According to reference books, the first animation film from overseas to be shown in Japan was "Nipparu no Henkei" (Transformations of Nippal). Unfortunately, the original title and the contents are not known. My own research indicates the possibility that the first animation film shown in Japan was in fact "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" by J. S. Blackton, produced by Vitagraph Co. in the United States of America in 1906. This article is a study of this issue. The content of a film called "Fushigi no Bold" (Funny Bold), which is recorded in "The Catalogue of Cinematograph and Films" by Yoshizawa Shoten, a film import company in the Meiji Period, held by Planet Bibliotheque de Cinema in Osaka, is the same as that of the first animation in the world. The film involves faces of a man and a woman, drawn on a blackboard which are changed by animation. The title was changed to "Kimyona Bold" (Strange Bold) and Shown in Tokyo. Although I believe that this fi lm is by Blackton, it is shame that I cannot prove this Without any pictures from the catalogue and the film itself.