Japanese zoologist, essayist, and filmmaker (1935–2023)
Hata in 2003
Masanori Hata (畑 正憲, Hata Masanori, 17 April 1935 – 5 April 2023) was a Japanese zoologist, essayist, and filmmaker. A popular essayist under the pen name Mutsugorō,[1] he was awarded the Kikuchi Kan Prize for his writing in 1977.[2] He was perhaps best known in the West as the director and screenwriter of the 1986 film The Adventures of Milo and Otis.
Hata was born in Fukuoka Prefecture on 17 April 1935.[2] He graduated from the Faculty of Biology at Tokyo University in 1958, and went on to complete a master's degree in 1959.[2] Trained as a zoologist, he worked as a documentary filmmaker producing nature films.[2] He moved to the eastern coast of Hokkaidō to establish the Mutsugorō Animal Kingdom nature preserve, where he and his family lived with over 300 wild and domestic animals.[2][1] He is the author of over 100 books,[1] including collections of his Mutsugorō essays on nature such as Warera dōbutsu mina kyōdai (All of Us Animals Are Brothers and Sisters, 1967) and Mutsogorō no hakubutsushi (Mutsugoro's Natural History, 1975).[2]
Over four years, Hata and associate director Kon Ichikawa shot 400,000 feet of film at the Mutsugorō Animal Kingdom. The resulting film, about the adventures of an orange tabby cat and a fawn pug, was released by Toho in 1986 as Koneko Monogatari (子猫物語, A Kitten's Story) and was the highest-grossing film of the year in Japan, taking in about $36 million. It was shown that year at the Cannes Film Festival as The Adventures of Chatran. For US distribution by Columbia Pictures, it was cut down from 90 to 76 minutes and narration in English by Dudley Moore was added. It was released in 1989 as The Adventures of Milo and Otis.[1]
Hata died on 5 April 2023, at the age of 87.[3]
^ abcdBuehrer, Beverley Bare (1990). Japanese Films: A Filmography and Commentary, 1921-1989. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. xiv–xv. ISBN 0-89950-458-2.
^ abcdef"Hata Masanori". Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Tokyo: Kodansha. 1993. p. 508. ISBN 4-06-931098-3.
MasanoriHata (畑 正憲, HataMasanori, 17 April 1935 – 5 April 2023) was a Japanese zoologist, essayist, and filmmaker. A popular essayist under the pen name...
Turtle Fox Deer Owl Pig Raccoon Seagulls Snake Joyce Sondra Director MasanoriHata and associate director Kon Ichikawa edited the film together from 74...
Ishikawa prefecture Masanori Nishio (西尾 正範, born 1949), mayor of Hakodate Masanori Baba (馬場 昌範), Japanese microbiologist MasanoriHata (畑 正憲, born 1935)...
arranger. Sergio Gori, 77, Italian footballer (Inter, Cagliari, Juventus). MasanoriHata, 87, Japanese zoologist, essayist and film director (The Adventures...
in 2005. The Adventures of Chatran 1986 4 This Japanese directed by MasanoriHata and associate director Kon Ichikawa edited the film together from 74...
tail meat is regarded as marbled, and is eaten as sashimi or tataki. MasanoriHata (aka Mutsugorō), a zoologist author and animal shelter operator, has...
Behr 15 The Adventures of Milo and Otis (re-release) Columbia Pictures MasanoriHata, Kon Ichikawa (directors); Mark Saltzman (screenplay): Dudley Moore...
japonica (エゾリンドウ), Hemerocallis esculenta, and lily-of-the-valley. MasanoriHata founded Mutsugorō Animal Kingdom (ムツゴロウ動物王国) after his stay on the island...
Traditional Television special Fictionalisation based on the life of MasanoriHata (born April 17, 1935) and one of the animals his family kept, a brown...
Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn United States The Adventures of Milo and Otis MasanoriHata Dudley Moore (narrator) Japan United States Family-oriented adventure...
in the North Oga Hideo Gosha 1986 The Adventures of Chatran Narrator MasanoriHata 1988 Rabu Sutōri wo Kimini Chiba Shigeki Shinichiro Sawai 1990 Ruten...
Director Cast Genre Notes A Homansu The Adventures of Milo and Otis MasanoriHata Documentary Castle in the Sky Hayao Miyazaki Animation/Fantasy Dragon...
1952) April 1 – Yasumichi Kushida, voice actor (b. 1976) April 5 – MasanoriHata, zoologist, essayist, and filmmaker (b. 1935) May 11 – Futoshi Nakanishi...
voice actress March 17 – Seiji Yokoyama, musician (d. 2017) April 17 – MasanoriHata, zoologist, essayist, and filmmaker (d. 2023) May 15 – Akihiro Miwa...
2010 Saga no ga Bai Bā-chan Akihiro Tokunaga Fuji TV Wagaya no Rekishi MasanoriHata Fuji TV She's a Steely Woman! Kazume Kamo TV Asahi Zettai Reido Nozomi...
to the Emperor Kazumoto Machijiri: Aide-de-Camp to the Emperor Shunroku Hata: Senior Aide-de-Camp to the Emperor Korechika Anami: Aide-de-Camp to the...
material for a book on Japanese modernist films. In 1942, Aizome married Masanori Yusa, a two-time olympic gold medalist freestyle swimmer. Her married name...
Battle of Sekigahara. In the field, his army fought against Fukushima Masanori, what is said to have been one of the bloodiest confrontations in the Sekigahara...
Ayako Nishigaki 1993 Rocket Knight Adventures Music with Masanori Oouchi, Aki Hata, Masanori Adachi, Hiroshi Kobayashi 1994 Sparkster Music with Masahiro...
Engineering and Construction Industries. He soon had two children: a son named Masanori Tanaka in 1942 (died 1948), and a daughter named Makiko Tanaka in 1944...
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