Blue Christmas

Directed by
 Produced by
 Written by
 Distributed by

***The Blue Stigma***  (ブルークリスマス,   *Burū Kurisumasu*?, lit. *Blue Christmas*) is a 1978 science fiction film produced by Toho Pictures and disributed by Toho. It was released to Japanese theaters on November 23, 1978.

## Plot

The blood of those who witnessed UFOs turned blue, and when the number of such people increases, then the President of the United States makes a decision after suffering.

## Cast

* Hiroshi Katsuno   as   Oki Taisuke
* Keiko Takeshita   as   Nishida Saeko
* Kunie Tanaka   as   Nishida Kazuo
* Masaya Oki   as   Harada
* Eiji Okada   as   Hyodo
* Kaoru Yachigusa   as
* Hideyo Amamoto   as
* Yoshio Inaba   as
* Shin Kishida   as
* Naoko Otani   as
* Eitaro Ozawa   as   Godai
* Ichirō Nakatani   as   Usami
* Hideji Ōtaki   as   Takeiri
* Shinsuke Ashida   as   Aiba
* Tatsuya Nakadai   as   Minami Kazuya

## Staff

*Main article: The Blue Stigma/Credits.*
* Directed by   Kihachi Okamoto
* Written by   So Kuramoto
* Produced by   Shinichi Shimada, Kenji Kakiuchi, Michio Morioka
* Music by   Masaru Sato
* Theme and insert songs performed by   CHAR
	+ Theme song lyrics by   Yu Aku
	+ Insert song lyrics by   Keisuke Yamakawa
	+ Composed by   Masaru Sato
* Cinematography by   Daisaku Kimura
* Edited by   Yoshitami Kuroiwa
* Production design by   Kazuo Takenaka
* 1st assistant director   Fumisuke Okada

## Production

Satoshi Kuramoto's original scenario is a political drama that focuses on the nation's plot to eliminate the changes it brings as foreign bodies, rather than the encounter between UFOs and humankind on Earth. The plot is ultimately achieved by the eradication of blue-blooded humans by military force, but in the process, Kuramoto relentlessly portrays political propaganda using broadcast media.

Kuramoto's scenario was published in " Kinema Junpo " the year before the production, and it was triggered by Tomoyuki Tanaka, who was the president of Toho Video at that time. Tanaka is a producer of Toho special effects movies, and at the same time, he is also known as a big science fiction enthusiast, such as holding a planning meeting inviting science fiction writers around " Matango " (1963). It led to the decision to accept Kuramoto's script, which is far from the special effects that is a specialty, as "if it is interesting as science fiction".

Kihachi Okamoto was selected at the request of Tanaka, who has formed a combination for many years, but Okamoto himself always dreamed of encountering a UFO. Okamoto recalls that he was happy to receive Kuramoto's script as a "gift" in the preface to the scenario book published with the release of the movie. In addition, I immediately arranged a cameraman to shoot the actual scene of Christmas (because it is impossible to shoot the actual scene if it was released before Christmas the following year). However, it is said that Okamoto was quite reluctant to respond to Kuramoto's request that "the script cannot be modified at all". Okamoto complained that Kuramoto's script was "thick like a phone book and that he had to shoot on location all over the world, which required a huge budget and labour", and at one point he should do it in a TV drama rather than a movie. There was also one. However, as a result of discussions with Kuramoto, Okamoto made a movie by cutting the scene of the White House where the President of the United States and the Secretary of State plan to deal with humans with blue blood and the scene of Hokkaido where the runaway tribe is attacked by special forces. I got the confidence to complete it. In general, the first part starring Tatsuya Nakadai is said to be Okamoto Touch, and the love story of Hiroshi Katsuno and Keiko Takeshita in the second part is said to be Kuramoto Touch, but rather Okamoto Touch appears in the latter. He says that he is.

## Release

*The Blue Stigma* was distributed in Japan by Toho Pictures on November 23, 1978.

## Titles

* Blue Christmas (literal title)
* Blood Type: Blue (Japanese poster title)

## References

This is a list of references for **Blue Christmas**. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]