JAPAN, GODZILLA AND THE ATOMIC BOMB
A Study into the Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Japanese Pop Culture
by
John Rocco Roberto
From Desperation to Inspiration
During the flight back to Tokyo
Tomoyuki Tanaka sat in his seat a worried man. Ordinary looking, having
inherited the short stocky build characteristic of many Japanese men, he
had just celebrated the passing of his forty-fourth birthday, and was about
to celebrate his tenth year as a producer at the Toho Motion Picture Company.
Until now he had done quite well for the studio, having produce a number
of hits. But this time things had not gone so well. “On the
plane ride back to Tokyo, I was desperate,” Tanaka recalled.“ I was
sweating the whole time.” The year was 1954, and the film he intended
to make was to have been In the Shadow of Glory, co-produced in cooperation
with the Indonesian government. The plans for the film, however,
fell through when Tanaka could not get work permits for the film’s stars.
Having a budget for a war film, but having no film to shoot, Tanaka agonized
at the prospect of losing face in the eyes of his company. But it
was during that plane ride that, as Guy Tucker argues, “desperation became
his friend ... and would lend him an idea that would develop into something
far larger and more enduring than the project he left behind.” 
That “larger and more enduring”
something was the film Godzilla, released by Toho in 1954.
Fans of the Japanese science fiction/fantasy genre around the globe will
celebrated the 50th anniversary of the birth of Godzilla, the “King of the
Monsters,” on November 3rd, 2004, for it was on that date in 1954 that Toho
Studios unleashed Godzilla on an unsuspecting public. However, one
could argue that the true date of Godzilla’s birth was not November 3rd,
1954, but August 6th, 1945, the day the United States dropped the atomic
bomb on Hiroshima. At the end of the Second World War Japan was devastated; physically, politically and financially. The people of the nation were starving and homeless, and their spirits had been broken. There was an atmosphere of hopelessness, known only too well to Haruo Nakajima, who served in the Imperial Army during the war, and who would go on to play Godzilla in eleven films. “There was a feeling of great despair [all around]. It was very difficult for people to find work at this time,” Nakajima recalled. The intensity of the Japanese reaction to their defeat, and the devastation brought on by it, is evident in their present anti-nuclear policies. Their inner feelings towards this defeat, however, have never been fully examined. But one place to start that examination could be through analyzing two important Japanese films in the context of their times: Godzilla (1954) and Gigantis the Fire Monster (1955), known in Japan and in this discussion by the titles Gojira and Gojira no Gyakushu respectively.
Japan After the War
The history of Japan's film industry after 1945 provides the context for the making of these films. Japan’s post war industries made one of the most remarkable recoveries in the history of the modern world. One of their most vital was their film industry, which had started back in 1896 when the first Edison Kinescopes were imported into the country. In 1912 the Japan Cinematograph Company was founded, and by 1932 a businessman named Yasuji Uemura founded Shashin Kagaku Kenkyu-jo (Photo Chemical Laboratories, or PCL), which produced Japan’s first musical Intoxicated Life (1933). Directed by Sotoji Kimura and sponsored by the Dai-Nippon Beer Company; perhaps it is not surprising, given the Dai-Nippon Beer Company's sponsorship, that Intoxicated Life was about the pleasures of drunkenness.
PCL’s success in producing musicals attracted the attention of Japanese railroad magnate Ichizo Kobayashi, who in 1935 absorbed PCL into his own expanding entertainment empire. In 1936, after having acquired two other film production companies - J.O. Studios (the “O” stood for Osawa, the founder of the studio and the "J" for Jenkins, after the name of the American made sound system), and Osaka Mainichi Talkie Newsreels - Kobayashi united with Iwao Mori to meld the three film companies into one distribution company. Kobayachi and Mori named this new studio Toho, which was the abbreviation for Tokyo Takarazuka.
When the Japanese Imperial Army invaded China
in 1937, the Japanese film industry came under the control of Japan’s
fascist propaganda unit, the Office of Public Information. As a
result, the Toho Company’s facilities would be employed to produce such
propagandistic smash hits as The War At Sea from Hawaii to Malay
(1942). The company’s success with the war film genre was thanks
in large part to the efforts of Toho's co-founder Iwao Mori, who was instrumental
in developing the studio’s visual effects department. Upon Japan’s
defeat, and during the following American occupation, Mori was exiled from
the industry by the U.S. Army’s Civil Censorship Division (SCAP), due to
his involvement in Toho’s war propaganda films. The SCAP office imposed
a list of prohibited subjects, which included: “…anything infused with militarism, revenge, nationalism, or anti-foreignism; distortion of history; approval of religious or racial discrimination; favoring or approving feudal loyalty or treating human life lightly; direct or indirect approval of suicide; approval of the oppression or degradation of wives; admiration of cruelty or unjust violence; anti-democratic opinion; exploitation of children; and opposition to the Potsdam Declaration or any SCAP order.”
