Akira Yuasa’s Zoom-up
You can’t beat the kids / The real faces of famous talents
Disney’s masterpiece Snow White is now being screened in theaters for the first time in 12 years. After winning the House of Councilors election, the first words from the famous Chinatsu Nakayama-sensei were, “I want to play pachinko and watch the movie Snow White.” It’s a nostalgic fairy tale.
One day, there was a celebrity family screening. In the center of the theater, there was a big sign that read “Seats for invited people in the entertainment industry.” However, the familiar stars were busy, and their wives or maids were there as “substitutes.” In the midst of all this, Yoko Nogiwa ran around buying a cola for her child. Junko Terashima, wearing a plain beige one-piece and sunglasses, took her beloved son, who will likely become the eighth Kikugoro, to the bathroom. Manami Fuji showed up with a bang as soon as the movie started and watched more intently than her two children. It was refreshing to see her acting as a mother, something you don’t see on a cathode ray tube.
Akira Fuse agreed to write an insert song for a movie for his child. Of course, his child is Alexander, seven years old. The movie is the third installment of the Space Battleship Yamato series, Be Forever Yamato. Fuse had been approached in the past to write an insert song for Yamato, but he turned it down. It seems Alexander loves spaceships.
Looking at his son, who dreams of a future that seems like a fantasy to adults, Akira Fuse said, “I also used to be fascinated by the highways and satellites in Shonen Club magazine. Now they are reality.” Five months after marrying Olivia Hussey, his doting father side is already showing.
The year before last, a woman sobbed in a packed auditorium while listening to Kenji Sawada’s From Yamato With Love, which was played at the end of Farewell to Yamato. So what about this year…? Fuse’s own contract with Watanabe Production expired at the end of July (after which he signed with Nabepro for individual events), and after 16 years of singing, he is leaving for America to study new music.
(Nippon Broadcasting System announcer)
Yoko Yamaguchi’s Cooking Course for Men
(illustration by Seitaro Kuroda)
Men never forget women who have been emotionally involved with them
Film Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Born in Tokyo in 1934. In 1953, he joined Bungakuza and stayed there for two years. Graduated from Nihon University College of Art in 1957. After working as a jazz commentator, orchestra manager, and stage producer, he went to France in 1963. After returning to Japan, he served as Osamu Tezuka’s general manager. He founded Office Academy in 1972 and became its president. As a producer, he worked on Mountain Mouse Rocky Chuck and Wansa-kun, and became famous for the hit Space Battleship Yamato. The third part of Space Battleship Yamato is scheduled to be released nationwide from August 2nd.
Appetizer
When men talk about their dreams, they are much more passionate and enthusiastic than when they talk about women or money. Mr. Nishizaki’s office, with its posters and materials for Space Battleship Yamato, a metal diving helmet, a realistic toy gun, and a Space Invaders game, is like a big kid’s room. At the sofa in the center of the room, there is a telephone line and an intercom.
Through his endless boyhood dreams, he has earned 170 million yen, the sixth highest income ranking among celebrities. And, what’s even more interesting is that he plans to use that money to build another child’s room that is twice as big. I’ve known Mr. Nishizaki for the past 20 years. I’ve always quietly watched from afar his glamorous playboy days as a jazz commentator, night club host, and band manager.
The hardships of his early career, the complicated history of the Nishizaki family, the sounds of the shamisen, the guitar, the memories of love, all of these were poured into the furnace called Yamato and lit up in crimson flames. I want to congratulate him on his great success today, but for some reason, there is always a sentimental shadow over him. A man who works while driven by eternal romance may always be lonely.
Yoko: Today I came to hijack the Space Battleship Yamato. Yamato jack, hijack, Jack and the Beanstalk…
Nishizaki: For some reason, that sounds dirty…(laughs).
Yoko: Why is it dirty? Maybe you’re too busy, frustrated, and have a sexual hangup.
Nishizaki: Is that what we’re talking about today?
Yoko: Don’t be scared. (Laughs)
Nishizaki: The third part of Yamato will premiere on August 2nd, and if it has a bad image, I’d be worried about making it worse.
Yoko: I heard that you went to salvage the real battleship Yamato…?
Nishizaki: We didn’t go to salvage it, we went to look for its location.
Yoko: Do you intend to salvage it once you know where it is?
Nishizaki: I don’t intend to salvage it. If we find out where it is and talk of salvaging it comes up, I think I’ll be on the opposite side.
Yoko: Why…?
