Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization, more known as Interpol, is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation. It was established in 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission. INTERPOL has an annual budget of around €113 million, most of, provided through annual contributions by its membership of police forces in 181 countries. In 2013, the INTERPOL General Secretariat employed a staff of 756, representing 100 member countries, its current Secretary-General is Jürgen Stock, the former deputy head of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office. He replaced Ronald Noble, a former United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement, who stepped down in November 2014 after serving 14 years. Interpol's current President is Kim Jong Yang of South Korea, replacing Meng Hongwei, Deputy Minister of Public Security of China, alleged to have resigned via an undersigned postal letter in October 2018 after his detention and disappearance by Chinese authorities on corruption charges.
To keep INTERPOL as politically neutral as possible, its charter forbids it from undertaking interventions or activities of a political, religious, or racial nature or involving itself in disputes over such matters. Its work focuses on public safety and battling transnational crimes against humanity, child pornography, drug trafficking, environmental crime, human trafficking, illicit drug production, copyright infringement, missing people, illicit traffic in works of art, intellectual property crime, money laundering, organized crime, terrorism, war crimes, weapons smuggling, white-collar crime. In the first part of the 20th century, several efforts were taken to formalize international police cooperation, but they failed. Among these efforts were the First International Criminal Police Congress in Monaco in 1914, the International Police Conference in New York in 1922; the Monaco Congress failed because it was organized by legal experts and political officials, not by police professionals, while the New York Conference failed to attract international attention.
In 1923, a new initiative was taken at the International Criminal Police Congress in Vienna, where the International Criminal Police Commission was founded as the direct forerunner of INTERPOL. Founding members included police officials from Austria, Belgium, China, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and Yugoslavia; the United Kingdom joined in 1928. The United States did not join Interpol until 1938, although a US police officer unofficially attended the 1923 congress. Following Anschluss in 1938, the organization fell under the control of Nazi Germany, the Commission's headquarters were moved to Berlin in 1942. Most members withdrew their support during this period. From 1938 to 1945, the presidents of the ICPC included Otto Steinhäusl, Reinhard Heydrich, Arthur Nebe, Ernst Kaltenbrunner. All were generals in the SS, Kaltenbrunner was the highest ranking SS officer executed after the Nuremberg Trials. After the end of World War II in 1945, the organization was revived as the International Criminal Police Organization by officials from Belgium, France and the United Kingdom.
Its new headquarters were established in Paris from 1967 in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris. They remained there until 1989; until the 1980s, INTERPOL did not intervene in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in accordance with Article 3 of its Charter, which prohibited intervention in "political" matters. In July 2010, former INTERPOL President Jackie Selebi was found guilty of corruption by the South African High Court in Johannesburg for accepting bribes worth €156,000 from a drug trafficker. After being charged in January 2008, Selebi resigned as president of INTERPOL and was put on extended leave as National Police Commissioner of South Africa, he was temporarily replaced by Arturo Herrera Verdugo, the National Commissioner of Investigations Police of Chile and former vice president for the American Zone, who remained acting president until the appointment of Khoo Boon Hui in October 2008. On 8 November 2012, the 81st General Assembly closed with the election of Deputy Central Director of the French Judicial Police Mireille Ballestrazzi as the first female president of the organization.
In November 2016, Meng Hongwei, a politician from the People's Republic of China, was elected president during the 85th Interpol General Assembly, was to serve in this capacity until 2020. At the end of September 2018, Meng was reported missing during a trip to China, after being "taken away" for questioning by "discipline authorities". Chinese police confirmed that Meng had been arrested on charges of bribery as part of a national anti-corruption campaign. On 7 October 2018, INTERPOL announced that Meng had resigned his post with immediate effect and that the Presidency would be temporarily occupied by INTERPOL Senior Vice-President Kim Jong Yang of South Korea. On 21 November 2018, INTERPOL's General Assembly elected Kim to fill the remainder of Meng's term, in a controversial election which saw accusations that the other candidate, Vice President Alexander Prokopchuk of Russia, had used INTERPOL notices to target critics of the Russian government; the role of INTERPOL is defined by the general provisions of its constitution.