Under SCAP guidelines Japanese directors were to stress how all Japanese “were endeavoring to construct a peaceful nation [and] how soldiers and repatriates were being rehabilitated into civilian life.” The result was a series of poor films half-hearted in their execution. Some films, like Kaneto Shindo’s Genbaku no Ko (Children of the Atomic Bomb, 1953), which sole theme was the horror of the bombings, and Keisuke Kinoshita’s Nijushi no Hitomi (Twenty-four Eyes, 1954) which tackled the subject of militarism and political repression in 1930s Japan, rose above SCAP restrictions. Most films produced at this time, however, were flat and did not reflect their director’s personal vision. By the early 1950s Toho, plagued by strike and tax difficulties, was tottering on its last legs. Something had to be done, and that something turned out to be the rehiring of Mori. Kobayashi argued that Mori was “the only company man for whom Toho's filmmakers felt affection.” Mori returned once again as chief executive at the company. His knowledge of what made a good film and his expertise both in front of the cameras and behind them, almost single-handedly reversed the company’s postwar fortunes.
The "Second Atomic Bombing of Mankind"
Other events beyond the confines of the film industry also shaped the making of Gojira and Gojira no Gyakushu. In March of 1954, Japan suffered from another nuclear disaster, though far smaller in scale than the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the early morning hours on March 1, the twenty-three-man crew of the fishing ship, Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon) inadvertently sailed into the range of an American hydrogen bomb test site. The "Bravo" hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll was about 85 miles away from the Fukuryu Maru. The blast, equivalent to about twelve million tons of TNT, was 750 to 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It was also twice as powerful as U.S. scientists had led the world to expect. “The sky in the west suddenly lit up and the sea became brighter than day,” Fukuryu Maru crew member Yoshio Misaki recalled. “We watched the dazzling light, which felt heavy. Seven or eight minutes later there was a terrific sound; like an avalanche. Then a visible multi-colored ball of fire appeared on the horizon.” For several hours after the test, white ash began falling onto the decks of the Fukuryu Maru and crew members began collecting bags of it as souvenirs. Before nightfall that day, everyone on board the fishing boat was ill.
The crew of the Fukuryu Maru is believed to be among the first civilians ever confirmed to have been accidentally exposed to fallout from a nuclear weapon. All twenty-three people on board the boat were hospitalized after returning to Japan, and one of them, radio operator Aikichi Kuboyama, died seven months later of kidney failure reported to be caused by radiation (although it was later revealed that he had in fact died of an unrelated case of hepatitis). Several hundred inhabitants of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, as well as nearly thirty U.S. personnel connected with the tests, also became ill from the nuclear fallout. The Fukuryu Maru incident triggered a crisis in relations between the United States and Japan, in part because of Washington’s attempted to maintain secrecy over its nuclear tests. The debate centered on whether the ship’s crew was at fault or whether the radius affected by the test far exceeded the estimated range and had in fact caught the ship in supposedly safe waters. The incident was dubbed “The Second Atomic Bombing of Mankind” by the Japanese press. Eventually the U.S. government issued an apology and paid $2 million in compensation to the Japanese Government, but the incident continued to generate controversy. Fearing nuclear contamination, the Japanese destroyed tons of fish caught in the affected area of the Pacific. As a nation, the Japanese avoided fish for months after the Fukuryu Maru incident, resulting in millions of dollars in losses for the country's fishing industry and related businesses.
It was this situation that inspired the Toho Company to make its first movie monster a radiation-mutated sea creature terrorizing mankind, and planted the seed in Tanaka’s mind as to how to replace his aborted war film, In The Shadow of Glory. Tanaka had impressed Mori with his idea to replace In The Shadow of Glory with his idea about “a monster that invades Tokyo the way King Kong attacked New York,” and without Mori’s support it is doubtful that the project would have ever have gotten off the ground. But Mori liked the project and the go ahead was given. Now the task of producing Tanaka's "radiation monster" film (which would be Gojira) was in the hands of director Ishiro Honda and special effects supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya.
The Age of the Gods
Eiji Tsuburaya was a veteran
cinematographer who Mori knew could produce the extravagant, special effects-laden
films, which the Japanese called "special techniques" films. Few technicians
in the field of visual effects have ever achieved his notoriety or respect.
Tsuburaya’s particular knowledge of special techniques far outstripped
that of any of his contemporaries. Mori knew this, and in 1940, he
chose Tsuburaya to head the Japanese film industry’s first special effects
department. “I was the only one in the department,” Tsuburaya later
wrote. “That was pretty weird.” Tsuburaya would work, usually
alongside director Kajiro Yamamoto, on highly ambitious war pictures.
