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Takao Okawara
is a Japanese film director, writer, and producer. Biography Most famous for his entries in the Heisei ''Godzilla'' series, Takao Okawara joined Tōhō in 1973, but would not get his first shot in the director's chair until 1980, when he joined Akira Kurosawa and Ishirō Honda on the film ''Kagemusha'' (1980). Four years later, he worked as an assistant director for the first ''Godzilla'' film of the Heisei series: ''The Return of Godzilla'' (1984). Okawara debuted as primary director seven years later on the film ''Reiko, the Psyche Resurrected'' (1991), which he also wrote. His most notable credit is perhaps the crafting the most profitable ''Godzilla'' film, ''Godzilla vs. Mothra is a 1992 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Takao Okawara, written by Kazuki Ōmori, and produced by Shogo Tomiyama. Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, it is the 19th film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and is the fourth film in the ...'', in 1992. The director stated that his work o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents ; the city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Japan's economic center and is the seat of both the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. Originally a fishing village named Edo, the city became politically prominent in 1603, when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo was one of the most populous cities in the world with a population of over one million people. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to Edo, which was renamed "Tokyo" (). Tokyo was devastate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toho
is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer and distributor of many '' kaiju'' and ''tokusatsu'' films, the Chouseishin ''tokusatsu'' superhero television franchise, the films of Akira Kurosawa, and the anime films of Studio Ghibli, CoMix Wave Films, TMS Entertainment and OLM, Inc. All nine of the highest-grossing Japanese films are released by Toho. Other famous directors, including Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Masaki Kobayashi, and Mikio Naruse, also directed films for Toho. Toho's most famous creation is Godzilla, who is featured in 32 of the company's films. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla are described as Toho's Big Five because of the monsters' numerous appearances throughout the franchise, as well as spin-offs. Toho has also been involved in the pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film '' Sanshiro Sugata''. After the war, the critically acclaimed ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films. ''Rashomon'' (1950), which premiered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ishirō Honda
was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 44 feature films in a career spanning 59 years. The most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki, his films have had a significant influence on the film industry. Honda entered the Japanese film industry in 1934, working as the third assistant director on Sotoji Kimura's ''The Elderly Commoner's Life Study''. After 15 years of working on numerous films as an assistant director, he made his directorial debut with the short documentary film ''Ise-Shima'' (1949). Honda's first feature film, ''Aoi Shinju, The Blue Pearl'' (1952), was a critical success in Japan at the time and would lead him to direct three subsequent drama films. In 1954, Honda directed and co-wrote ''Godzilla (1954 film), Godzilla'', which became a box office success in Japan, and was nominated for two Japanese Movie Association awards. Because of the film's commercial success in Japan, it spawned a Godzilla (franchise), multimedia franchise, re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kagemusha
is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate the dying ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable clan. ''Kagemusha'' is the Japanese term for a political decoy, literally meaning "shadow warrior". The film ends with the climactic 1575 Battle of Nagashino. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival (tied with '' All That Jazz''). It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received other honours. In 2009 the film was voted at No. 59 on the list of ''The Greatest Japanese Films of All Time'' by Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo. Plot During the Sengoku period, Takeda Shingen, ''daimyō'' of the Takeda clan, meets a thief his brother Nobukado spared from crucifixion due to the thief's uncanny resemblance to Shingen; the brothers agree that he would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Return Of Godzilla
is a 1984 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Koji Hashimoto, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. The film features the fictional monster character Godzilla. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 16th film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, the last film produced in the Shōwa period, and the first film in the Heisei series. In Japan, the film was followed by ''Godzilla vs. Biollante'' in 1989. ''The Return of Godzilla'' stars Ken Tanaka, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Yosuke Natsuki, and Keiju Kobayashi, with Kenpachiro Satsuma as Godzilla. The film serves as both a sequel to the original 1954 film and a reboot of the franchise that ignores the events of every Shōwa era film aside from the original ''Godzilla'', placing itself in line with the darker tone and themes of the original film and returning Godzilla to his destructive, antagonistic roots. The film was released theatrically in Japan on December 15, 1984. The following year, in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Godzilla Vs
