Above- Spanish lobby card for Ironfinger Strikes Back 1968.

Japan gives us spies, miniskirts and bikinis.

The ‘60s… wild, retro and quirky!

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Above- Golden Eyes, a popular film and featured often on the Criterion Channel. Directed by Jun Fukuda. Plenty of twists and quirky characters.

The Bond phenomena was on fire and skyrocketing around the world. And what better form of flattery or fandom than creating your own 007s. In Japan there was no exception to that rule. They truly loved the genre and Sean Connery. In fact, James Bond had been given a nickname in Japan- Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And it made sense on the screen in any of the films up to that time virtually he was seen kissing and then firing his Walther PPK.

Above-Japanese one sheet poster for Thunderball. I want to point out the highlighted action. That is the appeal of Japanese release posters. Photo by Flickr

• Something to note is that the next 007 film to be released after Thunderball- below was filmed in Japan. You Only Live Twice.

So, Japan gave us many incarnations of Bond and these films live up to that kinetic…