Superman's No. 1 Fan In Japan
by Armand Vaquer
Following World War II and during the Golden Age of television, after the end of the American occupation of Japan, a little Asian man with a mustache would park himself in front of a television set to watch his favorite television program.
The little man was Emperor Showa (in life, he was known as Emperor Hirohito) (1901-1989). His favorite television program: the Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves.
American television programs were imported to Japan where they were dubbed into Japanese. These were referred to as "TV movies" due to their high production values. Besides Adventures of Superman, other American TV shows included I Love Lucy, Route 66 and Combat.
Click on photo to see full image.Adventures of Superman was the most popular American television show and it was followed in popularity by I Love Lucy in Japan. The Emperor was such a fan of Adventures of Superman that he sent actor George Reeves a fan letter in 1958. Reeves's voice was dubbed by Toru Ohira (see Oakland Tribune article, above).
Before his death on June 16, 1959, Reeves contemplated making a tour of Japan, noting his popularity there. Too bad he didn't get the chance to go, I'm sure that had Reeves gone to Japan, he might have been invited to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to meet his number one fan there.
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