Article 2 states that its role is: To ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limi
Mechagodzilla
Mechagodzilla is a mecha that first appeared in the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as an extraterrestrial villain opposing Godzilla. In subsequent iterations, it is depicted as a man-made weapon designed to defend Japan from Godzilla. In all incarnations, Mechagodzilla appears as a robotic doppelgänger and arch-enemy of Godzilla, boasting a vast array of weaponry. Mechagodzilla was conceived in 1974 as a more serious villain than its immediate two predecessors and Megalon, whose films were considered creative disasters. According to Tomoyuki Tanaka, Mechagodzilla was inspired by both Mechani-Kong from the previous Toho film King Kong Escapes and the robot anime genre, popular at the time. Effects director Teruyoshi Nakano felt that a mechanical monster was cheaper to construct than the mutated animals Godzilla had faced; as the resulting Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla proved to be a greater critical success than previous 1970s Godzilla films, the character was revived in 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla.
The film's screenplay was based on the winning entry of a story-writing competition won by Yukiko Takayama, who continued the darker tone of the previous film by adding the subplot of Mechagodzilla being cybernetically connected to a young woman. Mechagodzilla's design remained unchanged from its previous appearance, though it was made to look thinner and more angular, with a darker sheen and an MG2 insignia emblazoned on its upper arms; the film's original draft was going to have Mechagodzilla destroy Tokyo utterly, though the destruction was cut down for budgetary reasons. Mechagodzilla was brought back in 1993's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, as the success of Godzilla vs. Mothra and the popularity of its main antagonist Mothra spurred Toho into reintroducing familiar characters rather than inventing new ones; the new Mechagodzilla was to be named "Berserk", was envisioned as being a much more organic Godzilla-like creature which would turn on its creators after becoming infected with a computer virus which makes it self-aware.
Berserk would subsequently absorb more and more machinery, to the point of degenerating into a mass of metal and wires, though this concept was rejected early in pre-production. As Mechagodzilla was intended to be a military defense weapon rather than an alien construct, the character was redesigned as looking sleeker and smoother, it was portrayed by suit actor Wataru Fukuda, consisted of multiple separate elements which were worn like plate armor. Special effects artist Koichi Kawakita envisioned Mechagodzilla being able to split into aerial and terrestrial units, though this idea was scrapped in favor of the character merging with the flying battleship Garuda; the film was promoted through the children's program Adventure Godzilla-land, which portrayed Godzilla and Mechagodzilla as rival news anchors reporting on the events of the upcoming movie. Composer Akira Ifukube wrote a theme for Mechagodzilla incorporating a slow battle march with heavy percussion and pentatonic phrasing; the decision to incorporate Mechagodzilla into the Millennium series was taken by producer Shōgo Tomiyama, who gave the general outline of what would become the story of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla to Godzilla vs. Megaguirus director Masaaki Tezuka.
Tezuka instructed his staff to research both cybernetics and DNA engineering in order to make the character scientifically plausible. Tezuka had wanted Mechagodzilla to be a much speedier robot than the one on film, envisioning it as becoming progressively agiler during its fight against Godzilla as the latter tore off its opponent's armaments; this incarnation of Mechagodzilla was deliberately shown being airlifted by carriers rather than flying directly into battle as the previous two incarnations had done, as Tezuka felt that it made little sense for Mechagodzilla to drain its energy in such a manner. Upon being asked why the Mechagodzilla suit wasn't painted with military camouflage colors, Tezuka answered that "Mechagodzilla doesn't need to hide." Tezuka had intended to have both Godzilla and Mechagodzilla die at the end of the film, but was forced to change this on the insistence of Toho managers, who felt that such an ending was too dark for a New Year movie release. In the 2003 sequel Godzilla: Tokyo S.
O. S. Creature designer Shinichi Wakasa used the same mold to create a redesigned Mechagodzilla, meant to look more weathered than its predecessor. According to production designer Shinki Nishikawa, several other changes were made to the Mechagodzilla design's head and arms in order to make the character look less heroic and more machine-like; the robot's back unit was reduced in size and flipped upside down, the head was made smaller. As the previous design's shoulder cannons were considered uneven and unsophisticated-looking because of their rectangular shape, special effects director Eiichi Asada made them more pentagonal; as the character was supposed to rely more on its forearm cannons than in the previous film, Nishikawa made them larger and more powerful looking. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Mechagodzilla is created as a weapon of destruction by the alien Simians, who intend to conquer Earth before their own homeworld gets destroyed by an expanding black hole. First appearing in a pseudo-flesh outer covering and masquerading as the real Godzilla, Mechagodzilla attacks Japan and overpowers Godzilla's ally Anguirus.
