Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Sendai Station Spotlight



by Armand Vaquer

Sendai, Japan is located in the Tōhoku region in Japan and is northern Honshu's largest city.

Sendai was demolished by Allied bombing during World War II. Following the war, the city was rebuilt with wide boulevards and they are now tree-lined, which is something one won't find in Tokyo.

The main station is Sendai Station. Outside of Tokyo, Sendai Station serves more passengers than any other station. Sendai Station was first opened in 1887. It is a major stop for Akita and Tōhoku Shinkansen trains. The present station opened in 1977.

In kaiju history, Sendai Station was first featured in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II (1993) during a fly-over by Rodan. Then, in Gamera 2: Advent of Legion (1996), Sendai Station was featured first in the background while Asagi (Ayako Fujitani) made a pay-phone call to her father. Then, in the same movie, Sendai City was destroyed by an exploding Legion flower pod, with Sendai Station the detonation point.

I visited Sendai during my Japan vacation in April 2006 (my dad was briefly stationed in Sendai during the Korean War) and took the photo of the station at top. This is the same view of the station as seen in Gamera 2.

Details on Sendai Station are featured in The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
"LEGENDARY PICTURES TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE BASED ON TOHO COMPANY’S ICONIC MONSTER, GODZILLA

Burbank, CA – March 29, 2010 – Legendary Pictures announced today that they will develop and produce a new film based on Toho Company’s famed GODZILLA character. Through the terms of the agreement, Legendary Pictures has acquired the rights to produce a movie inspired by Toho’s Godzilla, a franchise the Japanese company created and has nurtured for over fifty years.

Toho’s GODZILLA franchise boasts one of the most widely recognized film creatures worldwide, resulting in a series of books, television programs, video games and more than 25 films worldwide. Legendary intends to approach the film and its characters in the most authentic manner possible. The company will, in the near future, announce a filmmaker to helm the film for an intended 2012 release. The film will fall under the company’s co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Toho will distribute the film in Japan."

"Godzilla" is coming back -- this time, with Legendary Pictures taking the lead, co-producing and co-financing with Warner Bros. for release in 2012.

Legendary announced Monday it had obtained rights to the iconic monster character from Japan's Toho Co., which has overseen more than 25 "Godzilla" films. Toho will release the pic in Japan.

Legendary said it's planning to announce a director shortly.

In addition to Legendary, producers on the new film will be Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Brian Rogers. Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira and Doug Davison will exec produce.

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise," said Thomas Tull, Chairman and CEO of Legendary. "Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop-culturally relevant for as long as it has."

Legendary noted the film will fall under its co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Legendary's productions with Warners have included "The Dark Knight," "300" and "The Hangover."

Speculation about a new "Godzilla" has been active since last summer. The Bloody Disgusting web site reported in August that the project was in development.