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.