Godzilla appears and destroys the pseudo-flesh disguise, forcing Mechagodzilla to reveal itself in full. Their initial battle results in a tie, as Godzilla is wounded and Mechagodzilla is forced back into the Simian's base for repair. Mechagodzilla is deployed again but is overpowered through the combined efforts of Godzilla and King Caesar. Godzilla defe
All Monsters Attack
All Monsters Attack, released in Japan as Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Ōru Kaijū Daishingeki, is a 1969 Japanese science fiction kaiju film featuring Godzilla and distributed by Toho. The film is directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects directed by Honda and Teruyoshi Nakano and stars Tomonori Yazaki, Hideyo Amamoto, Kenji Sahara, with Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla, Marchan the Dwarf as Minilla, Yasuhiko Kakuyuki as Gabara, it is tenth film in the Godzilla Shōwa series. The film was released in Japan on December 20, 1969 and theatrically in the United States in the winter of 1971 by Maron Films as Godzilla's Revenge, where it was paired up nationwide on a double bill with Night of the Big Heat. Ichiro Miki is a imaginative but lonely latchkey kid growing up in urban Kawasaki; every day he comes home to his family's empty apartment. His only friends are a toymaker named a young girl named Sachiko; every day after school, Ichiro is tormented by a gang of bullies led by a child named Sanko Gabara. To escape his loneliness, Ichiro dreams about visiting Monster Island.
During his visit, he witnesses Godzilla battle Ebirah, a giant sea monster. Ichiro is chased by a rogue Kamacuras and falls into a deep cave, but luckily avoids being caught by Kamacuras. Shortly afterward, Ichiro is rescued from the cave by Minilla. Ichiro learns that Minilla has bully problems too, as he is bullied by a monstrous ogre known as Gabara. Ichiro is awoken by Shinpei who informs him that his mother must work late again. Ichiro goes out to play, but is frightened by the bullies and finds and explores an abandoned factory. After finding some souvenirs, Ichiro leaves the factory after hearing some sirens close by. After Ichiro leaves, two bank robbers who were hiding out in the factory learn that Ichiro has found one of their driver's licenses and follow him in order to kidnap him. After his sukiyaki dinner with Shinpei, Ichiro dreams again and reunites with Minilla. Together they both watch as Godzilla fights Ebirah and some invading jets. In the middle of Godzilla's fights, Gabara appears and Minilla is forced to battle it, after a short and one-sided battle, Minilla runs away in fear.
Godzilla returns to train Minilla how to use its own atomic ray. However, Ichiro is woken up this time by the bank robbers and is taken hostage as a means of protection from the authorities. Out of fear and being watched by the thieves, Ichiro calls for Minilla's help and falls asleep again where he witnesses Minilla being beaten up by Gabara again. Ichiro helps Minilla fight back at Gabara and Minilla wins, catapulting the bully through the air by a seesaw-like log. Godzilla, in the area watching comes to congratulate Minilla for its victory but is ambushed by a vengeful Gabara. Godzilla beats down Gabara and sends the bully into retreat, never to bother Minilla again. Now from his experiences in his dreams, Ichiro learns how to face his fears and fight back, gaining the courage to outwit the thieves just in time for the police, called by Shinpei, to arrive and arrest them; the next day, Ichiro stands up to Sanko and his gang and wins, regaining his pride and confidence in the process. He gains their friendship when he plays a prank on a billboard painter.
