In Australia, Sydney's TCN-9 bought the first 52 episodes of The Samurai in March 1964 but did not show them until Monday 28^th December 1964 at 3.30-4pm. This was, of course, an English-dubbed version which had been prepared for foreign consumption at the request of Senkosha Productions by a Miss Rinko Ikeda. She had used any available foreigner - diplomats, businessmen - to supply the voices, though Ose was dubbed by the only professional actor, American Bill Ross who also dubbed Hayashi Shinichiro in The New Samurai. Ross can be seen in the 1979 film Bushido Blade, a Japanese-American co-production about Commodore Perry's expedition to Japan which starred Richard Boone and Mifune Toshiro and featured Amatsu Bin as a villainous swordsman.

The first story shown out here was actually the second one made, namely Koga Ninjas. The serial was shown five days a week. On 1^st March 1965 the timeslot was changed to 5-5.30pm, no doubt due to repeated requests from viewers. After the screening of the last episode TCN had on hand, on 11^th March of the same year, they made an announcement asking viewers if they liked the program, if they wanted to see more and what time they would like it shown. Now this is highly unusual in TV stations in this country, especially TCN-9 whose cavalier attitude to viewers is well known - ask any Star Trek fan. It shows how unsure they were about this show. After all, as mentioned earlier, it was the first Japanese TV program to be shown in this country.

The response to that single announcement was, according to TCN, "staggering" with literally thousands of viewers of all ages writing in wanting more. As a result, it returned with new stories on 24^th May 1965 at 5.30pm so that more people could watch it. It continued in the 5.30pm timeslot until the end of October 1965 by which time it was going into repeats. At the end of November, it was returned, due to protests when it was taken off briefly, still in repeats as all but the very first story had been shown. It was shown at noon on Sundays with two episodes back to back to try to satisfy the demand. All in all, it was repeated three times in that 12 months due to popular demand and at each showing, it gained ever more fans, making it the most popular show in TCN's history to that time.

The press dubbed it a 'phenomenon' and declared that with "one man, very little money and a couple of television cameras, Japan has achieved a victory over Australia that eluded her militarists two decades ago. Sydney has been conquered, other capitals are sure to fall." Ose Koichi's popularity made him something of a pin-up among many fans (though there were those of us who would rather have had Kongo or Genkuro or Kotaro adorning our lockers) and his popularity here was probably equal to that in his own country, relatively speaking.

The two TV magazines we had then, TV Times and TV Week, as well as The Australian Women's Weekly featured illustrated articles on the program. The chewing-gum company, Scanlen's, brought out a set of 72 black and white gum cards of photos from the series. When the backs were placed together, they made a giant black and white full-length poster of Shintaro. These cards remain a valuable record today of the show's visual appeal and a reminder of what it was, despite the fact that the captions are marred by some misidentifcations ("Matsudaira Sadanobu" labelled a master ninja is one that comes to mind) and misromanisations 'Negishi' instead of 'Negoro', 'Kogo' instead of 'Koga', etc.). Misromanisation of names was a feature of some of the TV guides. My favourite was 'Master Ninja Gone Jam' for 'Master Ninja Dogan' which made one think that ninja was into pinching conserves. Another was 'Marishoten' for 'Marishiten' which had unforeseen consequences in that novelist Ruth Manley borrowed 'Marishoten' for the name of her villain in her trilogy of children's books.

Later in the year, towards Christmas, plastic samurai swords and children's costumes came on the market. The samurai swords were rather expensive for what they were. They were cheaply made and in the most unrealistic colours (yellow, red, green and blue blade, hilt and scabbard all the same colour). Their only redeeming feature in my view was the colour photos from The Samurai which were included, particularly as some of them were not in the gum card set such as a full length picture of Fuma Kotaro resplendent in his gold and purple jinbaori (surcoat).