His special effects were of such high quality that, following the war,
the American Occupation forces frequently mistook his surviving fictional
films for Japanese-produced newsreel footage. Unfortunately for him,
Tsuburaya, like Mori, would also be exiled from the industry by the SCAP
after the war. But when the occupation ended, Tsuburaya was invited
back to Toho, where he and Mori took up where they had left off, producing
the first Japanese war picture in eight years, Eagle of the Pacific,
which was directed by Ishiro Honda. Ishiro Honda, Mori’s choice for director, had served in the Imperial Army during the war. Before the war Honda had worked under director Sadao Yamanaka at Toho. With director Kajiro Yamamoto, he co-directed such works as the subtly antiwar film Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) and Tojuro’s Love (1938), before being sent with the Imperial Army to China. Yamanaka died a common soldier, but Honda survived to become a sergeant. In 1944, between his second and third tours of duty in the Imperial Army, Honda returned to Tokyo to work with Yamamoto as second assistant on Colonel Kato’s Falcon Squadron (1944), a wartime-spirit picture made during the period when Tokyo was being fire-bombed by the U.S. Air Force. Eventually he returned to China just as the Japanese regime was collapsing, and spent the last part of the war as a prisoner of war there. In 1946 he returned to Japan, passing through the atomic-bombed shell of the city of Hiroshima. It was then that he became interested in publicizing the horror and devastation of war through his chosen medium (Honda did not agree with Japan's wartime ideology, and believed that war was a great waist of human life. His attitude is reflected in "The Tunnel" sequence of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, which Honda co-wrote and directed. The sequence depicts a returning war veteran being confronted by the ghost of his fallen men, who, even in death, are ready to follow their commander's orders. Honda however, understood and respected the age-old system of honor. He enlisted in the Imperial Army out of a sense of duty). When examining Gojira, it is important to remember that Japan was the only nation in history to have been the victim of nuclear weapons. As Honda said, “When I returned from the war [in China], and passed through Hiroshima, there was a heavy atmosphere, a fear that the world was already coming to an end.”
Also as important to Honda were Japan’s attitudes and fears of the early 1950s. The Second World War was less than ten years ended and the Japanese were still laboring under the consequences of their failure and defeat. America had shaped the rebuilding and restructuring of Japan, affecting everything from industry to the political structure. Around Japan the Cold War expanded and nuclear tests took place, adding to Japan’s fears for its people, country, and for the world. The shaky post-war situation and the “heating up” of the Cold War in Southeast Asia combined with the Japanese peoples' shock over the Fukuryu Maru incident to set the stage for Gojira.
In producing Gojira, special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, and director Ishiro Honda accomplished a feat unequaled at the time. In the guise of a typical Hollywood-style "monster movie," they made Japan, and ultimately the world, experience the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki all over again.
Gojira
Gojira opens with
the mysterious disappearances of several Japanese fishing ships.
Natives of nearby Ohto Island rescue the survivors of these shipwrecks.
In the hopes of discovering the causes of these disasters the Japanese government
sends a small research team to the island. While on the island, the
research team observes a traditional ritual to appease a sea demon called
Gojira. That night, during a storm, a strange force destroys several
houses in the village.On the mainland, the survivors of the night’s devastation describe the events to the Japanese officials. In a speech to the Japanese government, noted paleontologist Dr. Yamane advises the authorities to sponsor a full research team to the island. During the investigation the next morning Gojira appears over the hill tops. Meanwhile, Dr. Yamane’s daughter, Emiko, who is engaged to controversial research scientist Dr. Serizawa, has fallen in love with a sailor named Ogata. But when she tries to tell Serizawa of her love for another, he reveals to her the secret weapon he has developed - the Oxygen Destroyer - and swears her to secrecy. With thhis terrible knowledge, Emiko cannot bring herself to break off the engagement with Serizawa.
After the discovery of Gojira, Dr. Yamane begs the authorities to study the creature. Instead, the Japanese Defense Force attacks Gojira at sea with depth charges. That night, the citizens of Tokyo celebrate Gojira’s destruction, until the monster appears in Tokyo Bay and wrecks the dock area. The next day, the authorities surround Tokyo with electrical towers, but when Gojira returns that night, the monster pushes right through them and destroys the city. The next day, thousands of people are victims of Gojira’s rampage.
Emiko tells Ogata about Serizawa’s work; perhaps the only hope humanity has against Gojira. But later, when she and Ogata confront the doctor, the scientist refuses to use his invention. Finally, convinced that Gojira is a greater threat than his invention, Serizawa agrees to help Ogata plant the device. As Gojira sleeps in Tokyo Bay, the two detonate the Oxygen Destroyer. Serizawa remains behind to die, taking the secret of his ultimate weapon with him. As the sea foams, Gojira surfaces briefly, then sinks to the bottom, where the Oxygen Destroyer melts the flesh from his bones.
In Gojira, the monster Godzilla is the United States’ atomic bomb, devastating Tokyo and reducing it to a radioactive cinder all in one night. Originally conceived by Tsuburaya as a giant mutated octopus, producers Tanaka and Mori felt that a giant dinosaur-type creature (mutated through the effects of atomic testing), would have more appeal and be more threatening to land-based civilizations; after all, an octopus which lived in the ocean could only be threatening to coastal communities. Honda agreed, saying that “Ever since I was little, I have been fond of the fact that there was once an awesome era of the Earth, when dinosaurs were living in the Jurassic and Cretaceous. When word went out about the production, images of dinosaur-monsters were already brewing in my head.” In Honda’s conception, the monster Godzilla would not merely be awakened by the bomb; instead “He would be twisted and mutated by it, into a rampaging uncontainable force; the A-bomb made flesh.”