Due to production costs, All Monsters Attack includes extensive stock footage of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Son of Godzilla, King Kong Escapes and Destroy All Monsters. The filmmakers employed the same Godzilla suit used for Destroy All Monsters. Despite being credited as the film's special effects director, Eiji Tsuburaya was not involved with the production. Director Ishirō Honda not only directed the drama scenes but the special effects scenes as well, with assistance from Teruyoshi Nakano, a first assistant special effects director at the time. Honda would confirm that Tsuburaya was given credit as the film's special effects director "out of respect" and the reason why Honda took over Tsuburaya's duties was due to "budget and time constraints". A small studio was used for the production, where both the special effects and drama scenes were filmed. All Monsters Attack was released theatrically in Japan on 20 December 1969 where it was distributed by Toho; the film was the first "Toho Champion Matsuri", a festival-style program that included shorts and feature films.
The film had been test-screened under Son of Godzilla in the United States. The version was edited further and released with an English-language dubbed version in 1971 under the title Godzilla's Revenge; this version of the film was distributed by Maron Films as a double feature with Island of the Burning Damned. The film was released on home video in the United States in 2007 with its original Japanese version. Footnotes Bibliography All Monsters Attack on IMDb "ゴジラ・ミニラ・ガバラ オール 怪獣大進撃". Japanese Movie Database. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18
Yokosuka
Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of October 2017, the city has a population of 409,478, a population density of 4,066 people per km2; the total area is 100.7 km2. Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, the 12th in the Kantō region. Yokosuka occupies most of Miura Peninsula, is bordered by the mouth of Tokyo Bay to the east and Sagami Bay on the Pacific Ocean on the west. Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama Miura Hayama Zushi The area around present-day Yokosuka City has been inhabited for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found stone tools and shell middens from the Japanese Paleolithic period and ceramic shards from the Jōmon and Kofun periods at numerous locations in the area. During the Heian period, local warlord Muraoka Tamemichi established Kinugasa Castle in 1063, he became the ancestor of the Miura clan, which subsequently dominated eastern Sagami Province for the next several hundred years. The Miura clan supported Minamoto no Yoritomo in the foundation of the Kamakura shogunate, but were annihilated by Hōjō Tokiyori in 1247.
However, the family name was reassigned to a supporter of the Hōjō clan, the Miura continued to rule Miura Peninsula through the Muromachi period until their defeat at Arai Castle in a 1518 attack by Hōjō Sōun. Following the defeat of the Later Hōjō clan at the Battle of Odawara, Toyotomi Hideyoshi transferred Tokugawa Ieyasu to take control over the Kantō region, including Yokosuka in 1590; the adventurer William Adams, the first Briton to set foot in Japan, arrived at Uraga aboard the Dutch trading vessel Liefde in 1600. In 1612, he was granted the title of samurai and a fief in Hemi within the boundaries of present-day Yokosuka, due to his services to the Tokugawa shogunate. A monument to William Adams is a local landmark in Yokosuka. During the Edo period, Yokosuka tenryō territory was controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate, but administered through various hatamoto. Due to its strategic location at the entrance to Tokyo Bay, the Shogunate established the post of Uraga Bugyō in 1720, all shipping into the bay was required to stop for inspection.
As concerns over the increasing number of incursions by foreign vessels and attempts to end Japan's self-imposed national seclusion policy, the Shogunate established a number of coastal artillery batteries around Yokosuka, including an outpost at Ōtsu in 1842. However, despite these efforts, in 1853, United States naval Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay with his fleet of Black Ships and came ashore at Kurihama, in southern Yokosuka, leading to the opening of diplomatic and trade relations between Japan and the United States; the Kanrin Maru sailed from Yokosuka in 1860 with the first Japanese diplomatic embassy to the United States in 1860. During the turbulent Bakumatsu period, the Shogunate selected Yokosuka as the site for a modern naval base, hired the French engineer Léonce Verny in 1865 to oversee the development of shipbuilding facilities, beginning with Yokosuka Iron Foundry. Yokosuka Naval Arsenal became the first modern arsenal to be created in Japan; the construction of the arsenal was the central point of a global modern infrastructure, to prove an important first step for the modernization of Japan's industry.
