In Remembrance: Sadamasa Arikawa

     Sadamasa Arikawa, the Japanese special effects director who worked on many classic Japanese science-fiction and giant monster films, has passed away on September 22, 2005 in Izu, Japan. He was 80.

     Born in June 1925 in Tokyo, Japan, Arikawa joined Toho Studios following the end of World War II. Arikawa received his first screen credit as a special effects cameraman for Eagle Of The Pacific (1953), a bio–pic of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. However, it was his next assignment, the classic Godzilla (1954), which would change the direction of his career.

     As the special effects camera operator for Godzilla, Arikawa teamed once again with Eagle Of The Pacific’s special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya to design and photograph the numerous scenes of the giant, mutated monster rampaging through Japanese cities. Although much of the model work for the film was painstakingly detailed, Arikawa often stated that the crew knew that some of their special effects work would pale in comparison to similar but bigger-budgeted sequences produced in Hollywood. That didn’t matter, though, as the crew was intent on telling as good a story as possible. The film resonated with Japanese audiences, who were all too aware of the horrors of atomic warfare that Godzilla represented.

     Tsuburaya was impressed with Arikawa’s work and the two continued to work on many of Toho Studio’s classic giant monster films including Rodan (1956), Mothra (1961) and Frankenstein Conquers The World (1965) as well as several Godzilla sequels. As the Godzilla series progressed, the scripts became watered down, emphasizing children-friendly action elements over the allegory of the first film. That didn’t stop the Toho effects crews from attempting new techniques in bringing monsters to the screen. For 1967‘s Son Of Godzilla, considered by some genre fans as the Godzilla series’ nadir, Arikawa coordinated 20 technicians to work a puppet of a giant spider, having each technician pull on a separate wire as he called out assigned numbers.

     Arikawa also worked with Tsuburaya when Tsuburaya moved over to television to create the classic science-fantasy Ultraman in 1966. Arikawa’s last film was 1977’s Colossus Of Congo.