“The Day the Fish Came Out” / 「魚が出てきた日」, Original Japanese Movie Poster 1968, Rare STB Tatekan Size (51 × 146 cm) D282
Sale price$285.00
This is an original Japanese STB tatekan theatrical poster printed for the Japanese release of The Day the Fish Came Out / 「魚が出てきた日」, Michael Cacoyannis’s surreal 1967 science-fiction satire, released in Japan in 1968.
Formed from two vertically aligned B2 sheets, the Japanese STB format was designed for prominent display on theatre doors, walls, and pillars. At approximately twice the height of a standard B2 poster, surviving examples are considerably scarcer and possess an exceptional display presence.
Film background
Set in the then-near future of 1972, the film takes place on a remote Greek island in the Aegean Sea.
After a military aircraft carrying two nuclear weapons and a mysterious container of highly dangerous material crashes nearby, its surviving pilots are ordered to recover the cargo without revealing their identities or causing public panic. Having lost their uniforms, they are forced to move around the island dressed only in their underwear.
A specialist recovery team arrives disguised as tourists, while the unsuspecting islanders begin transforming their isolated home into a fashionable holiday destination. Unknown to everyone, local residents have already discovered the missing container, setting in motion a chain of events that combines absurd comedy with an increasingly ominous warning about nuclear contamination.
Written and directed by Michael Cacoyannis, internationally acclaimed for Zorba the Greek, the film features music by Mikis Theodorakis and cinematography by Walter Lassally.
The cast includes Candice Bergen, Tom Courtenay, Colin Blakely, Sam Wanamaker, Ian Ogilvy, and Dimitris Nikolaidis.
The film is remembered for its strange mixture of bright Mediterranean spectacle, political satire, avant-garde costume design, and atomic-age anxiety. Beneath its playful surface lies a bleak commentary on government secrecy, commercial opportunism, and humanity’s inability to recognise an approaching environmental catastrophe.
Poster design
This extraordinary Japanese STB design is divided across two complementary sheets, creating a tall, continuous composition filled with blazing colour, graphic experimentation, and photographic montage.
The upper sheet is dominated by an intense cloud of yellow, orange, and red, suggesting both the heat of the Greek sun and the destructive glow of a nuclear explosion.
A group of beachgoers in minimal, futuristic swimwear dances ecstatically beneath a stark white sun. Their celebratory movements create a deliberately unsettling contrast with the danger at the centre of the film.
At the very top is a highly distinctive graphic motif: a photographic image of a shouting man contained within the silhouette of a fish, positioned against alternating blue and green vertical stripes.
The Japanese title:
「魚が出てきた日」
is rendered in jagged, hand-drawn black lettering across the fiery background. Its irregular forms resemble both sharp fish bones and fractured calligraphy, giving the title a highly modern and experimental appearance.
Directly beneath appears:
「ミカエル・カコヤニス監督作品」
“A film directed by Michael Cacoyannis.”
The lower sheet is dominated by an enormous close-up portrait of Candice Bergen, her blonde hair spreading dramatically across the composition as she looks upward with an expression combining glamour, unease, and exhaustion.
At lower left, a smaller full-length figure of Bergen appears in one of the film’s celebrated futuristic costumes, while the centre contains the colourful fish-shaped English title logo:
“The day the fish came out”
A small monochrome still of Bergen and Tom Courtenay appears beneath the logo, providing a quieter narrative image against the otherwise flamboyant design.
The vertical green text along the right reads:
「輝くギリシャ！1972年 太陽の海の鮮烈なサスペンス！ 恐怖の明日を知らない華麗な魚たち」
“Shining Greece! The year is 1972. Vivid suspense beneath the sunlit sea! Beautiful fish unaware of tomorrow’s terror.”
The combination of psychedelic colour, unconventional typography, futuristic fashion, and ominous atomic imagery makes this a superb example of late-1960s Japanese poster design.
Release and format note
This poster was printed for the film’s original Japanese theatrical release in 1968 and distributed in Japan by 20th Century Fox.
It is an original STB / tatekan two-sheet poster, measuring approximately:
51.5 × 145.6 cm / 20 × 57 inches
STB posters were assembled from two separate B2-size sheets and displayed vertically at Japanese cinemas. Because of their large dimensions and temporary theatrical purpose, they were frequently damaged or discarded after use, making surviving complete sets increasingly difficult to find.
It is an original period Japanese cinema poster, not a later reproduction or commercial reprint.
Condition
Very Good + condition. Both sheets retain strong colour, sharp photographic imagery, clear typography, and excellent overall display impact.
There are original horizontal and vertical fold lines, together with light signs of age and handling consistent with a large-format Japanese theatrical poster from this period. The reverse remains largely clean, and the two sheets present extremely well when displayed together.
Reference: D282.
Please review the photographs carefully, as they show the exact two-sheet poster offered for sale.
This is an original 1968 Japanese STB theatrical poster. It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
