Time Machine: Tokyo Cinema in the 1960s

(First published March 12, 2022)

First in a two-part series

TOKYO — If you were a fan of the cinema, Tokyo was also the place to be in the 1960’s. There were 527 movie screens in the city, more than in any other capital of the world, and they offered a wide and frequently changing variety of both foreign and domestic films. Theaters in Japan were quite often bursting at the seams, with standing room patrons munching on such concession delicacies as dried eel and octopus as they watched the film from the back and down along the sides. In the main entertainment hubs of Ginza, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ueno, theaters seated as many as 2,000. There was a giant Cinerama Theater in Kyobashi. The promotional art was amazing, featuring enormous, 60-foot-tall cartoon posters in soft pastel colors above the marquee.