There were two types of costume. One was a black ninja suit which as a bit naff in my view, even at the time. It was like pyjamas and bore only the vaguest resemblance to a ninja's costume, especially as it had white saddle stitching on the edges something which seemed to belong on a cowboy suit. Like the swords, it was a little overpriced. There were also samurai costumes, rather like fancy dressing gowns. The Powerhouse Museum has one of them and there is a photo on their website here. However, these items seemed to be popular around Christmas 1965-New Year 1966 as both swords and suits on little kids were an unavoidable sight (me, I rather wanted the toy Dalek which was retailing for the princely sum of 8/- at a toyshop in Lakemba).. 20, 000 such suits were made between August and December 1965 while 3000 toy shuriken (popularly known as 'star-knives', the translation used in the series) were distributed at schools. (I'm sure the teachers must have been delighted).

Ninja also turned up in locally made commercials. There was an ad for Kellogg's Cornflakes in which Cornelius the rooster transported little Johnny to feudal Japan where he was set upon by some of the cutest cartoon ninja who disappeared in a puff of smoke when Johnny's mother called him.

Finally, theatrical agent Jim McDonald brought Ose Koichi to Australia to star in a 90 minute samurai-vs-ninja pantomime. Once again, this was the first time such a thing had been done in Australia.

Ose arrived in Sydney with his dresser and his manager, the latter of whom acted as interpreter from time to time. He arrived on Christmas Day 1965, wearing a rich gold and black silk hakama and haori, ponytail wig, swords and thick, ghostly white Japanese stage make-up in the soaring temperatures of a typical Sydney summer's day when the mercury frequently climbs well above 38° (100° F). He'd made a quick change just before the plane landed (one does wonder how he managed climbing into that get-up, knowing how tiny an aeroplane loo is).

600 fans, many of them in ninja suits, who had waited outside the Customs Hall of Mascot airport for more than an hour, greeted him with cheers. Another 200 waited for him on the roof of the overseas terminal. When he came out of the Customs Hall, dozens of small children who had chanted, "We want Shintaro" for 20 minutes before he appeared, swarmed around him, some throwing paper or cardboard shuriken, and almost knocked him down in their enthusiasm. Some grabbed at his robes or his wig or his sword. He had to be helped clear by six policemen and customs officers. (One might say that Sydney's children had succeeded where countless ninja had failed - they'd discommoded Shintaro). Unable to speak English and unaware just how popular The Samurai was in Australia, he found the experience totally bewildering.

He made another public appearance later, at the Scanlen's gum factory in Sydney where he presented prizes to 10 winners of a Samurai colouring competition, shaking the hand of each and saying, "Sayonara". For this occasion he wore a navy pin-striped kimono as he found his splendid costume and white stage make-up tended to frighten younger children and he didn't want them to be afraid of him. Once more he found the children's enthusiasm bewildering.

Members of the press who met or interviewed the 5' 9" sturdily built star were impressed with his quiet, almost shy manner, his boyish good looks and charm, his sense of humour which came through despite the language barrier, and his politeness and modesty. He said he liked Australia and that he had wanted to come here since childhood. However, he confessed himself amazed that Australian children would like so much such a 'traditional' Japanese story as The Samurai.

The Samurai stage show opened on Monday 27^th December at 2.15pm,at Sydney's Stadium at Rushcutter's Bay. The Stadium, venue of boxing matches and many pop concerts, was torn down about 1970 to make way for the Eastern Suburbs Railway overpass, ironically about the same time as the Shochiku Kokusai Gekijo where the Japanese stage version of The Samurai had appeared. It was a hideous barn of a place, a vast brick heap with a corrugated tin roof built during the Depression of the 1930s and totally un-airconditioned. Ose had to perform in his elaborate costume in 103° F heat or more and that was just the outside temperature. Within the Stadium it was many degrees more. Several performers portraying black-robed ninja, collapsed off-stage and had to have medical treatment. The comment at the time was it was a wonder Ose didn't jump back on the next plane to Japan when he saw it. For this stage show it had been rigged with trapdoors, catwalks, platforms and fly-wires so the ninja could make their spectacular flying entrances as per the TV series. It had also been painted to represent something out of feudal Japan.

