Every Yamato fan worth their salt can name the primary creators of the original TV series: Yoshinobu Nishizaki, Leiji Matsumoto, and maybe Director Noboru Ishiguro. But there’s a fourth name that belongs in that elite lineup: Head Writer Keisuke Fujikawa. As an alumni of Keio University’s Department of Literature, he was profiled in the online Keio Student Newspaper in a biographical account that itself reads like one of Fujikawa’s own heartfelt stories.

It is presented here to assist in signal-boosting his status as a name you should know.

The photo (left) shows the popular work “Ultra Seven” (provided by Tsuburaya Pros), for which Mr. Fujikawa wrote the script.

Keisuke Fujikawa, screenwriter of Ultraman and Space Battleship Yamato

by Ishino Mitsutoshi; see the original post here.

I’m currently preparing for my “final work,” said Keisuke Fujikawa (real name: Hideo Ito), a screenwriter and novelist who recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

Ultraman, Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999, Mazinger Z…without the works that Fujikawa was involved in, the state of Japanese pop culture, including anime and tokusatsu, which are now popular worldwide, would probably be completely different. [Translator’s note: “tokusatsu” is the native term for live-action special effects shows like Ultraman.]

However, it was not always smooth sailing. What are the thoughts of this creator, who lived through a period of change in the times as he faced challenges? We spoke to Keisuke Fujikawa, a graduate of Keio University, about his journey.

PROFILE

Born June 16, 1934 in Tokyo. Lives in Setagaya. Graduated from the Department of Japanese Literature, Faculty of Letters, Keio University. In 1958, he became a broadcast writer and wrote scripts for TV dramas, tokusatsu films, animation, and more, including Ultraman, Kaiju Booska, Moomin, Mazinger Z, Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999, New Aim for the Ace!, Godmars, and Cat’s Eye. He began his career as a novelist in 1983, and released Space Prince the following year. The Space Prince series became a best-seller with over 10 million copies.

See Fujikawa’s credit list at Anime News Network here

The heir to a soba restaurant

90 years ago, Fujikawa was born in a soba restaurant in downtown Tokyo. As the eldest of six brothers, he was expected to take over the restaurant and become the backbone of the family. “If you fail, everyone else will fail too,” he was told, and he was raised strictly.

“I was a waiter who boiled soba noodles, and the restaurant was relatively well-known in Tokyo, so on New Year’s Eve, there was a lot of ruckus until late at night. My father was very strict and hated anything that was out of line, but I was a good boy, so I wasn’t often scolded.”

His father also had a big influence on Fujikawa’s encounter with literature.

“For some reason, my father was a young man of literature,” Fujikawa recalls. At home, he had a luxurious complete set of works by literary figures, including Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

“I grew up in a downtown area, so I didn’t have much time for refined entertainment. But in the evening when it was time to eat, my father would comment on novels that had won the Akutagawa Prize, and talk about how to make them interesting.”

“I didn’t have any dreams or goals,” he says, but his interest in literature gradually grew.

Future Akutagawa Prize-winning author

During his junior and senior high school years, Fujikawa was passionate about tennis, leading over 100 members as captain of the tennis club while also belonging to the literature and arts club, a truly academically and athletically-minded youth.

“At the time, a teacher named Kotaro Nakajima (a literary critic who later became the president of the Mystery Writers of Japan and was noticed by Edogawa Ranpo) was the advisor for the literature club. He read my short story Jizo that I wrote when I was a first-year high school student and told my homeroom teacher, ‘That’s amazing. He’s a future Akutagawa Prize-winning author.’ That was the trigger that opened my eyes to the idea of writing.”

He started buying literary magazines such as Bungakukai and Drama, and became very interested in writing scripts for radio dramas as well as novels. It was during this time that he met one of Japan’s leading postwar screenwriters, Yoko Mizuki (who worked on The Tower of Himeyuri and The Naked General). Fascinated by her work, the young Fujikawa sent a fan letter to this famous screenwriter. After a while, he received a very polite reply. The letter was filled with words of encouragement from Mizuki. “I still treasure that letter,” says Fujikawa.

To become a scriptwriter, you have to endure for 10 years. Then the real challenge begins. Fujikawa’s wish was firm in his mind when he was in high school: “I want to write someday.”

Mr. Fujikawa as a student at Keio University

Longing for Keio University

Behind me, a large full moon suddenly appeared in the sky. A mysterious beam of white light began to shine all around.

(From Michio Kato’s Nayotake)

June 1951, Shinbashi Enbujo Theater, Tokyo. A certain play was performed by the Onoe Kikugoro Theater Company. The lead role was played by Ebizo Ichikawa, and the script was written by Michio Kato, a budding playwright at the time. It was a stage adaptation of Kato’s play Nayotake, which was serialized in Mita Bungaku [Mita Literature].

