, born 15 August 1958, is a Japanese filmmaker, best known for low-budget parody films featuring surreal humour and traditional practical effects. Kawasaki began his career with mostly self-financed work, including the Den-Ace short films, featuring a parody of kyodai-style Japanese superheroes, before working on Tsuburaya Production's Ultraman Tiga (1996-1997). He had his first hit with The Calamari Wrestler (2004), about a wrestler who inexplicably becomes a giant squid. He followed this up with Executive Koala (2005), about an anthropomorphic koala salaryman who may or may not have murdered his wife, and Kabuto-O Beetle (also 2005), another wrestling-themed movie, this time with a giant stag beetle. In 2006, he released The World Sinks Except Japan, a spoof of Shinji Higuchi's remake of Japan Sinks, and Crab Goalkeeper (also 2006), a film Kawasaki describes as being his Forrest Gump (1994). Kawasaki has also directed 2008's Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit, a sequel to the 1967 Shochiku kaiju film The X from Outer Space. While the original, made during the height of Japan's "Kaiju Boom" (1966-1967), is played straight, the sequel is another parody. He has since directed two more kaiju films: Kaiju Mono (2016) and Monster Seafood Wars (2020). Filmography As director The Calamari Wrestler (2004) Kabuto-O Beetle (2005) Executive Koala (2005) Crab Goalkeeper (2006) The World Sinks Except Japan (2006) The Rug Cop (2006) Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit (2008) (2008) Outer Man (2015) Kaiju Mono (2016) Monster Seafood Wars (2020) Planet Prince 2021 (2021) References Nipponconnection.de 2006: Minoru Kawasaki Film Threat: Fantasia marches into its final week 1958 births Living people Japanese film directors