a journey made in 1947 by the Norwegian explorer, Thor Heyerdahl, and five other people. They sailed a raft, called the Kon-Tiki, from Callao in Peru to Tuamoto Island in the South Pacific Ocean in order to show that the Polynesians
born Nov. 20, 1915, Ise, Japan Japanese film director. After working in the animation department of the Th film studio, he directed his first film, The Girl at Dojo Temple (1946). He introduced sophisticated Western-style comedy to Japan in films such as The Woman Who Touched Legs (1952) and Mr. P (1953). He gained international acclaim for his antiwar films The Burmese Harp (1956) and Fires on the Plain (1959) and the documentary Tokyo Olympiad (1965). His other major films include Conflagration (1958), My Enemy the Sea (1963), and An Actor's Revenge (1963)