The young Fujikawa was impressed by this masterpiece, which was based on the Japanese classic The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

“I thought I would like to write a story like that in the future. At the time, Michio Kato was teaching at the Keio University Drama Research Club, so I really wanted to study under Kato-sensei, and I started to think that I wanted to go to Keio no matter what.”

However, Fujikawa’s father was furiously opposed to his choice. He wanted his son, the heir, to study economics or business at university as a future businessman.

“I had no choice but to apply to the Faculty of Economics at Keio University and Hitotsubashi University, but I was rejected by both. So the next year I decided to go in the direction I wanted to go. I took the plunge and applied to the Faculty of Letters. I ended up passing, and when I went to the orientation for successful applicants, the professors at Keio were very gentlemanly and caring about the applicants, so I thought, ‘Oh, this is the university I should go to,’ and made up my mind.”

Fujikawa was excited about his studies at university, thinking, “If I go to Keio, I’ll be able to meet my idol, Michio Kato.” But as if to shatter his hopes, he received shocking news. “Michio Kato committed suicide. The person I was trying to reach was gone. I completely lost my direction.”

Fujikawa entered Keio, but was surprised by the fact that “there were so many people with living environments that were so different from mine.” Some came to Tokyo from the countryside and lived in inns instead of boarding houses. Some were the sons and daughters of company presidents in Tokyo. Many of his classmates were wealthy and well-off.

“There was much greater disparity than there is now,” he recalls. “For those of us who grew up in an environment where the whole family worked at home, it was like heaven and earth. Even my father was a soba restaurant owner in a downtown area. Apparently, people in the neighborhood would ask, ‘Why did you send your son to Keio University?’ But my father was on my side.”

Certificate for winning a screenplay competition

Encounters with seniors

Mr. Fujikawa felt the gap between himself and those around him. One day, as he was “wandering aimlessly” around the school building, someone called out to him: “Would you like to join the Broadcasting Research Club?”

“Is there anything to write about?” Fujikawa asked.

He replied, “One of our seniors has won a scriptwriting contest for two consecutive years. I’m looking for someone to take over for him.”

“I said, ‘I can write dramas,’ and that’s how I was accepted. In the fall of my first year, there was a selection process for scripts to be submitted. I submitted my own, and for some reason it was selected as the representative work. That was the first time a senior, who had won the year before, read my script.”

That senior was none other than Toshihiro Iijima (who passed away in October 2021), a film director and screenwriter who was one of the creators of Ultraman, and who we interviewed in our newspaper before his death. Fujikawa and Iijima, who would later team up to create a number of masterpieces, met in the Keio University circle.

“Iijima-san also came from a downtown area of Tokyo. His family ran a clothing store, and mine had a soba restaurant. We both lived in very ordinary environments, so we naturally got along well. As my senior, Iijima-san often took me out for fun. At that time, wealthy people would hang out at nightclubs in Yokohama. Meanwhile, we enjoyed shows and comedy sketches at the Nippon Theater and shared our thoughts in coffee shops. As people with the same aspirations, we spent our days talking about the future of literature and directing.”

Both Fujikawa and Iijima spent their fulfilling student years at Keio University, imagining their futures. Soon, the time came for Fujikawa-san to choose his career path and graduate.

Fujikawa and Iijima (left) at a Broadcasting Research
Association alumni gathering.

Days of struggle

Fujikawa had found his path into the world of literature, but not the business world, and told his father that he wanted to become a writer. But his father, who had long wanted Fujikawa to be the family heir, strongly opposed the idea.

“I ended up leaving home, almost being disowned. That’s when my struggles began,” Fujikawa recalls. He couldn’t get the results he wanted in job interviews.

Playwright Tadashi Iizawa (also known as Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s mentor) thought he could make it as a writer, but at first he had no work and was struggling to make ends meet.

“I started living in an apartment introduced to me by an acquaintance of my father, but after living on only bread and water, I became malnourished and was unable to get up. But if I didn’t write, I couldn’t stand on my own as a writer. I somehow managed to sit down at my desk, but the squares on the manuscript paper seemed to get bigger and smaller, and I started to think that I had reached my limit.”

Even Tadashi Iizawa, the playwright who had been his confidant, gave up on him, and Fujikawa was “completely cornered.” Just when it seemed like he was on the verge of extinction, the fiancee of his best friend from his days at Keio University came to visit him at his apartment.

