---
name: "Takao Okawara"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/takao-okawara"
fi1m_id: "takao-okawara"
imdb_id: "nm0645549"
tmdb_id: 50651
wikidata_id: "Q2487109"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "20 December 1949"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-28T21:05:31.983962+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Takao Okawara

## Identity

Takao Okawara

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/takao-okawara
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** takao-okawara
- **IMDb ID:** nm0645549
- **TMDB ID:** 50651
- **Wikidata ID:** Q2487109
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takao_Okawara, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2487109, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0645549/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/50651

Director. Born 20 December 1949 in Tokyo, Japan.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 20 December 1949, Tokyo, Japan
- **Active:** 1984–1999
- **Also known as:** Ōkawara Takao, Takao Ohgawara, Takao Ookawara
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 directing, 1 crew
- **Frequently works with:** [Kazuki Ōmori](https://film.one/person/kazuki-omori.md), [Megumi Odaka](https://film.one/person/megumi-odaka.md), [Shogo Tomiyama](https://film.one/person/shogo-tomiyama.md), [Takehiro Murata](https://film.one/person/takehiro-murata.md), [Wataru Mimura](https://film.one/person/wataru-mimura.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 55 (1), 1990s 63 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takao_Okawara, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2487109, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0645549/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/50651

## Biography

Takao Okawara is a Japanese film director. He joined Tōhō in 1973 and worked as an assistant director on films including *Kagemusha* (1980) and *The Return of Godzilla* (1984).

Okawara made his debut as a director with *Reiko, the Psyche Resurrected* (1991), which he also wrote. He is best known for directing four entries in the Godzilla series: *Godzilla vs. Mothra* (1992), *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II* (1993), *Godzilla vs. Destoroyah* (1995) and *Godzilla 2000: Millennium* (1999). He is the only director to have worked on both the Heisei and Millennium eras of the franchise.

Okawara is the oldest living director of a Godzilla film and, following the death of Kazuki Ōmori in 2022, the last living director of any pre-Millennium Godzilla movie.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, wikizilla.org.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Directed (1) — the average rests on these

- *Godzilla 2000: Millennium* (1999), Fi1m 63, Original Story, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/godzilla-2000-millennium.md)

### Crew (1)

- *The Return of Godzilla* (1984), Fi1m 55, First Assistant Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-return-of-godzilla.md)

## Complete filmography (21)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Godzilla 2000: Millennium* (1999), Director, Original Story — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/godzilla-2000-millennium.md)
- *Abduction* (1997), Director
- *Godzilla vs. Destoroyah* (1995), Director
- *Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon* (1994), Director
- *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II* (1993), Director
- *Godzilla vs. Mothra* (1992), Director
- *Reiko, the Psyche Resurrected* (1991), Director, Writer, Visual Effects Director
- *The Goodbye Girls* (1987), Assistant Director
- *Godzilla 1985* (1985), First Assistant Director
- *The Return of Godzilla* (1984), First Assistant Director — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/the-return-of-godzilla.md)
- *The Longest Tunnel* (1982), Assistant Director
- *The Imperial Navy* (1981), Assistant Director
- *The Last Days of Planet Earth* (1981), Assistant Director
- *Kagemusha* (1980), Assistant Director
- *The Gate of Youth Part 2* (1977), Assistant Director
- *Zero Fighter* (1976), Assistant Director
- *Human Revolution II* (1976), Assistant Director
- *Tidal Wave* (1975), Assistant Director
- *The Gate of Youth* (1975), Assistant Director
- *Prophecies of Nostradamus* (1974), Assistant Director
- *Submersion of Japan* (1973), Assistant Director

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/takao-okawara