20 Things You Didn’t Know About You Only Live Twice (1967)

8. “You Train Hard And Quickly To Become A Ninja...”

Whilst You Only Live Twice is often labelled as a madcap James Bond film, when it came to depicting Tiger Tanaka’s Ninja army onscreen, the filmmakers were determined to be as authentic as possible.

They hired the last known Ninja master in Japan, then-34-year-old Masaaki Hatsumi, who had been trained by Toshitsugu Takamatsu, to provide actual Ninjas for the film.

Nevertheless, several members of Tiger’s force were portrayed by British stuntmen, including Vic Armstrong, who started his association with Double-0 Seven as the first Ninja to rappel into Blofeld’s volcano lair during Tiger's spectacular siege on SPECTRE. Armstrong gradually moved up to the position of stunt co-ordinator on future Bond films, before becoming a second unit director.

Hatsumi, on the other hand, had a fleeting blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo as an aide onboard Tiger’s personal train in Tokyo. He advises Tiger that the microdot that Bond found at the offices of Osato Chemical & Engineering is ready to be viewed.

Contributor

I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.