“When she asked me, ‘What are you doing?’ I replied, ‘I’m just drinking water and trying my best.’ She said, ‘You’re not well. Come to my house.’ She treated me to stir-fried vegetables at her house. On my way out, she packed some rice balls in an aluminum lunch box and gave them to me. On the way home, I was walking down a dark street at night because I didn’t have enough money for the train fare, and I saw a big moon in front of me. As I looked at it, tears started to flow from my eyes because I was so grateful for the kindness of others. I wonder if that was the beginning of my luck.”

Soon after, some of his acquaintances from college contacted him, and after he told them about his current situation, he was given the job of a radio program scriptwriter. Although it wasn’t the screenwriting job he had initially aimed for, he worked hard at it.

Then Toshihiro Iijima began introducing Fujikawa for jobs writing TV drama scripts. At the time, Iijima was just starting out as a director. Fujikawa shared an episode with Iijima from that time.

“When I was still struggling, Iijima’s mother became seriously ill. He asked me if I would go with him to visit her, so I accompanied him to the hospital. At that time, his mother told him, ‘Please continue to be friends with Ito (Fujikawa’s real name)’ in a strained voice. Iijima nodded vigorously. Because of this, I had a chance to talk with him about something other than writing work, and our worlds overlapped to a certain extent.”

Fujikawa believes that the days of struggle became a great asset for him. As his work gradually increased, he moved to Akasaka [in Tokyo] and finally made his full-fledged start as a drama writer.

The script for the drama Monday Man, which Fujikawa and Iijima
worked on together.

The two dramas

When Iijima was a young producer at TBS, he asked Fujikawa to write the first part of the script for the drama Monday Man. It was an unusual and big promotion for Fujikawa, who was a rookie scriptwriter at the time.

“I ended up writing at a ryokan [Japanese-style inn] in Akasaka, but it was my first time, so I was nervous and couldn’t write. I couldn’t eat, and on the last day I collapsed. I didn’t know if I finished writing or not. It seems that Iijima took the manuscript I had written and returned to the office during that time.”

The proprietress of the ryokan highly praised Fujikawa’s attitude. Unlike the other scriptwriters, who went out on the town to drink in the evening, Fujikawa was the only one who stayed in his room and single-mindedly worked on his writing.

“The landlady told the producers that I was a very serious guy,” Fujikawa said with a smile.

Also, Fujikawa lived close to TBS headquarters in Akasaka, and Iijima would often visit.

“One time, I was working a drama that Iijima was in charge of. A scriptwriter submitted only an outline and disappeared. But Iijima had already ordered the filming set based on that draft. He came to me in a panic and said, ‘Help me. The set is complete, but the script itself is missing. And the reading is tonight, so please hurry up and write a script from your imagination based on the outline. I’ll write the first part, you to write the second part.’ That’s how it happened. This became my first collaboration with Iijima.”

After that, Fujikawa and Iijima did many collaborations, such as location scouting and participating in voice recordings. Then, when the drama he was working on came to a close, Fujikawa was introduced by Iijima to a new program that was completely different from anything he had done before.

This was Ultraman, which would soon become a big hit all over Japan.

Fujikawa wrote Ultraman with the ideal of creating a work
that parents and children can enjoy together.

How to depict Ultraman

“Iijima asked me, ‘If you’re interested, why don’t you go?’ So I went to Tsuburaya Productions, the studio for Ultraman, and that’s how I got involved with the world of tokusatsu,” said Fujikawa. In fact, he had only written dramas set in the real world up to that point, and had hardly ever watched a tokusatsu film.

“When I first saw Tsuburaya Productions’ tokusatsu work, I felt something. I thought that if you use the virtual reality of special effects in the right way, you can portray a real reality. I thought that maybe that’s where the cutting edge of society lies.”

When writing the story for Ultraman, Fujikawa had many discussions with Iijima, and set the goal of creating a work that parents and children could enjoy together. What they had in mind was the scenery of the downtown area where they were born and raised.

“We worked together, talking with our families. It may not have been flashy, but that’s how we lived our lives in the downtown area. In the late 1960s, people were busy working, and opportunities for parents and children to talk to each other were decreasing. That’s why, at least, Iijima and I wanted to create a program that the whole family could watch. We wanted parents and children to have fun conversations about the universe and science depicted in Ultraman.”

Since then, “creating works that the whole family can enjoy” has become Fujikawa’s basic stance. Even after he left the Ultraman series and parted ways with Iijima, Fujikawa continued to write works for children and their families.

Becoming a successful creator

“A major agency approached me and asked, ‘If you can write Ultraman, why not write an anime script?’ So I wrote a proposal for the Moomin anime.”