Nishizaki: There’s a monument to the battleship Arizona in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The names of the soldiers who died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are engraved on it, and although the families of the deceased go there for lunch and offer devout prayers, and I feel that this is more romantic than salvaging the ruins.
So when I find out where the battleship Yamato is, just like the Arizona, I want to build a floating lighthouse on the sea to the best of my ability. There are examples of this all over the world. At night, a lighthouse shines brightly, and Japanese ships passing by will blow their horns…
Yamato is a boy’s dream
Nishizaki: I was in the fifth grade when the war ended, and I admired the Batteship Yamato without understanding anything about militarism. If you think about it, the origin of the word Yamato itself is the hometown of the Japanese heart.
Yoko: Yamato Nadeshiko and the Yamato spirit.
Nishizaki: The first government in Japan was the Yamato Imperial Court. In that sense, I think the name Yamato was given to the battleship that represents Japan. In our world, names like “Musashi” and “Kongo” don’t have as much meaning.
When I first made Space Battleship Yamato, I had the idea of a ship flying through the sky and going into space, so what kind of ship should we use? I thought, “a battleship would be good,” and the next moment I came up with Yamato. So the title came first, and the story came later.
Translator’s note: this account for the decision to use Yamato as the ship was contested many years later with Mecha Designer Kazutaka Miyatake claiming credit. Read his testimonial here.
Yoko: Did you come up with the main character’s name, Susumu Kodai?
Nishizaki: Not me. It was Leiji Matsumoto. He’s a huge Shinsengumi fan and he was the one who named the captain, Juzo Okita.
Yoko: It’s great to be able to make romance your business.
Nishizaki: Yes. Especially with animation, you can draw what you like. It costs a lot of money to depict special effects in space, but animation allows me to easily create my own romanticism and imaginary world.
Yoko: You’re true to men’s dreams and romance. You want to build a lighthouse for the battleship Yamato, and you buy things that boys want, like a Harley Davidson, a limousine, and even a toy pistol. It’s rare to find someone who can do things without hesitation, even as an adult.
Nishizaki: I used to think that I hadn’t changed until I was in my early thirties, and that other people were wrong. But recently, I’ve come to think that those who do things look different to others, so they must be different after all. Maybe it’s because of my age (laughs).
Yoko: Being true to your dreams is the secret to youth.
Nishizaki: Really…?
Yoko: There used to be a song called A Man’s Pocket, and it said no matter how important a man is, he still has marbles, pachinko machines, and baseball hats from his childhood.
Nishizaki: Isn’t that the case for everyone?
Yoko: Men like that are wonderful…
Nishizaki: Or to put it another way, they’re idiots. (Laughs)
Yoko: It’s much better to be young and stupid than to be old and smart.
Do you have any memories of love?
Nishizaki: Yes, I do. But I feel like if I don’t keep making memories of new experiences, I won’t be able to create anything.
Yoko: You can’t talk about memories of relationships between men and women unless you make them.
Nishizaki: I’m actually 45 years old, so I can’t live my life thinking about platonic love all year round. So I will probably make something more physical rather than the next Yamato.
Yoko: Is Space Battleship Yamato your life’s work?
Nishizaki: Every time I make something, I always feel like this will be my last work. But other people don’t take me seriously.
Yoko: Is Sasha, who appears in the third part, your ideal woman?
Nishizaki: The first ideals were Yuki Mori and Starsha. I really like Leiji Matsumoto’s art, and I chose him because I saw my ideal type in the female characters he draws.
Yoko: Maybe you had a bad experience…!?
Nishizaki: This time, Sasha is a little different from my ideal.
Yoko: She seems like someone who is emotionally involved.
Nishizaki: Exactly. I also tried to bring out the qualities of a 16- or 17-year-old girl.
Yoko: Men tend to forget women they are physically involved with, but they never forget women they are emotionally involved with.
Nishizaki: Exactly. I’m writing this from my memory of first love. So, Yoko, you must have had a variety of experiences.
Yoko: I haven’t had much experience being emotionally involved.
Nishizaki: I don’t think that’s true (laughs).
Yoko: Men are always looking for a Sasha. And yet they say things like “let me do it” (laughs).
Nishizaki: This turned from romantic into a terrible story.
Yoko: Romanco… a new slang term. [Here she combines the word “romance” with the Japanese word for female genitalia.]
Nishizaki: Ah, I can’t do this any more… (holds his head)
Special thanks to friend of the website Minoru Itgaki for translation support