A year went by and with the film’s release quickly approaching, word came that Mr. Takarada’s cameo had been cut from the film. Shortly before release, director Gareth Edwards spoke about the decision stating: “From an emotional point of view, in terms of my love of Godzilla, the hardest thing was Akira Takarada. He was in the original films and did a cameo for us on Day 1. And it felt very appropriate at the time because he played an immigrations officer who welcomes Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character to Japan. So, it was like this perfect Day 1, first shot and then when we constructed the film… Basically, there was a lot of pressure to get on with the adventure and get to the monsters as soon as you can and so lots of things came out of that part of the movie and I hung onto that until the last second and it was still deemed by the screenings — when we tested it — that we had to get it shorter and, so, that ended up having to go, which is probably my biggest regret.”