain from Japanese war hawks such as newspaper editor Kagekiyo Munakata (portrayed by Teruyuki Kagawa) and military officials. He was educated in the United States, aware of its strengths, and thought a war would be futile. His superiors increasingly pressure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Destroy All Monsters
is a 1968 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film, which was produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, is the ninth film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and features eleven monster characters, including Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Anguirus, and Minilla. The film stars Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi and Yoshio Tsuchiya. In the film, humans have achieved world peace by the year 1999, and various giant monsters are confined to an area known as Monsterland. The monsters are freed from the area and are mind-controlled by aliens known as Kilaaks, who send them to attack major cities. When the monsters are freed from the Kilaaks' influence, the aliens send King Ghidorah to challenge the other monsters. ''Destroy All Monsters'' was released theatrically in Japan on August 1, 1968. The film was released by American International Pictures with an English-language dub in the United States on May 23, 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scattered Clouds
is a 1967 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse starring Yōko Tsukasa and Yūzō Kayama. It was Naruse's final film after a long lasting career which started in 1930. Plot Shortly before Yumiko's and her husband Hiroshi's (an employee of the Ministry of Economy) departure for the United States, he is killed in a car accident. Though acquitted in the following hearing, the car's driver Shiro feels guilty and offers Yumiko to pay a monthly instalment. Yumiko first rejects, but when her husband's family disowns her, leaving her without an inheritance, she finally accepts the money. Due to her precarious financial situation, she decides to return to her hometown and work in the inn run by her sister near Lake Towada. By coincidence, Shiro is reassigned by his employers to the same area. Although Yumiko and Shiro slowly develop a mutual affection, finally leading to a love affair, Yumiko can't leave her past behind, which returns with all its power when she witnesses an accid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan's Longest Day
is a 1967 Japanese war film directed by Kihachi Okamoto. The subject of the majority of the movie is the period between noon on August 14, 1945 and noon on August 15, 1945, when Emperor Hirohito's decision to surrender to the Allies in World War II was broadcast to the Japanese people, and the attempted coup d'état to prevent that from happening. Film historian Joseph L. Anderson describes the film as "a meticulous reconstruction of the day Japan surrendered and thus ended the Pacific War. Cast Production According to Okamoto, Masaki Kobayashi was originally supposed to direct ''Japan's Longest Day'' but didn't want to, so co-producer Sanezumi Fujimoto suggested that Okamoto direct it. Okamoto believes that this film and his subsequent film ''The Human Bullet'' (1968) are expressions of his anti-war feelings. ''Japan's Longest Day'' portrays the actual people who were able to remain above the fighting, but did fight with each other, while ''The Human Bullet'' is a sati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Kong Escapes
is a 1967 ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film was a Japanese– American co-production between Toho and Rankin/Bass, and stars Rhodes Reason, Linda Miller, Akira Takarada, Mie Hama, Eisei Amamoto, with Haruo Nakajima as King Kong and Hiroshi Sekita as Mechani-Kong and Gorosaurus. The film is loosely based on Rankin/Bass' series, ''The King Kong Show'', and was the second and final Toho-produced film featuring King Kong. ''King Kong Escapes'' was released in Japan on July 22, 1967, and released in the United States on June 19, 1968. It is the fourth entry in the ''King Kong'' franchise. Plot An evil genius named Dr. Who creates Mechani-Kong, a robot version of King Kong, to dig for the highly radioactive Element X, found only at the North Pole. Mechani-Kong enters an ice cave and begins to dig into a glacier, but the radiation destroys its brain circuits and the robot shuts down. Who then sets his sights on gett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The War Of The Gargantuas
is a 1966 ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Referred by film historian Stuart Galbraith IV as a "quasi–sequel" to '' Frankenstein vs. Baragon'', the film was a Japanese-American co-production; it was the third and final collaboration between Toho Co., Ltd and Henry G. Saperstein. The film stars Russ Tamblyn, Kumi Mizuno and Kenji Sahara, with Yû Sekida as Sanda and Haruo Nakajima as Gaira. In the film, scientists investigate the sudden appearance of two giant hairy humanoid monsters that culminates in a battle in Tokyo. The script's final draft was submitted in April 1966. Tab Hunter was originally hired by Saperstein, choosing to replace Nick Adams. However, Hunter was replaced by Tamblyn during pre-production. Honda's contract was not renewed and had to seek employment by speaking to Tanaka on a film-by-film basis. Honda, Saperstein, and chief assistant Seiji Tani noted that Tamblyn was difficult to work with. Tamblyn did th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ultra Q
is a tokusatsu science fiction kaiju series made in the tradition of Toho's many tokusatsu sci-fi/horror films. Produced in black and white by Tsuburaya Productions, this is actually the first of the long-running Ultra Series, and was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) from January 2 to July 3, 1966 (the final episode was preempted until December 14, 1967), with a total of 28 episodes. This series was followed two weeks later by the more popular ''Ultraman'' (1966), the second Ultra Series. ''Ultra Q'' can be described as a half-hour Toho kaiju series. Executive Producer Eiji Tsuburaya intended this series to be more like the American television series ''The Twilight Zone'' and ''The Outer Limits'', featuring a variety of strange and unusual stories. After a survey, the TBS network convinced Tsuburaya Productions to add more giant monsters, as children were intensely interested in them, since Godzilla (Gojira) and Gamera were all the rage at the time (the first "Kaiju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasion Of Astro-Monster
is a 1965 ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It is the sixth film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise and Shōwa period. The film was a Japanese-American co-production; it was the second collaboration between Toho Co., Ltd. and UPA. The film stars Akira Takarada, Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Akira Kubo, and Yoshio Tsuchiya, with Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla, Masaki Shinohara as Rodan, and Shoichi Hirose as King Ghidorah. In the film, aliens plead with humanity to borrow Godzilla and Rodan to defeat King Ghidorah, only to betray the humans and unleash the monsters on the Earth. ''Invasion of Astro-Monster'' was theatrically released in Japan on December 19, 1965. It was followed by a theatrical release in the United States on July 29, 1970 by Maron Films as ''Monster Zero'', on a double bill with '' The War of the Gargantuas''. The film was followed by '' Ebirah, Horror of the Deep'', released on December 17, 1966. Plot In the yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankenstein Vs
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821. Shelley travelled through Europe in 1815, moving along the river Rhine in Germany, and stopping in Gernsheim, away from Frankenstein Castle, where, two centuries before, an alchemist had engaged in experiments.This seems to mean Johann Konrad Dippel (1673–1734), one century before (not two). For Dippel's experiments and the possibility of connection to ''Frankenstein'' see the Dippel article. She then journeyed to the region of Geneva, Switzerland, where much of the story takes place. Galvanism and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samurai Assassin
is a 1965 Japanese film directed by Kihachi Okamoto and starring Toshiro Mifune, Koshiro Matsumoto, Yūnosuke Itō, and Michiyo Aratama. It is set in 1860, immediately before the Meiji Restoration changed Japanese society forever by doing away with the castes in society and reducing the position of the samurai class. Plot summary The film tells the story of Niiro Tsurichiyo (Mifune) as the illegitimate son of a powerful nobleman, and the way of his life that made him a swordfighter but also a social outcast. He joins forces with the multiple clans against the Lord of Hikone, Sir Ii Kamonnokami Naosuke. Ii is the right hand of the shogunate and brought upon himself the wrath of the Satsuma, Mito, and Choshuu provinces after making an unpopular choice for the appointment of the 14th shogunate. Many critics arose after the controversial appointment, and Ii initiated the Ansei Purge to quiet critics of his choices. This, in turn, led to an assassination plot hatched by the three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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