The Rarest Japanese Star Wars Poster We Have Ever Handled: Conserving a Giant 1982 “Eki-Mae” (Station Front) Billboard

Movie posters were created as temporary advertising. Giant public-display posters were more temporary still: installed for a specific campaign, exposed to handling and environmental conditions, and commonly removed or destroyed when their purpose had been served.

That history makes the survival of this poster extraordinary.

Measuring approximately 157.5 × 215.9 cm — 62 × 85 inches — this original 1982 Japanese Star Wars billboard is roughly equivalent in area to nine standard Japanese B2 posters. It was printed in two enormous sheets for station-front public advertising and promotes the Japanese-dubbed theatrical re-release of Star Wars.

It is the largest Japanese Star Wars poster format we have ever handled.

More remarkably, the poster was never pasted to a billboard. It survived unused, folded and stored for decades before being discovered in Japan. It has now been professionally conserved and linen-backed by Fourth Cone Restoration, with the complete process documented in long- and short-form films.

Watch the Fourth Cone Restoration

Watch Fourth Cone Restoration conserve and linen-back this extraordinary giant 1982 Japanese Star Wars station-front billboard.

Watch the Full Restoration on YouTube →

At a Glance

Film: Star Wars
Country: Japan
Year: 1982
Campaign: Japanese-dubbed re-release / 日本語版
Artwork: Tom Jung, Style “A”
Format: Giant two-sheet station-front / “eki-mae” billboard
Dimensions: Approximately 157.5 × 215.9 cm / 62 × 85 in
Scale: Approximately 9.07 Japanese B2 posters by area; approximately 2.27 times the area of a Japanese B0
Construction: Two sheets
Provenance: Sourced in Nagasaki, Japan
Original use: Public station-front advertising
Condition before conservation: Unused; never pasted; previously folded
Conservation: Professionally linen-backed by Fourth Cone Restoration
Known examples: One other publicly identified archive example known to us
Authenticity: Original 1982 Japanese theatrical advertising poster; not a reproduction or modern reprint

A Japanese Star Wars Poster at Architectural Scale

The standard Japanese theatrical poster is the B2, measuring approximately 51.5 × 72.8 cm. B2 posters were distributed to cinemas for normal lobby and promotional display, and they remain the format most collectors encounter.

Larger Japanese formats increase dramatically in both physical presence and rarity:

• A B1 is approximately twice the area of a B2.
• A B0 is approximately four times the area of a B2.
• This giant two-sheet billboard is approximately 9.07 times the area of a B2.
• It is also approximately 2.27 times the area of a standard B0.

Put another way, its surface area is comparable to a three-by-three wall of Japanese B2 posters.

It is important to distinguish this piece from the already rare Japanese B0 station-poster format commonly described as eki-bari. This is substantially larger: a two-sheet public-display billboard associated with 駅前 / eki-mae, meaning the area in front of a railway station.

The poster was not made for a cinema lobby. It was created to command attention in a major public space.

At approximately 62 × 85 inches, the assembled two-sheet billboard is more than twice the area of a Japanese B0.

“Eki-Mae”: Advertising in Front of the Station

Railway stations and the districts immediately surrounding them have long been among Japan’s most valuable advertising environments. These were places of intense pedestrian flow: commuters, shoppers, students and cinema audiences passing through tightly concentrated urban spaces.

The distinction between eki-bari and eki-mae is useful when understanding this poster.

駅貼り / eki-bari broadly refers to posters displayed or pasted within station environments. Large B0 station posters are generally understood within this category.

駅前 / eki-mae literally means “in front of the station.” 

A poster of this size would have been intended for a large board, wall or billboard surface where it could be read from a considerable distance. Its two-sheet construction made production, distribution and installation more complicated than that of a standard theatrical poster.

It was a working advertising object—not an item intended to enter a private collection.

Why an Unused Survivor Is So Important

Large-format Japanese billboard posters were commonly pasted directly to their display surfaces. Once installed, a sheet would be exposed to adhesive, handling, weather, light, dirt and the physical process of removal.

For a poster measuring more than two metres across, clean removal would have been exceptionally difficult. In many cases, survival in collectible condition would have been practically impossible.

This example escaped that fate.

It appears never to have been pasted or installed. Instead, the two sheets remained folded and stored for decades. The reverse retained important operational evidence, including a スター・ウォーズ / Star Wars title stamp.

Its condition therefore preserves something more than the artwork. It preserves evidence of how giant Japanese theatrical advertising was prepared and distributed.

No official production records for this format are currently known to us, so we will not claim an exact print run. Nevertheless, its site-specific function, two-sheet construction and direct-paste stock place it in a completely different and comparably tiny production category from nationwide B2 cinema material.

Whatever the original quantity, survival would have been lower still.

