Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

What ever happened to some of the actors and performers of the "Golden Age of the Japanese film industry?" I've been wondering about a few of these guys, and wanted to know if anybody has any information on what they've been doing with themselves. First off, are they still alive, are they still acting, did they give it up for another profession.... I'm going to to stick to the kaiju eiga, because those are the guys we're all mostly interested in.

Here's a couple that I've been wondering about:

Yoshifumi Tajima (Kumayama in Godzilla vs. The Thing)
Akiko Wakabayashi (Princess Salno in Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster)
Minoru Chiaki (Pilot Kobayashi in Godzilla Raids Again)
Masaaki Daimon (Shimizu in Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster)
Yoko Fujiyama (Makoto Jinguchi in Atragon)
Nadao Kirino (one of the gangsters in Dogora The Space Monster among other small roles)
Linda Miller (Lt. Susan Watson in King Kong Eascapes)
Emi & Yumi Ito (The Peanuts in Mothra, Godzilla vs. The Thing and Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster)

There are a few others, but these are the ones I'm most interested in. Anybody got any info?[/i]

The one that I wanted to know about the most is Yoshifumi Tajima. It's good to here that he's still around. It would have been cool to see him in one of the recent Godzilla movies. I mean, since Tomiyama was so trigger-happy about bringing back series veterans, and all. He basically got all of the parts in the classic Godzilla series that Akira Nakao does now.

Let's see, what about....Ryo Ikebe (the lead in Battle in Outer Space and the Jinguchi-like captain of the Gohten in The War in Space)? Toru Ibuki (Yata in Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster)? Myron Healy ("star" of U.S. VARAN)? Jerry and Hisaya Ito (Nelson in Mothra, and Malness in Ghidrah)?

Jerry Ito was at G-Fest a few years ago

Jerry Ito is alive and well. He had a stroke several years ago but has recovered. He and his wife live very close to me and we get together for dinner occasionally.

Jerry was a a guest at Godzillafest in San Francisco a little over a year ago. Here's a photo of him taken during an onstage q&a.



And her he is with his MOTHRA co-stars Hiroshi Koizumi and Ed Keane (the Mayor of Newkirk City). This was taken on the night Godzillafest screened Sony's new subtitled print of MOTHRA, and it was the first time all three actors had been together in decades.

How old is he now?