It was a big cinema hit, and held the Japanese box office record for a domestic film until it was surpassed by Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (1997) .
The movie Eight Below (2006) is a somewhat sanitized retelling of the same true events that inspired this movie.
The film took over three years to make.
Official submission of Japan for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 56th Academy Awards in 1984.
Jiro remained in Antarctica and continued serving at Syowa Station. He died in 1960 of natural causes. After his death, his body was brought back to Japan, and it was embalmed. It is on display at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno District, Tokyo. Taro returned to Sapporo, his hometown and lived at Hokkaido University until his death in 1970. His embalmed body is on display in the Museum of National Treasures at the Botanical Garden of Hokkaido University.