Fujikawa wrote the script for Moomin, which aired in 1970, and became a popular screenwriter whose main focus was animation. Space Battleship Yamato, the representative work for which Fujikawa was the main writer, brought about a revolutionary change in the world of anime.

Previously considered “for children,” anime gained enthusiastic popularity with a wide range of age groups, from students to adults, and became a social phenomenon. When Space Battleship Yamato was released in 1977, many people went to the theater. Fujikawa remembers that moment well.

“I cried in the theater. I felt like I’d finally made it. I watched it secretly with my family in the back row, and everyone around me was crying. I was really moved and thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m so happy’!”

After that, there was a change in Fujikawa’s family.

“Space Battleship Yamato was a big hit, and my father, who hadn’t spoken to me for a while, became interested in my work. After that, I wrote Space Prince as a novelist. (A historical fantasy novel set in ancient Japan; it sold over 10 million copies and became a bestseller.) My father always went to the bookstore and said to me, ‘Your books are always piled up there, but aren’t they selling?’ When I told him, ‘That one sold out, and I’m just piling up new ones,’ he finally understood. (Laughs) That was the first time he realized that his son had become a full-fledged writer.”

Although Japanese anime now has many fans around the world, it was still in its infancy at the time. As a scriptwriter who could write original stories, Fujikawa would work with many creators who could be considered pioneers in the worlds of anime and manga.

“When I was writing the script for Astro Boy (the second anime series, 1980), I was originally supposed to be the main writer, but the original author, Osamu Tezuka, flatly refused. The reason was that he didn’t want to work with anyone who had worked with Yoshinobu Nishizaki (anime producer). Some people arranged a dinner party for Tezuka to clear up the misunderstanding. We talked about our attitudes toward TV programs, and Tezuka was convinced. With that cleared up, he said, ‘Next time, please work with me.’ I later wrote the script for a work based on a Tezuka original for Nippon TV’s Love Saves the Earth. He was a very friendly person.”

“I also had the opportunity to be the main writer for Mazinger Z. At that time, the original author, Go Nagai, sent his assistant to the recording studio to tell me, ‘Fujikawa’s work is the most interesting.’ It was unthinkable and I was very grateful for it. There were manga artists like that.”

Continuing to challenge themes

Novels, dramas, tokusatsu, and anime. Fujikawa has produced works in a variety of genres and styles over his 70-year career. However, there is one theme he has always cherished.

“In Ultra Seven, there is a memorable episode that I created with Iijima at the end, called The Plot to Assassinate Seven. After the broadcast of Ultraman ended, Director Iijima left the series, and I was going through a difficult time. One day, I suddenly got a call from Iijima saying, ‘I’m going to shoot Ultra Seven again. Can you write something?’ I was very enthusiastic about this story, and I wrote it with the feeling that even weak aliens can put Ultraman in a desperate situation if they unite.”

“It was a work that gave me a sense of accomplishment. The monsters and aliens I worked on in the Ultraman series were mostly weak, and I felt the disparity between the downtown area and the uptown area when I was a student. I always had a desire in my heart to be on the side of the weak.”

The powerful Guts alien appears in the first and second parts
of Fujikawa’s masterpiece, The Plot to Assassinate Seven.

Not only in Ultra Seven, but in many of Fujikawa’s works, the weak stand up to adversity. His book Space Prince is a story about a protagonist who grows into a hero while fighting against harsh discrimination. In Galaxy Express 999, for which he was the main writer, the protagonist travels through space and encounters people who are persecuted on each planet.

“As time goes on, I feel like people are divided into those who work hard and those who just play around. Among them, there are groups that are ridiculed and left out. I wanted to protect those people. No matter what society we live in, there are those who can escape and become strong, but there are many people who suffer because they can’t. If you deal with such issues seriously, it becomes a serious drama.”

“However, by writing Ultraman, I learned how to convey such themes in an interesting way. I worked on various things after that, but no matter how much the times change, the theme that flows deep inside is always the same.”

That is why Fujikawa emphasizes that “things that are often overlooked” are important.

“You can’t just look at the surface. You can’t just follow trends because it’s easier. There must be something that others overlook. The most important thing is to keep in mind what is really needed and find it.”

Fujikawa turned 90 this year. He says he is in good health and is currently devoting himself to creating his next work. At the same time, he says he is looking forward to the future of the younger generation.

“I can’t stop until I die, after all. (Laughs) Right now, I’m doing my research for my ‘last work.’ I need to stay healthy until I can see what the younger generation will be like in the future. These are difficult times. I think the most important thing is to see what the current problems are. If you find a goal, you should go for it. Just do everything you can and then take a break. As long as you work hard and diligently, you will naturally find that people will help you.”