You Only Live Twice (film) manned spacecraft disappear mysteriously in orbit. With each nation blaming the other amidst the Cold War, Bond travels secretly to a remote Japanese island to find the perpetrators and comes face to face with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE. The film reveals the appearance of Blofeld, who was previously a partially unseen character. SPECTRE is working for the government of an unnamed Asian power, implied to be the People's Republic of China, to provoke war between the superpowers. During the filming in Japan, it was announced that Sean Connery would retire from the role of Bond, but after
You Only Live Twice (film) reaches the American craft. The Americans stand down their forces. Blofeld, who had earlier killed Osato to demonstrate the price of failure to Bond, activates the base's self-destruct system, a bomb that triggers a volcanic eruption and escapes. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas leave before the eruption destroys the base, and are picked up by the Japanese Maritime Forces and the British Secret Service. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was the intended next film, but the producers decided to adapt "You Only Live Twice" instead because "OHMSS" would require searching for high and snowy locations. Lewis Gilbert originally