Happy 119th Birthday

Happy 119th Birthday to Eiji Tsuburaya, a master of Japanese special effects, who was #BornOnThisDay in 1901.⠀ ⠀ Without him, #Godzilla (1954) - the very first kaiju film - would be nothing! The name Gojira, Godzilla's Japanese name, is a combination of the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira) - the combined inspiration for his original design. ⠀ ⠀ Rather than using stop-motion animation, as was used for the original #KingKong (1933), Tsuburaya used a man in a suit - a process now known as suitmation. The suit was almost impossible to move in and incredibly hot to wear, making filming a very hot and sweaty process for suit actor Haruo Nakajima!⠀ ⠀ Following the great success of #Godzilla, Tsuburaya went on to start his own special effects laboratory in 1963, and later that year founded Tsuburaya Productions.⠀ ⠀ #EijiTsuburaya #Tsuburaya #JapaneseCinema #Japan #Animation #Suitmation #OnThisDay #OnThisDayInHistory