Modern buildings, the Hashirimizu waterway, brick factories, technical schools to train Japanese technicians were established. After the Meiji Restoration, the arsenal was taken over by the Imperial Japanese Navy, the area of modern Yokosuka was reorganized into Uraga Town and numerous villages within Miura District, Kanagawa Prefecture. Yokosuka Village was made the capital of Miura District. In 1889, the Yokosuka Line railway was opened, connecting Yokosuka to Tokyo. Yokosuka was elevated to city status on February 15, 1907. From 1916, Oppama in Yokosuka was developed as the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, many of the combat aircraft subsequently operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service were developed or tested at Yokosuka. Yokosuka Naval Arsenal continued to expand in the early 20th century, its production included battleships such as Yamashiro, aircraft carriers such as Hiryū and Shōkaku. Smaller warships were constructed at the owned Uraga Dock Company. Yokosuka Naval District was the home port of the IJN 1st Fleet.
The Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 caused severe damage to Yokosuka, including the naval base which lost two years' operations of oil supplies. The city continued to expand in 1933 with the annexation of neighboring Kinugasa Village and Taura Town in 1933 and Kurihama Village in 1937. In 1943, the city annexed the neighboring towns and villages of Uraga, Okusu and Takeyama, as well as Zushi. During World War II, Yokosuka was bombed on April 18, 1942 by American B-25 bombers in the Doolittle Raid with little damage as a retaliation to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Aside from minor sporadic tactical air raids by United States Navy aircraft, it was not bombed again during the war. Many more tunnels are scattered throughout the surrounding areas. During the war, these tunnels and caves provided areas in which work could be done in secrecy, safe from air attacks. A 500-bed hospital, a large electrical power generating facility, a midget submarine factory and warehouse were among the many facilities built.
American occupation forces landed at Yokosuka on August 30, 1945, after the surrender of Japan, the naval base has bee
Akihiko Hirata
Akihiko Hirata, born Akihiko Onoda, was a Japanese film actor. While Hirata starred in many movies, he is most well known for his work in the kaiju genre, including such films as King Kong vs. Godzilla, The Mysterians, Terror of Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, his most famous role of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, the brilliant but disturbed young scientist in the original Godzilla, released in 1954. Hirata was married to the popular actress Yoshiko Kuga from 1961 until his death, he died after a long battle with lung cancer in 1984, at age 56. Hirata was born in Seoul, into a wealthy family, he was educated at the prestigious Tokyo University's School of Interior Design. Before joining Shintoho as an assistant director, Hirata moved into still photography, joined Toho in 1953, under the studio's "New Face" program, which would lead to his casting in Godzilla. Hirata's film debut came with The Last Embrace. Hirata would go on to play everything from snarling villains to government officials.
His long face and intense features have earned the actor a cult following. Although Hirata earned lasting fame with his part in Godzilla, the role typecast him, the actor would go on to star in over 20 other sci-fi fantasy films for Toho (among them The H-Man and Prophecies of Nostradamus, as well as an important recurring role in the original Ultraman series, it is fitting that in both his first and final appearances in a Godzilla film, Hirata would play mysterious and disturbed scientists, as Hirata took on the role of the tragic Dr. Mafune in 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. Hirata died in 1984; the actor's association with the kaiju genre continued right until his death, as he helped announce the production of The Return of Godzilla at a Tokyo press conference, but Hirata was too ill to appear in the film, the part would go to Yosuke Natsuki, who had appeared alongside Hirata in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster in 1964. Hirata died on the 25th of 1984, after a long battle with lung cancer.
The Last Embrace Girls Amongst the Flowers Even the Mighty Shed Tears Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto as Seijuro Yoshioka Godzilla as Dr. Daisuke Serizawa The Lone Journey as Horikoshi no Masakichi Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple as Seijūrō Yoshioka Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island as Seijūrō Yoshioka Rodan as Professor Kyouichiro Kashiwagi The Mysterians as Ryōichi Shiraishi The H-Man as Inspector Tominaga Varan the Unbelievable as Dr. Fujimura Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender The Secret of the Telegian as Detective Kobayashi Storm Over the Pacific as an Officer The Story of Osaka Castle as Hayatonosho Susukida Mothra as Doctor Sanjuro as Samurai Gorath as Spaceshop Otori Captain Endo King Kong vs. Godzilla as Doctor Shigesawa Atragon as Mu Agent #23 Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster as Chief Detective Okita 100 Shot, 100 Killed as Komori Ultra Q as Chief Hanazawa Ultraman as Professor Iwamoto Ebirah, Horror of the Deep as Red Bamboo Captain Ryū Ultraseven as Staff Officer Yanagawa The Killing Bottles as Man With Turkish Hat Son of Godzilla as Fujisaki Latitude Zero as Dr. Sugata.
