Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

In case you haven't seen, the front page of the current issue of the New York Times features cover stories on Obama and the Syria Crisis, the on-going war on drug, Gay Rights issues and.... Tokusatsu, it's history and, unfortunately, how it's becoming an endangered art form in Japan.

The NY Times story not only uses the word "tokusatsu" but drops references to movies and shows such as Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai and features interviews with Daisuke Terai (Ultraman suit actor), Shinji Higuchi (Gamera SFX director), Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla suit actor) and Yuichi Abe (Ultraman director) about tokusatsu and how it's now being threatened in Japan, the same way practical SFX have been in Hollywood, by the increasing prevalence of CGI.

Pacific Rim also get's mentioned as a Hollywood made "tokusatsu-inspired film."

Here's a photo, courtesy of Bob Eggleton, of the actual paper where the story has the title "Japan Films Shed Ribber Suits, Godzilla Roars":



And here's the article online with the title "Rubber-Suit Monsters Fade. Tiny Tokyos Relax."

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/wo...anted=all&_r=1

The author of the article is by Martin Fackler, the NY Times chief corespondent in Japan.

I suggest fans get a copy of this paper or print this article online and use it to promote awareness of tokusatsu. Hang it up in your office or cubical at work. Or leave it lying face up in a coffee shop.

Also maybe e-mail Mr. Fackler and tell him how much we appreciate him covering this topic.

We discussed this in the Ginga thread. It's really cool to see this sort of thing in a major pages.

ultraman on the front page .....neat.

Fascinating read.

It's an exciting but sad time, in a way - especially for U.S. fans. Pacific Rim and Godzilla '14 represent more love and effort than the genre has received in forever, but they also represent the total break between the classic effects techniques.

Not a total break. There is miniature work in Pacific Rim.

I saw that article, too. If I'm not mistaken, they credited someone besides Kaneko as being the director of the Gamera trilogy, but beyond that it was a good read.

^Didn't they mention Higuchi, not Kaneko, 'cause they were focusing on the effects work?

I click on to the link to the tokusatsu article and got a page not found instead.