December 5th, 2014, Koichi Kawakita passed away on his birthday. He was 72 years old. Cause of death is currently unknown.
He started his career at Toho in 1962 joining Eji Tsuburaya's special effects crew. His first feature as the director of special effects was 1984's Bye, Bye Jupiter. By the 1990s Kawakita was best known for re-imagining Godzilla as an overpowered, nuclear juggernaut winning battles with beams and nuclear pulses.*
His last feature film as special effects director was Rebirth of Mothra II. In 2003 he formed his own special effects company, Dream Planet Japan.
Former colleague Kazuki Omori (director of Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah) invited Kawakita to help teach a class on tokusatsu at the Osaka University of Arts. (1) He would later introduce tokusatsu filming techniques at a special event screening Godzilla vs. Biollante in Los Angeles. (2)
“Our generation should lead younger people and preserve our tradition for the coming years,” said Kawakita of classic Japanese special effects. “As long as we respect the traditional techniques, I think we’ll be able to build on everything from here on out.” (3)
Indeed, he was one of the last of his kind, trying to lead a younger generation to do just that. With the announcement of Godzilla 2016 we hope the next generation continues to keep the torch lit as well as Koichi Kawakita's films did.
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Sources:
*The Good, The Bad and The Godzilla
(1) SciFi Japan: Godzilla Filmmakers Teach Tokusatsu...
(2) Scifi Japan: Godzilla vs. Biollante Los Angeles Screening Event...
(3) Scifi Japan: Koichi Kawikata Talks The God of Clay