The stage show ran for 6 days, matinees only, in Sydney and played to capacity houses (the Stadium seated 3,750). It was generally well received by the critics, allowing for the hybrid nature of the beast wherein an attempt was made to duplicate on stage the TV camera's trickery. The plot was a basic one about Shintaro rescuing a princess from some ninja, who were drawn from locally-based Japanese as well as Australian martial arts teachers. There was some disjointedness which made it seem more like a succession of oriental cabaret acts as ninja and dancers each did their "turn". Ose made three appearances and managed to infuse the proceedings with his customary dignity as Shintaro and to hold attention with his presence and his expert swordplay. He outdrew the Beatles in attendances at the Stadium, averaging 6000 a show, according to press reports (in which case about half must have had to stand in view of the Stadium's seating capacity). This success led to pressure being put on the promoters to take the show to Melbourne.

On the night of 5^th January 1966, Ose flew to Melbourne to a deafening welcome from over 7000 fans. This represented the biggest crowd at Essendon Airport since the arrival of the Beatles, a fact which was even reported in the Japanese press. Essendon has long since been superseded by Tullamarine Airport as Melbourne's major airport. Ose was in the city for three stage shows (Thursday 6^th January-Saturday 8^th January, 2.15pm daily,10/- admission for children,19/- for adults) at Melbourne's Festival Hall. Here at these shows his arrival on stage was greeted as enthusiastically as in Sydney with cheering, which he acknowledged with a bow. This caused Melbourne newspapers to join with their Sydney counterparts in declaring Robin Hood, Superman, Tom Mix and Davy Crockett things of the past. All told, Ose was in Australia a total of 2 weeks before film commitments forced him to return to Japan. Not all his fans were children. Some of the most enthusiastic and unruly at his arrivals and appearances were teenage girls.

The National Library has  programs and related material from this stage show in its Ephemera Collection. The catalogue record can be found here.

At the time of his visit there was much talk of buying and showing Ose's then current TV series, Bakku Nanba 333 (Agent 333) which occupied the 6.30-7pm Sunday timeslot just before The New Samurai in Tokyo, and another samurai-type series he had just completed the pilot for but nothing ever came of this. This was a pity as there were and still are plenty of' samurai-type TV series of equal quality or better than The Samurai.

However, Sydney's ATN-7 bought Phantom Agents (Ninja Butai Gekko) and screened it at 6pm weekdays, starting 31^st January 1966. Each story was told in 2 half-hour episodes. It ran throughout most of 1966 and was expected to topple The Samurai from its perch but failed to do so, perhaps because being set in modern Japan, it lacked The Samurai's special magic and made the ninja's exploits seem too unreal when set in Tokyo's concrete jungle. Moreover, some of those exploits were pure fantasy such as ninja who could transform themselves into cups and saucers. At least what was shown in The Samurai seemed reasonably likely.

Or perhaps the novelty of ninja was wearing off as Australian children, like their Japanese counterparts before them, were swept up in the spy craze of The Man From UNCLE and clones. Nonetheless Phantom Agents was popular enough for one women's magazine to send a journalist to Tokyo to interview the staff and actors from the series while they were shooting an episode. Some young viewers declared they liked it better than The Samurai. But for me, it was a "Clayton's Samurai," or something you watched only when suffering acute withdrawal symptoms and badly needing a 'ninjamono' fix.

TCN-9 then bought The New Samurai and showed it at 5.30pm weekdays from 11^th July until 14^th September 1966. At least it was scheduled to be shown at that time. However, many episodes in the third story were pre-empted for coverage of the visit of President Lyndon B. Johnson (this was at the height of Prime Minister Holt's "all the way with LBJ" era). Needless to say, we ninja fans were NOT amused. Instead of conflicts in Kyushu we got scenes in Sydney of anti-Vietnam War protesters lying down in front of LBJ's car and the then Premier of NSW telling the driver to "run the bastards over".