To capture Honda's vision,
the task of designing and constructing the main Godzilla costume went
to Ryosaku Takayama, and the role of playing the creature went to Haruo
Nakajima. “It was the first time I met Eiji Tsuburaya,” Nakajima
recalls, “and Godzilla was in pre-production. I was introduced by
the casting director. Mr. Honda, the director, and Mr. Tsuburaya
were smiling. I was asked if I would take the role of Godzilla and
I said okay.” With Takayama’s design and Nakajima’s portrayal, the
result was one of the most inspired creations in film history, combining
the appearance of a therapod dinosaur with the distinctive "oriental" look
of a dragon. “My first impression was the feeling of something new
and exciting. The atomic bombings did not immediately come to mind,
[but] shortly after I was offered the role I realized, that although it
would be possible to replace all of the members of the staff and all the
other actors, it would not be possible to replace me. I also realized that
if I didn't go into work, none of the members of the special effects staff
would be able to do their work. All this gave me a tremendous sense
of pride. I studied the movements of large animals to re-create the
lumbering walk of a large creature.”As production got under way and the shooting script was finalized, Honda and Tsuburaya explored Tokyo looking for locations Godzilla could destroy. The two scouted from the roofs of department stores and it was while they sat atop of the roof of the Matsuzakaya Department Store, gleefully planning the city’s destruction that one of the funniest stories of the production occurred. “We were discussing the possibility of starting a fire at Shimbashi and having it spread to Ginza,” Honda said. “We wondered what people would be thinking if they overheard our conversation. Sure enough, at the first floor exit, we were stopped and investigated.” However, it was not only the monster, but also the story behind Gojira, which set the production apart.
Takeo Murata and Ishiro Honda’s screenplay is a subtle retelling of the Second World War through the eyes of Japan. Unlike typical monster films of the time, the strong character-driven plot and the special effects combined to present a glimpse of the Japanese psyche in a time of war.
Gojira opens as the Japanese merchant ship Eiko-Maru disappears below the surface of the ocean as a blinding flash of light explodes from the sea, accompanied by searing heat and an unearthly, deafening roar. As rescue ships are deployed into the area they too become victims of this unseen force. Japan is threatened and the country gears up to defend itself as the suspense builds. Japan “entering” the war is represented by these numerous ship disasters at the beginning of the film. The disappearance of the merchant ships mirrored Second World War events. As Guy Tucker reports, “Many such merchant vessels were literally wiped from the face of the sea by American submarines, and this fact was greatly played upon by Honda.”
The conflict quickly escalates as a fishing village on the small island of Ohto is attacked; the horror of war having hit home on the innocent is portrayed as the faceless enemy destroys the village. It is at this point in the film that Honda introduces Dr. Kyohei Yamane, Japan’s leading paleontologist, who heads the investigation into the disturbing phenomena. Yamane is played by Takashi Shimura, a regular member of Akira Kurosawa’s stable of actors and star of Kurosawa’s Ikuru (1952) and Seven Samarai (1954). It is while Dr. Yamane investigates the disaster on the small island of Ohto that Honda finally reveals the face of the enemy. Assisted by his daughter Emiko (played by Momoko Kochi), and her fiancée Hideto Ogata (played by Akira Takarada), Dr. Yamane stumbles upon Godzilla’s hulking bulk peering over the mountain tops. Although a product of atomic testing, Godzilla’s symbolization of the atomic bomb is not yet made evident to the audience.
It is at this point in the film that Honda includes two important plot references to the Second World War. After Godzilla’s initial appearance on Ohto Island, Dr. Yamane returns to Tokyo to address the Japanese Diet. While explaining the possible origins of Godzilla based on his findings on Ohto Island, Yamane makes a startling announcement. “...howcan we explain the presence of such a creature during the present day?” Yamane reports. “It probably survived by eating deep sea organism occupying a specific niche. However, recent experimental nuclear detonations may have drastically altered its natural habitat.” Yamane continues, “I would even speculate that an atomic explosion may have removed it from its ssurroundings." Thisstatement causes a stir of discussion to circle the conference chamber, and Yamane is questioned on it. “Professor, how do you know that this has something to do with the atomic bombs?” a reporter ask. “Because our Geiger counter readings of the radiation in [the] sand indicate the presence of Strontium-90.” Yamane rreplies. “...thissand that came from Godzilla has absorbed a massive dose of radiation the type only generated from an atomic explosion.” At this news the delegates fall into heated debate over whether the information should be released to the general public.
Honda then follows this sequence by introducing us to three people (two men and one woman), reading about Godzilla while riding on a train. “It’s terrible,” the woman comments. “Atomic sea life and radioactive fallout , and now this Godzilla to top it all off! What will happen if it appears in Tokyo Bay?” Her companion answers, “First, he’ll probably eat you in one bite.” “You’re horrible,” she responds hitting him. “They seem certain about the accuracy of their report. How could we create such a thing?” Her second companion replies, “I guess I’ll have to find a shelter soon.” “Find one for me too,” she ,answers. Groaning her first companion answers, “The shelters again. That stinks!”
Japan is now at war against Godzilla;
the military buildup, and the Japanese Self-Defense Force's attempts to destroy
Godzilla with depth charges all symbolize Japan’s military might.
Dr. Yamane is a scientist torn between his scientific desire to study Godzilla
and learn about the creature’s ability to survive radiation, and his need
as a Japanese citizen to see Godzilla destroyed before Japan is devastated.
Dr. Yamane's internal conflict is symbolic of Japanese feelings during
the war; not everyone supported the wartime government’s militaristic views,
represented in Gojira by the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s quick response
in trying to destroy Godzilla. The point is brought further home
by the revelation that the love interest between Dr. Yamane’s daughter,
Emiko, and Naval Officer Hideto Ogata, conflicts with an arranged marriage
between Emiko and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, a long-time friend of her family.
