"The Pictures Are In English"

Above, the cover to "Managing Godzilla" by Shogo Tomiyama. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last Tuesday night, when I threw the little dinner party atop of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, several of my guests brought along gifts.

One of which was a book written by and published this year by former Toho Pictures President Shogo Tomiyama.

Above, the Imperial Hotel dinner group. Shogo Tomiyama is second from right. 

Mr. Tomiyama brought an autographed copy of his book, "Managing Godzilla". It is in Japanese, but it is loaded with behind-the-scenes photographs from his years as producer (picking up the torch from Tomoyuki Tanaka) and president of Toho Pictures. This is a book that all Godzilla fans should include in their collections! It contains 288 pages and is in paperback. Cover price: 2,300 yen.

Above, the autograph. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It can be obtained through www.kadokawa.co.jp/. The ISBN is 978-4-04-869000-3.

At the dinner, I thumbed through the book and marveled at the photographs. I received a good laugh from the dinner group when I mentioned that even though the text is in Japanese, "the pictures are in English."

I had planned to bring along a copy of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan for Mr. Tomiyama, but in the rush to get to the dinner, I forgot to bring it. I mailed a copy to Mr. Tomiyama the next day.