Fumio Yanoguchi

Fumio Yanoguchi was one of the Toho Studios' most accomplished and important technicians of sound. Though many Japanese movies were filmed without sound, then dubbed after the fact, Yanoguchi was one of the few who specialized in recording live sound, and editing it to the performances on screen. A member of Japan's Photo Chemical Laboratories (aka P.C.L., a film company which was later absorbed into Toho), Yanoguchi was among the pioneers of Japanese film in the sound era, and became the favorite recordist of Akira Kurosawa, among the most sound-sensitive of Japanese directors. Yanoguchi also recorded several films in a row for their mutual friend Ishiro Honda, including Matango (1963) and Mosura tai Gojira (1964). Unlike many of his generation, Yanoguchi never retired, continuing to work with Kurosawa and Honda on such films as Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985), as long as his health permitted.