Ishirō Honda
Ishirō Honda, sometimes miscredited in foreign releases as "Inoshiro Honda", was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his kaiju and tokusatsu films, including several entries in the Godzilla series, but worked extensively in the documentary and war genres earlier in his career. Honda was a lifelong friend and collaborator of Akira Kurosawa, worked with Kurosawa extensively during the 1980s and 1990s. Honda was born in Asahi and was the fifth and youngest child of Hokan and Miho Honda, he had three brothers: Takamoto, Ryokichi and one sister: Tomi, who passed away during her childhood. Honda's father and grandfather were both Buddhist monks at Churen-ji, a temple in Mount Yudono, where the Hondas lived in a dwelling on the temple's property; the Hondas grew rice, daikon radishes, carrots. They made and sold Miso and soy sauce; the family received income from a silk moth farm managed by one of Honda's brothers. Honda's father earned income during the summers by selling devotions in Iwate Prefecture, Akita Prefecture, Hokkaido and would return home before the winter.
While Honda's brothers were given religious tutoring at sixteen, Honda was learning about science. Takamoto, who became a military doctor, encouraged Honda to study and sent him scientific magazines to help, which started Honda's love for reading and scientific curiosity. In 1912, the Hondas moved to Tokyo where they settled in the Takaido neighborhood of the Suginami ward and where Hokan became the chief priest at a Buddhist temple. Though he was an honors student back home, Honda's grades declined in middle school. After his father transferred to another temple, Honda enrolled in the Tachibana Elementary school in Kawasaki and in Kogyokusha Junior High where Honda studied kendo and athletic swimming but quit after tearing his Achilles tendon. Honda met Kimi Yamasaki in 1937 and proposed to her in 1939. Honda's parents and Kimi's mother were supportive, but Kimi's father was opposed to the sudden engagement. Though Kimi's father never approved of her marriage, he nonetheless sent her ¥1,000 upon learning of her pregnancy.
Rather than having a traditional wedding ceremony, the two signed papers at city hall, paid their respects at Meiji Shrine, went home. Honda became interested in films when he and his classmates were assembled to watch one of the Universal Bluebird photoplays. Honda would have sneaked to a movie theater without his parents' permission. For silent films in Japan at that time, onscreen texts were replaced with "benshi", narrators who stood beside the screen and provided live commentary, which Honda found more fascinating than the films themselves. Honda's brother, had hoped for Honda to become a dentist and join his clinic in Tokyo but instead, Honda applied at Nihon University for their art department's film major program and was accepted in 1931; the film department was a pilot program, which resulted in disorganized poor conditions for the class and cancelations from the teacher every so often. While this forced other students to quit, Honda instead used the cancelled periods to watch films at theaters, where he took personal notes.
Honda and four of his classmates rented a room in Shinbashi, a few kilometers from their university, where they would gather after school to discuss films. Honda had hoped for the group to collaborate on a screenplay but they just socialized and drank. Honda attended a salon of film critics and students but hardly participated, preferring rather to listen. While in school, Honda met Iwao Mori, an executive in charge of production for Photographic Chemical Laboratories. In August 1933, Mori offered entry level jobs at PCL including Honda. Honda completed his studies while working at the studio and became an assistant director, which required him to be a scripter in the editing department. Honda became a third assistant director on Sotoji Kimura's The Elderly Commoner's Life Study. However, Honda received a draft notice from the military. At 23 years old, Honda was drafted in the fall of 1934. Despite receiving a passing grade on his physical examination, he was not required to report for immediate duty.
While waiting for his call up, Honda continued working at PCL. Honda was called to duty in January 1935 and was enlisted into the First Division, First Infantry Regiment in Tokyo. At the time, Honda began his training at the entry-level rank of Ippeisotsu, the equivalent of Petty Officer First Class. In 1936, Honda's former commanding officer, Yasuhide Kurihara, launched a coup against the civilian government, what would be called the February 26 Incident. Though Honda had no involvement with the coup, everyone associated with Kurihara were considered dangerous and the brass wanted them gone and as a result and his regiment were sent to Manchukuo in 1936, under questionable pretense. Honda would have completed his 18 remaining months of service had it not been for the coup and would be recalled to service again and again for the remainder of the war. Honda was recalled to service in mid-December 1939, a week before his daughter, was due to be born. Having risen in rank, Honda was able to visit his wife and daughter in the hospital but had to leave afterwards to China.