Their characters represent the many young wartime couples struggling with
the often-conflicting demands of honor, duty and love. The conflict
between Emiko’s engagement to Serizawa, her love for Ogata and her desire
to honor her father’s wishes to study Godzilla (even though her own desire
is to see the monster destroyed), symbolizes how the old ways of Japan
are coming to an end at the same time as a new and possibly terrible era
is about to be born. “Japan was changing,” Tanaka said, “the world was
changing, and the youth reflected these changes in abandoning the old ways.”
As the film progresses, and Dr. Yamane, Emiko and Ogata debate the most likely way of destroying Godzilla, Godzilla attacks the harbor district of Tokyo. His thundering footsteps can be heard throughout the great city, sounding hauntingly similar to the American bombs which exploded there ten years before. Honda had been on furlough during the fire bombings of Tokyo, and had witnessed much of the worst destruction. Much of Gojira recalls not only the atomic bombings, but also much of the total devastation Japan endured during the war. Honda stated, “It was a matter of getting to the feeling I wanted of an invisible fear that ... this technology has now even become an environmental problem.” Up until this point Godzilla is still just a standard monster-on-the-loose creature; he has not employed his atomic breath. The Japanese Self-Defense Force makes new plans to stop Godzilla as Japan begins to "lose" the war.
Although he is spoken of earlier
in the film, it is at this point that Honda finally introduces the character
of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (played by Akihiko Hirata), Japan’s leading scientist,
wounded during the Second World War, and engaged to Emiko. The Dr.
Serizawa character pulls the entire story together, and leads to the most
direct references to the Second World War. Of all the actors to appear
in Gojira, it was Akihiko Hirata’s superb portrayal of the intense Dr.
Serizawa that helps set the film apart from the average monster flick.
The Serizawa character makes the analogies between the story line and Japan's
experiences during World War II explicit. Locked in his Frankensteinesque
laboratory, Serizawa is torn between his betrothal to Emiko (and the Japanese
tradition this represents) and the terrible new weapon of his making, the
Oxygen Destroyer, which when deployed, will "destroy all oxygen" in water
and thus dissolve all living matter (of course if one looks at the actual
physics involved, subtracting the oxygen from water would create a pool
of pure hydrogen). It is also through the Serizawa character that Honda makes the strongest connection between Godzilla the monster and the Second World War. After Godzilla has destroyed the harbor district, newspaper reporter Hagiwara (played by Sachio Sakai), having received a tip that the doctor’s work could help defeat Godzilla, convinces Emiko to introduce him to Dr. Serizawa. Hagiwara is determined to learn about Serizawa’s work, and questions the doctor (off camera) intensely about its nature. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” Serizawa replies to Hagiwara’s questioning. “Besides, that’s not even connected with my field.” Hagiwara persists: “Well, the fact is that our reporter in Switzerland met with your German friend and heard directly from him that ‘Dr. Serizawa’s project, when successfully concluded, could rid Japan of Godzilla’.” “I have no German friends,” insists Serizawa. His adamant denial of not having any “German friends” suggests a sinister tie between Serizawa’s experiments and the Nazis, symbolizing Japan’s wartime alliance with Germany. Failing to get the story he had hoped for, Hagiwara takes his leave, but Emiko remains, determined to tell Serizawa about her and Ogata. But before she can speak to him, Serizawa, obviously troubled by Hagiwara’s questioning, reveals to Emiko his secret. Emiko is shaken by the Oxygen Destroyer, but promises to keep the doctor’s secret. When she returns home, Ogata, learning that Emiko did not tell Serizawa, refuses to speak with her. But soon the distant sounds of the air-raid siren breaks the somber mood. What is important here is that Honda is once again exploring the conflict within Japanese society; tradition vs. the modern (or American) way.
Godzilla attacks Tokyo
for the second time and levels the city; the bomb is dropped. Honda
said of this section of the film, “What was most special was [the idea
of] making radiation visual. By opening his maw and simply exhaling,
Godzilla can vaporize an entire building.” Honda thought that “The
destruction itself is not singular; as a tangible substance, radiation
is probably much like [Godzilla’s breath].” “Ever since those days,”
Honda added, “I’ve felt that the ‘atomic fear’ would hang around our necks
for eternity.” The hospital scenes after Tokyo is destroyed show exactly
what it must have been like for the unfortunate survivors of the Hiroshima
blast. For the first and only time in a kaiju film, the suffering
of the innocent victims is depicted. Here we see the bodies of the
dead, piling up in the halls of the hospital. We see a doctor, holding
a Geiger counter to a young boy’s face and shaking his head, as the reading
is far beyond the danger point. We are shown a group of children,
watching, as a sheet is pulled over their dead mother’s head. They
begin to cry as her body is carried away, Emiko holding the smallest of the
children. “I wanted to say that after this disaster [the bombings],”
Honda said, “no one could know what might happen in the world.” Mirroring Japan’s failure to surrender immediately after the Hiroshima bombing, the threat of Godzilla still exists. However Dr. Serizawa is reluctant to use the Oxygen Destroyer, and when Emiko, the only person entrusted with his secret, informs Ogata of the weapon, the two visit the doctor to confront him. This confrontation between Serizawa, Emiko and Ogata near the end of the film, even after the destruction brought by Godzilla fails to convince Serizawa, clearly represents Honda’s questioning whether the atomic bomb should have ever been used. Although Honda had served during the war, he was opposed to all forms of military operation. “Bombs vs. Bombs, missiles vs. missiles, and now a new super weapon to throw upon us all!” Serizawa argues with Ogata. “As a scientist, no, as a human being I can’t allow that to happen!” Ogata sees no other way of destroying Godzilla and tries to convince Serizawa to use the weapon. But Serizawa is adamant, even if used in secret, the knowledge of its existence would get out. “Even if I burn my notes, the secret will still be in my head.” Serizawa explains. “Until I die, how can I be sure I won’t be forced by someone to make the device again?” Honda is clearly commenting on the proliferation of nuclear devices developed and built by both America and the Soviet Union immediately after the Second World War.
