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Ultra Q/Ultraman Director Toshihiro Iijima Passes Away

TBS announced on Monday that director, producer, and screenwriter Toshihiro Iijima passed away due to aspiration pneumonia on October 17 at 8:59 p.m. JST at a hospital in Yokohama. He was 89.

A funeral service was held for close relatives. He is survived by his wife Hiroko.

Iijima was born on September 3, 1932 in Tokyo. After graduating the Faculty of Letters at Keio University, he was hired at Radio Tokyo (now known as TBS) in 1957.

He was a writer and director in the 1966 Ultra Q series (including the first aired episode) and the original 1966 Ultraman series (including the first produced episode). He worked on Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman, and other entries in the franchise, (He often wrote under a pen name.) He was also a producer and director for the Kinyо̄bi no Tsumatachi e franchise which premiered in 1983. He reached the retirement age for TBS in 1992, but continued working after. He kept writing and directing in The Ultraman franchise as recently as the 2001 film Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact and the 2005-2006 series Ultraman Max.

Sources: Yomiuri, Asahi, Sanspo via Hachima Kikо̄