Star Wars Returns to Japan in Japanese

Star Wars first opened theatrically in Japan in 1978, following its original American release in 1977. By then, the film had already become an international phenomenon and had transformed expectations surrounding science-fiction cinema, visual effects, merchandising and film promotion.

This billboard belongs to the later 1982 Japanese-dubbed re-release campaign.

The poster explicitly promotes:

スター・ウォーズ 日本語版

—Star Wars: Japanese-language version.

The orange blocks at the lower left emphasise 日本語版, making the dubbed presentation one of the campaign’s primary selling points. The poster is consequently not simply a larger printing of familiar Star Wars artwork. It documents a specific moment in the film’s localisation and exhibition history in Japan.

The return of the original film in a Japanese-language presentation expanded its accessibility, particularly for younger viewers and audiences for whom a fully dubbed theatrical experience carried considerable appeal.

It also occurred at an unusual point in the original trilogy’s chronology: after the Japanese release of The Empire Strikes Back and shortly before Return of the Jedi—then released in Japan as Revenge of the Jedi / 『ジェダイの復讐』—arrived in 1983.

Tom Jung’s Style “A” Artwork

The billboard uses Tom Jung’s celebrated Style “A” composition, one of the defining images of twentieth-century film advertising.

At its centre, Luke Skywalker raises a lightsaber into a brilliant burst of light. Princess Leia stands heroically below him. Darth Vader’s helmet dominates the star field behind them, while the Death Star, X-wings, C-3PO and R2-D2 establish the scale and visual language of George Lucas’s universe.

The composition is less a literal representation of a film scene than a mythic distillation of the story. Luke and Leia are elevated into near-archetypal figures; Vader becomes a dark, spectral presence; the lightsaber creates a vertical axis around which the entire image is organised.

That theatrical exaggeration is precisely why the artwork works so effectively at billboard scale.

On a standard one-sheet, Jung’s design is iconic. At approximately 62 × 85 inches, it becomes environmental.

Tom Jung’s Style “A” composition presented at giant Japanese station-front scale.

Reading the Japanese Billboard Design

The billboard combines Jung’s internationally recognisable artwork with information created specifically for the Japanese campaign.

Among its principal elements are:

The English tagline
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” appears at the upper left.

Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia
The heroic central figures create the visual focus of the composition.

Darth Vader and the Death Star
Vader’s helmet looms across the upper field, with the Death Star and racing X-wings establishing the galactic setting.

The STAR WARS title
A large blue-gradient English logo stretches across the lower composition.

The Japanese title
スター・ウォーズ appears beneath the English logo in red.

日本語版 campaign blocks
The orange notices identify the film as the Japanese-language version.

Japanese credits
The lower-right area carries Japanese cast and production information together with distributor and approval marks.

Awards promotion
An Oscar statuette and awards callout appear at lower left, reinforcing the film’s status as an internationally acclaimed event.

Period advertising frequently described Star Wars as the winner of seven Academy Awards. More precisely, the film received six competitive Oscars, together with a Special Achievement Award for Benjamin Burtt Jr.’s creation of the film’s alien, creature and robot voices.

The Japanese campaign’s awards language reflects how the film was marketed after its initial global success had already been firmly established.

Provenance: A Station-Front Allocation from Nagasaki

This example was sourced in Nagasaki, Japan.

Before conservation, the reverse retained practical markings connected to its original campaign use. 

The poster therefore carries several complementary forms of evidence:

• the 1982 Japanese-language campaign text;
• the two-sheet billboard construction;
• the giant 62 × 85 in dimensions;
• the direct-paste public-advertising stock;
• the reverse title stamp;
  

Together, these details support its identification as an authentic giant Japanese public-display billboard rather than ordinary cinema-lobby paper.

The Only Other Publicly Identified Example Known to Us

The only other publicly identified complete example known to us is retained in the reference archive at StarWarsMoviePoster.com.

That archive records its example at approximately 62 × 85 inches, corresponding to the same giant scale as the present poster. Although the entry uses the broader B0 / eki-bari classification, its recorded measurements are substantially larger than a standard Japanese B0 and align with this two-sheet station-front format.

The StarWarsMoviePoster.com example is classified as:

• Status: Collectible archived
• Jawa Meter rarity rating: 100%
• Price rating: 5/5
• Reproductions: None known

The archived example is not offered for sale.

At present, we have not identified another complete example at a prominent film-poster auction or in a public sale archive. To our knowledge, the poster conserved by Fourth Cone Restoration is therefore the only example of this giant format currently available to collectors.

That statement is deliberately qualified. Poster history is continually evolving, and previously undocumented material can emerge. It nevertheless reflects the available evidence currently known to us.

