Father and Son

7.24.2021

I found something great among my small collection of Godzilla videos. The last few months, I’ve been focused on Eiji Tsuburaya and tokusatsu. Then I wanted to know more about his oldest son, Hajime after buying his book on tokusatsu. And now, low and behold, to my surprise, I rediscovered a 02:15 minute clip of a conversation between them. Set in the lobby of Tsuburaya’s house, the father and son talk the movie and tv business (対話 · 2 / 円谷家ロビー(はじめ)にて / 長男一さんと / 今のこと… ). This clip is from a longer program about Tsuburaya Productions sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceutical. Check it out!

The famous father and son sitting across from each other, smoking, talking about the Toho, film and television. Hajime does not know if Toho’s special effects are serious. He believes Toho and the tv production companies should join forces more actively and do business together. Those in the film industry are disappointed that the TV movies are seen as second-tier although TV has created a boom. Eiji Tsuburaya wants those on the front lines to give all their effort. He thinks it would be great for Hajime to make a film that expresses what he wants to do.