ISLAMABAD: Masanori Hata, a zoologist and filmmaker of Japan who dedicated his life to connecting humans and animals, died at the age of 87.
Mutsugoro, as he was fondly called, was best known for directing The Adventures of Milo and Otis, an 80s classic about a kitten and a pug’s unlikely friendship. Back in Japan, he also served as a sort of oracle for TV viewers seeking to better understand their pets. He died of a heart attack, according to reports.
He spent much of his life on a ranch in Hokkaido, a northern Japanese island, with his wife, brown bears, horses, and dogs of various breeds and sizes. Mutsugoro, which means “mudfish” in Japanese, is named after him, as is the property, which he frequently referred to as an “animal kingdom.” The ranch also served as the setting for the film The Adventures of Milo and Otis. The film, which was released in 1986, is still popular among children of that era.
Hokkaido was clearly proud of him, as evidenced by his presence on the prefecture’s tourism website. According to their profile, Hata’s eyes “glowed with wisdom and kindness.” Mr Hata had been giving pet owners practical advice on his YouTube channel for years – and even during the pandemic – and his Instagram account was filled with photos of his encounters with animals large and small spanning decades.
Hata used to host Mutsugoro and His Wonderful Friends on Fuji TV before discovering social media. According to a glowing 1989 review in The New York Times, Hata “lends this children’s film a poignancy that cuts much deeper than might a similar story featuring animated characters” by filming real animals.
The paper also praised the film’s “almost hallucinatory beauty,” in which Otis the pug chases Milo the cat through vast fields and raging rivers. Hata was born in the southwest Japanese city of Fukuoka. According to the Mainichi Shimbun, he earned a degree in animal physiology at the University of Tokyo before joining the film division of the educational firm Gakken, where he produced over 20 documentaries. In 1968, he received the Japan Essayists Club Award for a book with an English translation, We Animals Are All Brothers. He was awarded Japan’s Kikuchi Kan Literature Prize in 1977.
