TokyoScope NEWS: Godzilla Minus One Trailer, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Fashion, and More

A round up of recent Japanese pop culture headlines and ephemera

Jul 11, 2023

It’s been a busy (and exciting!) day so far for fans of the King of Monsters as Toho Studios has just unleashed the poster art and the first trailer for Godzilla Minus One, which is the first domestically produced Japanese movie to feature the Big G since 2016’s Shin Godzilla.

Here’s the trailer:

Here’s the synopsis via godzilla-movies.com

Set in a post-war Japan, Godzilla Minus One will once again show us a Godzilla that is a terrifying and overwhelming force, which you already get a sense of from the teaser trailer and poster,” said Koji Ueda, President of Toho International. “The concept is that Japan, which had already been devastated by the war, faces a new threat with Godzilla, bringing the country into the ‘minus.’

Personally, I am loving the idea of the post-war setting, and the carnage in the trailer looks compelling. Of course, I miss the old miniatures and the man-in-the-suit effects, but 2016’s Shin Godzilla was mostly CGI as well and that turned out OK. Just hoping that Godzilla Minus One writer and director Takashi Yamazaki (who has never really wowed me before) can pull off the human drama that goes along with the creature comforts.

As for the Big G himself, the design looks to be based on one used recently for the Godzilla: The Ride attraction, also directed by Yamazaki. It seems to be a decent fusion of classic Godzilla face and body features. It could be better, it could be waaaay worse.

Either way, Godzilla Minus One is set for release in Japan on November 3, 2023, with a US release slated for less than a month later on December 1st.

TokyoScope Blog’s Patrick Macias Interview on VH US Podcast

If you’re still in the mood for more Japanese cinema stuff after watching the Godzilla Minus One trailer, check out this new interview I did on the VH US Podcast. Host Dirk Marshall and myself talk about the Japanese films that entered our lives as media changed and evolved. Theater, television, VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming are all included as is anime, Godzilla, and yakuza movies.

Art: Photography: Massive New Illustrated Book Chronicles Japanese Photography Magazines from the 1880s through the 1980s

Takuma Nakahira, “A Special Edition: The Scenery”, The Photo Image, 1970

A new book, ‘Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s’ covers a century of radical visual images torn from the pages of camera and photo mags, and features pics and writing by a who's who of legends and lesser-known masters of the lens, including Nobuyoshi Araki, Eikoh Hosoe, Moriyama Daido, Terayama Shūji, and countless others. With over 1,000 color images within its 500 hardbound pages, the book looks like a must-own for fans of 20th-century Japanese culture. I-D magazine has an interview with one of the book's authors, Ivan Vartanian, who was previously known for writing and editing Aperture Magazine's highly regarded book "Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s and 70s".

Art: Events: First Review of Tokyo's New International Art Fair is (Mostly) Positive

The scene at last week’s Tokyo Gendai 2023

The first major English-language review of Japan's new Tokyo Gendai Art Fair (which ran from July 7-9) is in, and according to ArtNet, the fair has surpassed expectations and taken an important first step towards revitalizing the Japanese art scene (although there is still much work ahead). Here are a few key points:

1. Tokyo's entire art scene was present on the opening day.

2. Despite the average prices of works sold in Tokyo being lower than those at similar fairs in other major markets, collectors were actively making purchases.

3. A new generation of Japanese collectors, who became enthused about art during the 2020 lockdowns, may finally inject new life into an art market that has been stagnant since the end of the bubble era in the early 1990s.

4. Japanese art insiders believe that new government policies, such as tax breaks for donating art to museums, should be implemented to stimulate the collector market in Japan.

Overall, it appears that Tokyo Gendai has had an excellent start and could play a significant role in Japan's cultural revolution following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anime: Fashion: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure x Glamb

Japanese fashion brand Glamb is stepping up their anime-manga collaboration game with a selection of items inspired by Hirohiko Araki’s long running, and wildly popular series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. specifically the Diamond is Unbreakable and Stone Ocean arcs. I don’t know who the male model is, but the girl is haruka.o_1126.

Here’s some highlights from the collection.

(Left) Keicho's Stand SH + Yukako & Cinderella Long Sleeves T (Right) The Hand Hoodie

Killer Queen Jacket

(Left) Yukako & Cinderella Long Sleeves T, (Right) ACT3 Freeze Raglan

View the whole collection here.