Since those palmy days, The Samurai in repeats was treated rather cavalierly by TCN-9 as they would yank it off the schedules without warning and replace it with something nauseating like National Velvet often right in the middle of a story; or they'd show it out of order - when they showed it at all. In protest at this mistreatment, I boycotted TCN-9, refusing to watch any programmes on it, which is how I came to miss Star Trek's first season.

After a brief stint in the early 70s, The Samurai faded from our screens, then was repeated fully in Sydney in Melbourne at the ungodly hour of 6am weekdays around 1977-1978 (just before most people had VCRs). It was then repeated yet again 1979/1980 in the same timeslot but completely out of sequence, whereupon it was removed for about six months then returned with the Koga ninja series. A few episodes of The New Samurai were repeated in 1981, again out of sequence. When fan Alex Paige (to whom I am indebted for the information about the post-1977/78 repeats) wrote to complain as he had done for the same reason during The Samurai repeats, he received a terse reply, "Thank you for your further letter about The Samurai. Unfortunately, this series can never be repeated."

Presumably the NINE Network (of which TCN-9 is a part) had by then either junked its copies of the series (as so many TV networks in this country did with b/w material around that time), or else they simply fell apart (anyone who has seen some of the later repeats would have noticed how ratty they got over time). A tiny number of episodes ended up in the hands of a private collector who has since released what he has to video in the 1990s. There were rumours that another private individual had the full set and the rights but wanted to charge too much for screening rights but these proved false.

Despite all this, The Samurai has still not entirely disappeared. At the 1968 Sydney Royal Easter Show there was a cultured pearl exhibit. That year it boasted regular clashes between a Koga and an Iga ninja which one could watch. One could have free ninja hats and fans, as well as Japanese food (sukiyaki). For many years in the 1970s there was a well known trotter named Iga Ninja. There are no prizes for guessing the inspiration for that horse's name. A Japanese writer visiting Australia was astonished to find Australian children assuming he could leap tall buildings in a single bound, as it were, like a ninja because that was what all Japanese could do.

Novelist Ruth Manley took names, even characters and incidents from The Samurai and recast and wove them into her three children's novels based on Japanese myths and folklore, The Plum Rain Scroll, The Dragon Stone and The Peony Lantern, in whose pages one will find ninja, Kongo, secret treasures, mirrors which are clues to those treasures, Fuma, 'Marishoten' and so on. They were published in 1978, 1982 and 1987 respectively.

The series still remains a byword. A review in a country newspaper of Kurosawa's film, Kagemusha said it reminded the critic of The Samurai, which would have delighted Funatoko no doubt, and horrified Kurosawa. An article in Melbourne's Age in 1974 describing Japanese TV, spoke of ninja being very familiar to Australian audiences as well. Even now some Australian martial arts magazines make half-jesting references to 'star-knives' and The Samurai, especially during US-inspired ninja craze of the 80s. Ose has returned to Australia once since his visit in 1965 in 1989 because a friend of his was buying an office building in Melbourne. However, he was interviewed by reporter Matthew Franklin in Tokyo for a lengthy article that appeared in Feb. 1991 in the Herald-Sun (Melbourne) and the West Australian.

Two episodes, one from the Fuma series and one from Ninja Terror were shown on David Lyle's Golden Years of Television in 1986 and 1987 respectively. When Lyle showed the first one, he spoke a little about the show and displayed a complete set of the gum cards mounted in a photograph album (the only set I've seen in recent years outside my own). He said, "…a Japanese adventure series that gained a huge following, The Samurai. Boy, what a night for everyone closer to 30 than 40, let alone 20. Can’t say I never give you anything. I give you your youth. A program aimed at kids with dubbed voices should be a flop. SBS isn’t exactly topping the ratings with their efforts. But recently Monkey grabbed the kids of the 80s. And in the 60s there was Phantom Agents and before that the big daddy of them all, The Samurai. All of these adventure shows were Japanese and had a stylish of the physical with the magic and the mystical. The Samurai was a Japanese cross between Robin Hood and The Lone Ranger. The story was set in feudal times with its wise hero, Shintaro, ever loyal to his shogun lord, roaming the wild land, protecting the innocent and opposing evil-doers. Shintaro, a samurai warrior, was accompanied on his travels by Tombei the Mist, the head of a group of good ninjas called the Iga Ninjas. All the ninjas not only had highly developed martial arts skills but magical powers as well. Most ninjas were opposed to the shogun and hence Shintaro and Tombei’s enemies. And there were often stacks of them like Fuma, Koga, Kishu, Negishi and Puppet Ninjas. it was easy to tell they were all baddies because they scowled a lot and often wore black. Kongo, head of the Koga Ninja, was a dreaded fellow.

