Last year was the 100th anniversary of director Ishiro Honda's birth, but most of the English-language press in Japan didn't seem to notice. Granted, Honda may not be on the same level with such movie greats as Kurosawa (for whom he worked as an assistant), Ozu and Mizoguchi, and a good part of his production has little artistic value, but for decades he consistently made solid entertainment for young and old alike.
He helped popularize the tokusatsu genre (live-action stories featuring special effects), and kaiju (monsters) movies in particular. One of them, "Godzilla" (1954), has been through the years a model for scores of local and foreign directors, and its titular "hero" is one of only three fictional characters to have been awarded the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award.
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