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produced by Toho, four American films and numerous video games, novels, comic books and television shows. Godzilla has been dubbed the "King of the Monsters", a phrase first used in ''Godzilla, King of the Monsters!'' (1956)'','' the Americanized version of the original film. Godzilla is an enormous, destructive, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the '' Lucky Dragon 5'' incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. Others have suggested that Godzilla is a metaphor for the United States, a giant beast woken from its slumber which then takes terrible vengeance on Japan. As the film series expan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Sometimes, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (initial reference point) of the calendar in consideration (typically the year "1") and at later years that are whole number multiples of a thousand years after the start point. The term can also refer to an interval of time beginning on any date. Millennia sometimes have religious or theological implications (see millenarianism). The word ''millennium'' derives from the Latin ', thousand, and ', year. Debate over millennium celebrations There was a public debate leading up to the celebrations of the year 2000 as to whether the beginning of that year should be understood as the beginning of "the" new millennium. Historically, there has been debate around the turn of previous decades, centuries, and millennia. The issue arises from the dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tidal Wave (1973 Film)
is a 1973 film directed by Shiro Moritani. It is based on the 1973 novel ''Japan Sinks'' by Sakyo Komatsu. The film stars Keiju Kobayashi, Hiroshi Fujioka and Ayumi Ishida. Synopsis Two hundred million years ago, the Earth was a single continent. As the years progress, the single landmass splits off into smaller continents and islands. Thirty million years ago, the country of Japan was part of the continent of Asia, and has since split off into its own archipelago. Another landmass shift is about to occur. In the present day, geophysicist Dr. Tadokoro and Onodera Toshio take the submarine Wadatsumi-1 to the Ogasawara Islands, in order to investigate tremors in the seafloor. They discover that the land mass of the Japanese islands is collapsing into the Japan trench. Afterward, Onodera is introduced to Abe Reiko, and the two become lovers. Relaxing on the beach, they witness an eruption of Mt. Amagi. A meeting of government officials, including Prime Minister Yamamoto, focu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prophecies Of Nostradamus
is a 1974 disaster film by Toshio Masuda, based on a 1973 novel by Ben Goto, itself inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. Plot In 1853, Genta Nishiyama begins preaching the prophecies of Michel de Nostradame using a copy of his book ''Centuries''. When Nishiyama is executed by the Tokugawa Shogunate for supposed heresy (after discussing the arrival of " black ships" that will end Japan's long isolation), his wife and son flee with the book in hand, passing down the knowledge to future generations. At the onset of World War II, his descendant, Gengaku, is interrogated by an Imperial Japanese Army officer about the family's continued preaching of the prophecies, which predicted the rise of Nazism and the defeat of the Axis powers. In the present day of 1999, biologist Dr. Ryogen Nishiyama is called in to analyze recent scientific phenomena, such as the appearance of large mutant slugs, children wielding advanced abilities after drinking water near a zinc mine, and large ic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chōshōjo Reiko
() is a 1991 Japanese film directed by Takao Okawara. Production Prior to working on ''Chōshōjo Reiko'', director Takao Okawara worked as an assistant director at Toho often pitching ideas for a script that were ignored. Okawara decided to develop a story and enter it into a competition and if he would win, it would get better attention from upper staff at Toho. Okawara developed a story that he stated had a "sellable script" aimed at teenage audiences which persuaded him to include a fantasy element of Extrasensory perception. He submitted his story to the Kido Awards which it won second place. This influenced Toho to allow Okawara to direct it. The film's cast included Arisa Mizuki who was an unknown actress at the time and would be known as a super model by 2000. Okawara described the shooting of the film as difficult, stating that the film's low budget did not allow him to have a special effects director for the film, making him do both. Release ''Chōshōjo Reiko'' was di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yamato Takeru (film)
is a 1994 Japanese film. The film is based on the Japanese mythology, specifically the birth of Shinto. Plot The film begins with the birth of twin princes. Their father, the emperor of Yamato, feels a great loathing for his one child Ousu. Being convinced that this feeling is a premonition, the emperor orders the shaman Tsukinowa to kill the boy, yet his efforts are spoiled by Amano Shiratori, the White Bird of the Heavens. The emperor's sister, seeing this as a clear sign of divine intervention, takes it upon herself to raise the child. Years later, when the boy has matured into a man, he is given pardon by his father and allowed to return to the castle. However, not long after, his mother falls ill and dies mysteriously. This sends his brother into a rage and causes him to attack Ousu, who defends himself and kills his sibling in the process. His father, furious at these events, orders his son to leave the castle and not return until the barbarians living in the Kumaso domain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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