"Making up a third of the goodies with Shintaro and Tombei, was the young Shusaku. Like all kids in adventure shows, his main contribution was to get kidnapped regularly.

"The outstanding feature of the series was the dubbing – lips that moved while silence filled the screen. As well there was the distinctive violence, ninjas jumping backwards which looked suspiciously like people jumping forwards with the film running backwards. Of course, the other feature was the incredible star-knives used by the ninjas. All around Australia kids were cutting up jam tins to make their own. It’s a wonder no one was killed. Also a wonder anyone can remember jam tins.

"The popularity of The Samurai was huge. No 10 year old in the country could ignore Shintaro and his little mates. And Scanlen even brought out bubblegum cards. Here’s a look at these, which someone with a deeply committed sense of…affection for the ninjas has collected all 72. You’ve done very well.

"When the actor who played Shintaro, who was Koichi Ose, came to Australia, he was mobbed. His fans found it a pity he couldn’t speak English, however.

"Tonight Shintaro has a run-in with the Fuma and in particular, Jinkuro the Owl, one of the ten leaders, one mighty bad ninja. Sit back, suck on a sake and here comes The Samurai."

At the conclusion of the episode, Lyle added, "Ah, pretty good stuff, eh? Fights, star-knives, backward jumps and evil potions. I guess the lesson to be learned is never trust a blind masseur serving tea made from purple grass. In fact, some of the jerky camera movements and strange cuts I have a feeling resulted from the heavy censorship of The Samurai that occurred when it came to Australia. It seems that often two minutes of violence was cut off the episodes to make them acceptable. No doubt today’s kids raised from the cradle on snuff movies and Chainsaw Massacre wouldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Well, that’s all I can cope with tonight. So, until next week, sayonara."

That Samurai fans were alive and well was demonstrated by the response to that episode, even though it was not one of the most riveting nor the most typical, lacking the usual pace. For the record, it was "Ninja Fukuro Jinkuro" (Aust. title: "Touch of Death"). The second episode was "Ninja ikibotoke" (Aust. title: "Living death"), much more typical as it had the fascinating Shinigami, the Deathless ninja of the Negoro, (think Deep Space 9's Gowron with Zaphod Beeblebrox's hair) and lots of action.

Suddenly people in SF fandom were remembering it and trying to get memorabilia of it. Mike McGann produced two T-shirts with Samurai motifs on them. One was based on the well known publicity photo of Shintaro in a purple kimono, sword half-drawn and the other was of Tonbei sitting on a roof.

The series has not been forgotten in Japan either. Apart from chapters in books on it and the release of the soundtrack LP, there was a cinema in Tokyo in the early 80s which screened all 128 episodes back to back in an all-night marathon. Around 2000, a video was released with the first episode ("Man From Edo") and the last episode, ("The Duel") bracketing and episode from the middle ("The Stolen Case" ). These were, of course, in Japanese. More recently the whole series has been released to DVD in a boxed set. Of course these are in Japanese and not dubbed.

In 1990, the two episodes of The Samurai, "A Touch of Death" and "Living Death" were released to video on the Hollywood House label together with brief archive footage of Ose' and fans when he was out here in 1965 plus a peculiar interview with Ose who spoke no English and an interviewer (Victor Sawicki) who spoke no Japanese. A little later a second volume was released, this time with three episodes, "The Man From Edo" (the very first episode showing Shintaro in full court costume), "The Poison Dart" and "Revenge" from the final story, The Contest of Death. A third volume was released, run off by Sawicki himself with a photocopied cover and sold at the Samurai film session (see below). This had "The Spider" (from Koga Ninjas), "Master Ninja" (from Phantom Ninja) and "Magic Bell" from The New Samurai.