It is only after the sight of Japan’s youth praying for peace (broadcast over scenes of the destruction and indicating the nation’s weariness of war), that Serizawa is finally moved to use the Oxygen Destroyer. But not before burning all of his notes and diagrams, insuring that no trace of the weapons construction can be reproduced. “Ogata you are right. But this will be the first and last time I will ever allow the Oxygen Destroyer to be used. ”However, in Serizawa’s mind that is not enough, and as the Oxygen Destroyer is set off in Tokyo Bay directly in front of Godzilla, and as Ogata is pulled towards the surface, Serizawa cuts his own lifeline, telling Ogata, “Be happy together,” his last words. Serizawa’s sacrifice at the end of the film not only illustrates the loyalty and self-sacrifice of the Japanese people (for he knows Emiko is in love with Ogata, not him), but it also demonstrates Serizawa’s willingness to ensure that not only is Godzilla destroyed, but that the Oxygen Destroyer, a weapon “more horrible than Godzilla” (the H-bomb?) is never used again.
After Gojira’s release it was attacked by several quarters for “profiteering from the Lucky Dragon tragedy.” Although none of the crew members actually died until September when the film was more than half complete, and later it was determined that the man had actually died because of an unrelated case of hepatitis. However what Honda was hoping to convey was the sense of realism in an unreal situation. “How would people react,” Honda stated, “if such a huge monster came to the Japanese islands? How would politicians, scientist, the military react?” “Inevitably under those circumstances,” Honda said, “the film came to feel like a documentary. [Godzilla would have been most successful] if there had been some way to convince the viewer that it was really happening.”
Gojira no Gyakushu
Tsukioka and Kobayashi
are pilots for a small Japanese fishing fleet. While on patrol searching
for schools of tuna, Kobayashi’s plane develops engine trouble and he
is forced to land on remote Iwato Island. He is soon joined by Tsukioka,
and the two men witness a terrible battle between two prehistoric monsters,
one of which is Gojira. Back in Osaka, the pilots tell the authorities
about the creatures. Dr. Yamane warns that these two creatures, one
of which is another Gojira, are as dangerous as the original Gojira, who
wrecked Tokyo months before but was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer.
This “new” Gojira soon approaches Osaka. The city is evacuated, but
escaping prisoners from a local jail start a massive fire, which attracts
the attention of both Gojira and the new creature Angilas. The two battle in the heart of the city until Angilas is killed and its body is set afire by Gojira. The monster departs leaving the city in ruins. Tsukioka and Kobayashi are transferred to Hokkaido because the Osaka cannery has been destroyed. News soon follows that Godzilla has struck again, sinking one of the fishing ships. While on patrol, Kobayashi spots Gojira in a huge ice field. Radioing Gojira’s position, Kobayashi’s plane is hit by the monster’s fiery breath, and crashes into the icy mountain.
Though Gojira can not be killed, Tsukioka realizes that Kobayashi’s death may have given them an idea. Deciding to bury Gojira under tons of ice, in a second attack, jet fighters bomb the mountains around the creature. Tons of ice falls on Gojira in a huge avalanche, entombing the creature in ice, hopefully forever.
As Gojira is to the bombing of Hiroshima, then Gojira no Gyakushu (1955), is to the bombing of Nagasaki. Although technically inferior compared to the first film, as this time Honda was not in the director’s seat, the second film in the Godzilla series explores the reaction of the Japanese public both during and after the time of war. While sequels were as commonplace in Japan as in Hollywood, the success of Gojira took everyone at Toho, especially Tomoyuki Tanaka by surprise, and plans were quickly made to rush a sequel into production. This time Takeo Murata and Shigeaki Hidaka were to pen the script and Eiji Tsuburaya once again supervised the special effects. Motoyoshi Oda was given the task to direct, as Ishiro Honda was committed to the company’s Jujin Yukiotoko (Half Human) film project, although Honda was involved briefly in developing the Godzilla sequel. Mere months after the release of the original film, on April 24th, 1955, Gojira no Gyakushu burst upon the Japanese public.