Conserving the Billboard at Fourth Cone Restoration

A poster of this scale presents challenges far beyond those of an ordinary theatrical one-sheet.

The two original sheets had survived folded and required careful flattening, alignment and long-term support. Because the poster had never been pasted to an outdoor or station-front surface, the original paper had escaped the severe adhesive damage that would usually be associated with a billboard survivor.

Fourth Cone Restoration professionally conserved and linen-backed the poster, stabilising the original sheets and creating a unified presentation suitable for safe handling, display and future preservation.

The treatment included:

• flattening and stabilisation of the original paper;
• careful assembly of the two-sheet composition;
• professional linen backing and restoration;
• preservation of the unused, never-pasted survivor;
• and preparation for long-term display.

The completed poster now has a near-mint visual presentation when viewed as a conserved display object, while retaining its identity as an original 1982 Japanese theatrical billboard.

The full process was filmed, providing an unusual visual record of the conservation of one of the largest Japanese Star Wars posters known to us.

WATCH THE FULL CONSERVATION FILM →

VIEW THE JPS X FOURTH CONE CAMPAIGN PAGE →

From Advertising Object to Museum-Scale Display

Despite its exceptional dimensions, the completed billboard is not impossible to display.

Its linen backing allows the two sheets to be handled as a unified object. It could form the centrepiece of:

• a significant private Star Wars collection;
• a dedicated cinema or screening room;
• a corporate or hospitality environment;
• a gallery exhibition;
• or an institutional display concerned with film, design, advertising or popular culture.

The scale requires careful planning, but that scale is also the source of its extraordinary presence.

A standard poster decorates a wall. This billboard transforms it.

Display visualisation showing the billboard presented as a museum-scale object.

Why Giant Japanese Star Wars Posters Matter

Japanese Star Wars posters occupy an important place in global film-poster collecting because they combine one of cinema’s most recognisable properties with Japan’s distinctive exhibition, printing and advertising history.

Standard theatrical formats preserve the designs encountered inside cinemas. Giant railway and station-front posters preserve another dimension of film culture: the moment when cinema entered the public environment and competed for attention across the urban landscape.

This poster is particularly compelling because it brings together:

• Tom Jung’s foundational Star Wars artwork;
• the 1982 Japanese-dubbed re-release;
• giant public-display scale;
• station-front campaign provenance;
• an unused and never-pasted state of survival;
• Nagasaki origin;
• professional Fourth Cone conservation;
• and extreme documented scarcity.

It is simultaneously a Star Wars collectible, a work of commercial illustration, an artefact of Japanese railway advertising and a survivor of a form of display material that was rarely expected to last.

The Restored 1982 Giant Japanese Star Wars Billboard

The conserved poster is now available through Japan Poster Shop.

Product: Star Wars (1982)
Format: Giant Japanese two-sheet station-front “eki-mae” billboard
Scale: Approximately 9× B2 / 2.27× B0
Artwork: Tom Jung
Campaign: 1982 Japanese-dubbed re-release
Condition: Unused; never pasted; professionally linen-backed
Documentation: Japan Poster Shop Certificate of Authenticity and Fourth Cone Restoration treatment documentation

VIEW THE RESTORED BILLBOARD →

Explore Original Japanese Star Wars Posters

Japan Poster Shop holds a wide range of original Japanese Star Wars material, from standard theatrical B2 posters to rare B1s, promotional designs, soundtrack advertising and giant public-display formats.

EXPLORE THE STAR WARS COLLECTION →

For newly listed original Japanese movie, anime and graphic-design posters:

VIEW NEW ARRIVALS →

For exceptional large-format, institutional and museum-grade material:

EXPLORE RARE / MUSEUM-GRADE POSTERS →

Visit Japan Poster Shop in Shibuya

The billboard can also be discussed as part of a private appointment at the Japan Poster Shop gallery in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Our by-appointment space presents a rotating selection of original Japanese movie posters, anime art, graphic-design material and major archive pieces.

BOOK A SHIBUYA GALLERY VISIT →

Final Perspective

This is not simply an enlarged Japanese Star Wars poster.

It is a genuine two-sheet station-front advertising object created for the 1982 Japanese-language theatrical campaign; a billboard roughly the area of nine Japanese B2 posters; an unused survivor that escaped the direct-paste display for which it was intended; and, to our knowledge, the only example of its format currently available to collectors.

Only one other publicly identified complete example is known to us, retained as an archived collectible at StarWarsMoviePoster.com.

Featuring Tom Jung’s legendary Style “A” image, sourced in Nagasaki and professionally conserved by Fourth Cone Restoration, the poster occupies an exceptional position within Japanese Star Wars collecting.

It is enormous, historically specific and almost impossibly scarce: a museum-scale survivor from the public advertising history of one of cinema’s defining films.