In 1993 Brisbane radio broadcaster, Greg Newman, Brisbane Samurai fan, Gary Renshaw (who owns the original wig worn by Ose in the series as well as one of his recordings, given to him by Ose when he visited him in Japan in 1989) and Victor Sawicki of Sydney's Galaxy Films who owns the surviving episodes and had released some to video via Hollywood House decided to screen some of these episodes in cinemas in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. This was not an unqualified success as they lost money at some venues due to poor publicity but at others they had a good turn out. The Canberra session was at Electric Shadows, Akuna Street on 4^th Oct (Monday of the Labour Day long weekend), a day of bitter winds and torrential rain, a real return to winter. Despite that, the theatre was nearly packed. There was some memorabilia on display in the form of Ose's wig, some gum cards, a poster of The Samurai stage show, stills from one of the feature films and copies of the videos including a new one. Greg had put together a booklet featuring copies of articles from the press of the time and an episode guide. There were four episodes shown coincidentally all featured Amatsu Bin. They were The Spider, Musai's Curse (from Fuma Ninja), Master Ninja and Revenge.

Around 1996/97, Manga Live Action (distributed by Siren Films, South Yarra) put out two volumes of Samurai episodes under licence from Galaxy Films. The first had "The Master Ninja", "Poison Dart" and "Revenge". The second had "Living Death", "The Spider" and "Musai's Curse". Next there were the DVD/video releases from Siren Visual Entertainment in Melbourne which were being released from 23 September 2002 to Feb. 2006., They had  on March 22, 2002, they signed a contract with the relevant Japanese company to release six consecutive series (not episodes) of The Samurai on DVD and VHS, originally.. Surprisingly, the Japanese company still has the dubbed episodes. The three stories, Koga Ninja, Iga Ninja and Black Ninja were released as both video tapes and individual DVD discs. Later they were repackaged as DVD boxed sets. . Fuma Ninja was announced in 2004, then dropped and then released finally in March 2005 as a DVD boxed set only. Fuma Ninjas Continued was released in Dec. 2005 and the 6th and last, Ninja Terror released in Feb. 2006.These were also available only as DVD boxed sets. The in Oct. 2007 Siren inexplicably (to me) deleted the whole lot but their stock had sold out by about mid-Sept. So once again The Samurai is not available for home consumption if you were unable to get hold of the Siren releases..

On Tuesday 28^th December 2004, Melbourne radio station 3AW commemorated the 40^th anniversary of the first screening of The Samurai in Australia on their morning program with Tony and Darren. They told listeners that today was a special anniversary, one that not many people would have thought of, and invited people to ring in with memories of The Samurai, a program most people over 50 would remember (whereupon one of them chimed in with, "But I’m 45!"). They then interviewed me by phone. How they found me is a tale in itself. I got a call the previous week from a woman at the station. When people tentatively ask for "Nikki White" I immediately assume they are going to ask me either about cavies (guinea pigs) or rabbits as I get a lot of calls about same. So when she said The Samurai, it didn’t immediately register. "Samurai? Samurai – what breed is that? Oh Samurai," went though my mind. Apparently she had found the website but there wasn’t a phone number on it (well, not on The Samurai part, no, only the email address). But if she’d gone to the Canberra Rabbit Club or Southern Regional Branch of the NSW Cavy Club pages she would have found it. Did she do that? No, she found me on a totally unrelated website, the Canberra Cat Fanciers Association and asked one of the cat fanciers for my phone number. As you do, when finding Samurai fans.

Anyway, the interview was about 5 minutes long. They asked me what attracted to me to The Samurai, was it available on DVD, whether there was much interest in it now, how well the production values stood up (other shows being satirised for wobbly sets), about the Samurai stage play/pantomime, what effect it had on my life and so on. I answered in a humorous vein, keeping it light. I’ve done radio interviews before (some by phone, some on tape and some in a studio on a range of topics). I wonder if any other radio stations celebrated The Samurai?

