page_title: Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis / Production
context_page_description: Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis is a tokusatsu historical dark fantasy/science fiction epic film directed by Akio Jissoji, produced by "Exe" studios and distributed by Toho Studios. It is the first cinematic adaptation of the award-winning historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari by Hiroshi Aramata. The film stars Kyūsaku Shimada, Shintaro Katsu, Kōji Takahashi, Jo Shishido, Junichi Ishida, Mieko Harada, Kō Nishimura, and Shirō Sano among others. With a budget of around 1 billion yen, the movie was one of the most expensive live action Japanese special effects films to have been produced during that decade.
  The movie went on to become a notable success in Japan. It was one of the top ten highest grossing domestic motion pictures of 1988. It continues to be regarded in the country as a respected cult film.
context_section_description: The film began being produced around early 1987.  Swiss artist H. R. Giger was commissioned to design creatures for the movie.  Originally, he showed interest in working directly on set, however his schedule would not permit it.   His main contribution was the conceptual art for the gohō dōji.
  The movie was also one of the first Japanese productions to employ Sony HDVS equipment for filming.  Approximately six minutes of the final movie was filmed using this technology.
  The movie received a great deal of publicity with the media highlighting the grand recreation of circa 1927 Ginza district being made just for use in the film.  The open set, which cost around 300 million yen by itself, was a 150 meter long life sized facsimile of the early Showa era district featuring several electric cable cars  and 3000 fully costumed extras.
  The production was plagued by many mysterious accidents, which some attributed to the influence of Taira no Masakado's real life spirit.  It is now common practice for Japanese filmmakers and TV crews to pay respect to the burial site of Masakado before bringing him to the screen.
caption: A classic illustration of a Gohō dōji from the Shigisan-engi.  Swiss artist H. R. Giger contributed a unique design of the creature for the film.[8]
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