Trivia

Many of his films were set in his hometown of Onomichi in Hiroshima Japan.

Obayashi almost made a Godzilla film, called A Space Godzilla.

Obayashi is well known as a "TV talent" (guest celebrity) on Japanese talk shows, game shows, and commercials.

Formed the collective Film Independant with Donald Richie and Takahiko Iimura in 1964.

Began making films as a child, using a projector and film owned by his physician father.

In 2016 the Udine Far East Film Festival presented an Obayashi tribute section with the director in attendance.

Pioneering experimental filmmaker in the 1960s, Obayashi went on direct nearly 3,000 TV commercials.

New York City's Japan Society mounted a retrospective of the director's films in 2015, giving at least some Americans an opportunity to see more of his work.

Ôbayashi was friends with Godzilla director Ishiro Honda. Obayashi casted Honda in two of his films and after his death in 1993, Obayashi included a photograph of Honda in his film Samurai Kids in his honor.

He was given his nickname in the 70s, when he was directing some commercials with Kirk Douglas and Charles Bronson. They had difficulty with his last name, so they shorted it to "OB."

He was a pacifist whose themes often opposed war.