The Samurai can be found on YouTube as a number of Australian fans have posted clips from episodes (copyright? what's that?). The most interesting to me, because it was original and funny, was someone's trip to Japan in search of the ninja house in Koga Village. Below these are comments from other fans on the series. The best way to find them is to type "Shintaro" into the search box, rather then "Samurai".

On Wednesday 4 November 2009 at 8.30 pm, SBS screened a documentary on The Samurai and its impact on Australian culture and society in the 1960s and beyond. This was entitled Shintaro! The Samurai Sensation That Swept a Nation. It was written, produced and directed by Marco Sinigaglia of Chardonnay Club and In-Motion Media Group, based in Brisbane. Among those appearing as interviewees, apart from Ose Kochi,  (in no particular order) were Richard Lyle, chief program classification officer at NINE (and brother of David Lyle of of Golden Years of Television fame), Nigel Rennard of Siren Entertainment, Garry Renshaw (fan, also based in Brisbane who has a Shintaro wig given to him by Ose Koichi and a  number of other pieces of memorabilia), Sydney-based radio broadcaster Ian Rogerson, Sydney-based comedian John Doyle (of Roy Slaven and HG fame), Melbourne comedian and actor Santo Cilauro, talent agent Neil Clugston, Ron Lee, "corporate ninja", Sydney-based theatre producer and writere Wayne Harrison,  Dr William S. Armour of the University of NSW, Kerrie Dougherty (conservator at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum whom I know from Dr. Who fandom), Andrew Verity, a fan, Melbourne comedian and radio personality Steve Bedwell, Melbourne radio personality Peter 'Grubby' Stubbs... and me.

I had first been contacted by Marco some time in 2007 though things didn't start happening much until early 2008 when he was able to secure interest and some funding. At that point the documentary was to be called Shintaro, Our Aussie Samurai. A little later the title was changed to Shintaro, the Cult of the Children's Samurai. By July 2008 it had its final title of Shintaro, the Samurai Sensation Which Swept a Nation.  In March 2009 pre-production began as SBS was backing the documentary. I was asked to do an interview in April which was when they were planning to shoot the documentary and as I was going to Sydney Royal Easter Show to exhibit my cavies, I agreed. The interview took place at 9.30am on Friday 24 April at the Chauvel Cinema  in Paddington which is also used for making films and things. The interview lasted an hour or so. I was one of six people they were to interview that day and they'd been interviewing most of that week. They interviewed about 30 people, I think. I didn't meet any of the others, except Ian Rogerson who was on after me and had arrived early so we had a brief chat. That weekend they were flying to Japan to interview Ose and a producer of The Samurai. Editing was done in May and Marco flew down to Canberra in June to photograph and/or scan some things in my collection. In October they sent an email to all participants telling them when it would be broadcast. After the broadcast they sent us each a DVD of the documentary.

Since then I have had a lot of people contact me, either by email or in  person (people at work or in the cavy fancy including a judge up from Melbourne for our Christmas show so there was a small Samurai moment just before the judging of the main breed classes where a bunch of cavy fanciers stood around nattering about the show). People really seemed to have liked the documentary, not just for the memories it brought back, but because of its discussion of its impact on Australian society.and the way it opened up the country to Asia.

 [Cast & Characters] [New Samurai] [1973 Revival] [Historical Characters Mentioned in The Samurai] [Articles in the Australian Press] [Phantom Agents] [Episode guide - Man From Edo] [Episode guide - Koga Ninja] [Episode guide - Iga Ninja] [Episode guide - Black Ninja] [Episode guide - Fuma Ninja] [Episode guide - Fuma Ninja Continued] [Episode guide - Ninja Terror] [Episode guide - Phantom Ninja] [Episode guide - Puppet Ninja] [Episode guide - Contest of Death] [Introduction] [Historical Background] [The Phenomenon in Japan] [Ruth Manley] [Shintaro documentary] [Home]