In Gojira no Gyakushu
(Godzilla’s Counterattack), the basic plot once again follows the lives
of three people, and how their interaction with each other, as well as
Godzilla, effects their lives. Employed by the Osaka based Kyo Canning
Company, Shoichi Tsukioka and his friend Koji Kobayashi are spotters for
the company’s fishing fleet, searching the ocean in their planes for schools
of fish, and radioing the position to the fleet when a catch is found.
Hiroshi Koizumi, who would go on to star in several of Toho Sci/Fi films
throughout the 1960s and 70s, plays the part of Tsukioka. Kobayashi
is played by Minoru Chiaki, who is best remember to fans of Japanese cinema
as the monk in Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950). Tsukioka is engaged
to Hidemi Yamaji (played by Setsuko Wakayama), a radio operator at the company
who also happens to be the daughter of company president Koehi Yamaji (played
by Yukio Kasama). It is Tsukioka and Kobayashi who discover the existence
of another Godzilla on a small island, as well as a new creature, Angilas,
which roughly resembles an Ankylosaurus with no real powers when compared
to Godzilla. That Angilas never has a chance is probably the reason
why the creature is so beloved in Japan to this day. “Other than
David and Goliath battles, the Japanese are also fond of characters who
are doomed from the start. Often how Japan views itself, especially
after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but probably going
back as far as the arrival of Commodore Perry’s ships in 1853.” 
Concerned over what happened
to Tokyo the year before, the military calls in Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura
reprising his role form Gojira), who informs the officials of Osaka
that there is no way to stop this new Godzilla, especially as the plans
for the Oxygen Destroyer perished with Dr. Serizawa. Japan is once
again at war, however unlike the first film, this time the story follows
more closely on the effects the threat that Godzilla (i.e. war), has on the
personal lives of the main characters. The first half of the film represents
Japan’s war preparations, and how the threat of war impacts on the lives
of the Japanese people. A perfect illustration Oda uses to covey this sense occurs during the scene immediately following the conference room scene with Dr. Yamane. Tsukioka and Hidemi are looking over the skyline of Osaka from the roof of the canning company’s factory. “It will be alright for Osaka?” Hidemi ask. “Well, I’m not sure what will happen.” Tsukioka answers. “It’s so quiet. Don’t you think it’s awful?” Hidemi remarks. “Yes, I’m not so use to it being so quiet.” Tsukioka says looking over the city. “Well,” Hidemi says smiling, “I don't think we stand a chance.” Tsukioka laughs, “Idiot! Don’t tell me that’s what you believe too! We’ll pull through it.” “Then that’s great,” Hidemi adds absent mindfully. “When this is over,” Tsukioka reassures her, “you can see it for yourself.” “Oh really?” Hidemi asks, cut off suddenly, as a squadron of jet fighters passing overhead breaks the eerie silence of the moment.
Oda now shows us plans
being made to try and cope with Godzilla. However, unlike the first
film, where the bombing of Hiroshima (in fact the destruction of all Japan),
is represented by Godzilla’s attack on Tokyo at the end of the film, the
bombing of Nagasaki is represented by the battle between Godzilla and
Angilas in Osaka, about halfway into the film. Hoping to lure Godzilla
away from the city using flares, an explosion caused by a group of escaping
convicts (being transferred to a safe location), brings Godzilla and Angilas
into the heart of Osaka. Now the characters are left to pick up the
pieces again. In fact the focus of this film is much more on the
aftermath of the “bombing,” so much so that Godzilla is not even shown
being driven out or leaving Osaka after killing Angilas. Instead,
Oda uses a scene of Hidemi, simply watching the burning ruins of the city
from the window of her family’s faraway country house. The dead silence
of the land and the night contrast eerily with the unearthly light hovering
over the beleaguered city. 
The focus now is on the Confucian
principle and work ethic to pull together and start rebuilding, instead
of focusing on the dead and dying. The “war is over,” and it is time
to rebuild. We are shown scenes of total destruction, but also see
workers toiling to clean out and rebuild Osaka where the characters all work
for their living. From the rooftop where Tsukioka and Hidemi contemplated
future events just days before, Hidemi’s father (and company president) Yamaji
surveys the destruction with company vice president Shibashi. “Shibashi,
that smoke is rising from the area where our factory once stood,” Yamaji
says pointing into the distance. “The damage is much worse than I imagined.”
Shibashi comments. Yamaji turns towards his vice president and adds
“Shibashi, I’m going to rebuild it.” Shibashi smiles, “This is good.
Have you decided on a location for it?” “I am told Hokkaido is a
nice place to operate from,” Yamaji says as the two walk off together.
This is just as it must have been as the Japanese accomplished the most
speedy and thorough economic recovery of the century. These scenes
are especially moving and add a sense of realism to the story. Certainly,
Japan’s kaiju-smashed cities are rebuilt over and over, but this is the first
and only film to show the reconstruction. Godzilla is all but forgotten.
The film also conveys the sense that life goes on, as Kobayashi and the rest of the workers of the Kyo Canning Company are relocated to the company’s Hokkaido branch to continue work. Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, is pictured as a winter wonderland, where the workers are enjoying themselves, the threat of war long since past. The mood is so happy and serene that Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas” would not seem out of place. The arrival of the company executives, including Tsukioka, Hidemi, and her father, further illustrates the joy of life returning to normal. The fishing fleet is out, the executives are enjoying themselves and Tsukioka is reunited with his old college buddies.