Between 1940 and 1941, Honda was assigned to manage a "comfort station", a euphemism for brothels established in occupied areas. Honda would write an essay titled Reflections of an Officer in Charge of Comfort Women published in Movie Art Magazine in April 1966, detailing his experiences and other comfort
Toho
Toho Co. Ltd. is a Japanese film, theater production, distribution company. It has its headquarters in Yūrakuchō, Tokyo, is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside 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, the anime films of Studio Ghibli and TMS Entertainment. Other famous directors, including Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Masaki Kobayashi, Mikio Naruse directed films for Toho. Toho's most famous creation is Godzilla, featured in 33 of the company's films. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla are described as Toho's Big Five because of the monsters' numerous appearances in all three eras of the franchise, as well as spin-offs. Toho has been involved in the production of numerous anime titles, its subdivisions are Toho-Towa Distribution, Toho Pictures Incorporated, Toho International Company Limited, Toho E. B. Company Limited, Toho Music Corporation & Toho Costume Company Limited.
The company is the largest shareholder of Fuji Media Holdings Inc. Toho is a member of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, is one of Japan's Big Four film studios. Toho was created by the founder of Hankyu Railway, Ichizō Kobayashi, in 1932 as the Tokyo-Takarazuka Theater Company, it managed much of the kabuki in Tokyo and, among other properties, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater and the Imperial Garden Theater in Tokyo. Toho and Shochiku competed with the influx of Hollywood films and boosted the film industry by focusing on new directors of the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Ichikawa Kon, Kinoshita Keisuke and Shindo Kaneto. After several successful film exports to the United States during the 1950s through Henry G. Saperstein, Toho took over the La Brea Theatre in Los Angeles to show its own films without the need to sell them to a distributor, it was known as the Toho Theatre from the late 1960s until the 1970s. Toho had a theater in San Francisco and opened a theater in New York City in 1963.
The Shintoho Company, which existed until 1961, was named New Toho because it broke off from the original company. Toho has contributed to the production of some American films, including Sam Raimi's 1998 film, A Simple Plan. Ike! Godman Warrior Of Love: Rainbowman Zone Fighter Ike! Greenman Warrior Of Light: Diamond Eye Flying Saucer War Bankid Megaloman Electronic Brain Police Cybercop Seven Stars Fighting God Guyferd Stickin' Around Godzilla Island Chouseishin Gransazer Genseishin Justirisers Chousei Kantai Sazer-X Kawaii! Jenny Belle and Sebastian Igano Kabamaru Touch Kimagure Orange Road Midori Days Psycho-Pass Yowamushi Pedal Haikyū!! Blood Blockade Battlefront My Hero Academia Three Leaves, Three Colors FLCL Progressive FLCL Alternative Dr. Stone Cliff HangerIn more recent years and for a period, they have produced video games. One of their first video game was the 1990 NES game titled Circus Caper, they followed with a series of games based on Godzilla and a 1992 game called Serizawa Nobuo no Birdy Try.
It published games such as Super Aleste. They worked with Bandai on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, released in Japan in 1988 and in the United States in 1989. Toho's headquarters, the Toho Hibiya Building, are in Yūrakuchō, Tokyo; the company moved into its current headquarters in April 2005. TohoScope Tomisaburo Wakayama Tsuburaya Productions Toho Studios Daiei Film Nikkatsu Toei Company Studio Ponoc OLM, Inc. Studio Ghibli Telecom Animation Film Shochiku Shintoho Kadokawa Pictures Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda, Peter H. Brothers; the Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography, Stuart Galbraith IV Official website Official website Official Toho's YouTube channel. Toho Pictures official website TOHO-TOWA Company, Limited official website TOWA PICTURES Company, Ltd. official website Toho Company on IMDb Toho at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