Then disaster strikes; Godzilla destroys
the fishing fleet, and the threat of war again looms over Japan.
As Guy Tucker points out, “Just as the Cold War had followed the Second
World War, and just as the specter of worldwide nuclear destruction had
haunted the world in the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Godzilla remains
a force to be reckoned with.” However, unlike the first film, Godzilla
is no longer a threat to Japan and he becomes the hunted instead of the
hunter. Military forces track Godzilla and he is eventually trapped
and attacked on Shinko Island, representing Japan’s determination to never
again suffer the horrors of atomic devastation. This determination
is never more evident than at the end of the film, when it is revealed that
Kobayashi is in love with Hidemi. Her betrothal to Tsukioka sets up
another love triangle as in Gojira, but this triangle is never given
the chance to develop. As naval forces approach the island with the
intention to destroy Godzilla, Kobayashi sacrifices himself, kamikaze style,
in an attempt to keep Godzilla from leaving the island until the military
arrives. This again marks one of the rare times that a main character and
hero of a Godzilla film dies (thought Dr. Serizawa is the eventual hero of
Gojira, his original funtion is more of a supporting role). Witnessing
his friend’s sacrifice, and seeing the effects the falling ice has on Godzilla,
Tsukioka convinces the military forces to bomb the mountain side, causing
an avalanche, and burying Godzilla under tons of ice for all time. Of
interesting note in regards to the continuity within the Godzilla series,
when Godzilla would reappear seven years later in Kingu Kongu tai Gojira
(King Kong vs. Godzilla, 1963), the monster would be seen emerging from
an ice burg floating in Japan's northern sea. It is the combination of many unique symbolic and narrative aspects that make Gojira and Gojira no Gyakushu the best films in the Godzilla series. It is unfortunate that the American versions of these films lose some of their impact when compared with the Japanese originals, but if looked at them objectively the intended premises can still be found.
Abbot & Costello Meet Godzilla
Several companies showed an interest in releasing Gojira in the United States after screening of the film in Los Angeles received rave reviews. Samuel Z. Arkoff, founder of the company that would become American International Pictures was among Toho’s suitors. While A.I.P. would eventually release the bulk of Toho’s Sci/Fi films in the 1960's (including the ever popular Destroy All Monsters in 1969), it would be Joseph E. Levine’s Embassy Pictures that Gojira would go to. Levine would be one of Hollywood’s top producers, pioneering the practice of “saturation booking,” opening a film in as many theaters at once that, no matter how lousy, the film was bound to make a profit. After sitting on the rights for almost two years Levine finally got started, using Gojira’s special effects and the skeleton of its story to put together Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956). Levine was understandably worried about showing the Japanese version to American audiences, and thus the concept of an American “host” for the film became an necessary evil. But when considering the care that was taken by director Terry Morse to blend the American footage with the Japanese footage, the changes become insignificant.
"...George, here in Tokyo
time has been turned back 2 million years. This is my report as it happens.
A prehistoric monster that the Japanese call Godzilla has just walked out
of Tokyo Bay. He's as tall as a thirty-story building. And now he's
making his way towards the city's main line of defense. 300,000 volts of
electricity strung around the city as a barrier, a barrier against Godzilla.
I can hardly believe what has happened. Now it seems Tokyo has no
defense. They're moving an entire tank corps to point blank firing
range. I'm saying a prayer George, a prayer for the whole world.
George the tanks have been wiped out by a wall of flames. Neither man or
his machines are able to stop this creature. Nothing can save the
city now. This is it George! Steven Martian signing off from
Tokyo Japan." 
On December 12, 1999 Toho
Company released the 23rd film in the Godzilla series Gojira 2000 Millennium.
Produced by Shogo Tomiyama, directed by Takao Okawara with special effects
created by Kenji Suzuki, the film was not a box office success taking
in less that 9 million dollars nation wide (the film had cost 12 million
to make), making it the lowest grossing Godzilla film in the series history.
Even with the four-year hiatus between Gojira tai Destroyah
and Gojira 2000 Millennium, Japanese interest in Godzilla has waned.
These attitudes, or fears
of outsiders, extend itself to the Japanese business world. The late
Henry G. Saperstein, president and chief executive officer of UPA Productions,
knew first hand what it was like dealing with the Japanese as a business
partner; he had owned the North American licensing and merchandising rights
to Godzilla since the 1960s. “They were wary of any gajin,” Saperstein
said. “That doesn’t mean foreigner, it means outsider. You’re outside
the ‘kingdom of the sun’ and they’re wary of anyone coming in who wants
to be involved in any meaningful way. Every time I had dealings with
them, it was like we were meeting for the first time.” Because this
xenophobic fear permeates every aspect of Japanese life, discussions on
the atomic bombings are hardly ever discussed with outsiders. 
Beginning with the lifting
of SCAP restrictions in the 1950s, several films began to address the
issue of the atomic bombings, and films like Keisuke Kinoshita’s Nihon
no Higeki (A Japanese Tragedy, 1953) and Akira Kurosawa’ Record
of a Living Being (1955), stand out as fine examples. But the
issue quickly became a controversial subject, and several films and television
episodes produced from the 1950s right through to the present have been
banned because of their treatment of the nuclear issue.