Godzilla gets music festival for 60th birthday

From Inside Japan News Network

It's a mark of how beloved and adored the great Godzilla is in his home country of Japan that the beastie will get a birthday music festival in his honour next January, in celebration of turning 60.

The creature, who originally wrecked havoc in Tokyo in a black-and-white film of the same name released in 1954, has spawned an entire franchise of subsequent movies and is a recognisable pop culture icon across the world.

There have been action figures, TV spin-offs, cartoons, and even appearances on The Simpsons - so perhaps it's little wonder that the people of Japan wanted to make sure Godzilla celebrated his sixtieth in style.

The event programme will be split into two separate parts, with the first comprising a live performance of Symphonic Fantasia No. 1, also known as the Main Godzilla Theme, composed by the prolific Akira Ifukube for the film.

And who better to perform the piece than the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, led by composer/conductor Kaoru Wada who happens to be an apprentice of the late Ifukube?

This segment will also feature a question and answer session with the star of the original film Shiro Sano, who has made reappearances in some of the subsequent incarnations as well.

The second part of the festival will feature a full showing of the original film, with the soundtrack provided once again by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, along with female chorus Chor June. All attendees will receive a special commemorative bookmark upon entry.

Seats are priced at 6,500 yen, 7,500 yen, or 8,500 each depending on where you want to seat and the event will take place at the NHK Hall in Tokyo. The doors open at 4:15pm and both long-running fans and newcomers alike are welcomed.

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Godzilla (1954) Did You Know?

From IMDB

During Godzilla's rampage through downtown Tokyo, one of the buildings he destroys is the Toho Theater. In fact, some fans who were watching the film in that theater actually thought the theater was being attacked and tried to run out of the theater.

The sound department tried numerous animal roars for Godzilla but felt they were unsuitable for an animal of such immense size. Akira Ifukube came up with Godzilla's roars by rubbing a coarse, resin-coated leather glove up and down the strings of a contrabass (double bass), and reverberated the recorded sound. Also, Godzilla's thunderous footsteps were made by beating a kettle drum with a knotted rope.

George Lucas cites this film's miniatures as an inspiration for his effects in the Star Wars films.

Was the most expensive Japanese movie ever made at the time of its release.

The electrical towers that Godzilla melts with his radioactive breath were actually made of wax. The special effects crew melted them by blowing hot air on them, as well as shining hot studio lights on them for the white-hot effect.

One of the most famous legends regarding the production of this film has Ishirô Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya on the observation deck of what was then one of Tokyo's skyscrapers. They were planning Godzilla's path of destruction. Other visitors on the deck became concerned when portions of their conversation were overheard. The pair was stopped by authorities and questioned.

Because of the complexity of the production, the entire film was storyboarded. This is believed to be the very first time this was done for a Japanese film.

The name Gojira is a combination of the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira). The monster was so named because his original design was that of a gorilla-whale monster, which is recounted by people who worked on the film. 'Shigeru Kayama' (who was hired by Tomoyuki Tanaka to write the original story) recounted in a book of memoirs he published in Japan, that Tanaka told him the creature would be a sea monster that was "a cross between a whale and a gorilla". After producer Tanaka saw the American monster film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), he got the idea to turn Godzilla into a dinosaur monster. Despite the physical change the name of the monster was kept. There has always been a legend that Godzilla was named after a hulking man nicknamed Gorilla-Whale who worked at Tôhô, but this is untrue. Not only is there no evidence of this man even existing, but the various stories about him kept changing through the years (he worked as a stagehand, he worked as a PR man, etc.). According to Kimi Honda, wife of Ishirô Honda, the Gorilla-Whale man was just an inside joke between her husband and various others on the Tôhô lot - specifically producer Tanaka.

The movie's opening scene was inspired by the Lucky Dragon incident, where the fishing boat known as the Lucky Dragon strayed too close to what was named the most powerful nuclear test ever and was contaminated with radiation. A crew on board a fishing boat, going about their normal day, suddenly a bright flash of light catches their attention, and they are soon bombarded with radioactivity. The only difference is that the boat catches fire and sinks in the movie. If you look closely at the life preserver, you will see the marking "No. 5". This was a reference to the ship Lucky Dragon No. 5, which was one of the inspirations for the film.

Originally when Gojira (Godzilla) makes his first appearance, there was supposed to be a bloody cow in his mouth. After reviewing the test shots, Masao Tamai, the cinematographer, felt it was far too graphic and convinced director Ishirô Honda to re-film the sequence without the cow.

In one of the early script drafts, Doctor Yemane was written as a very dark and sinister character. In fact, one of the original ideas was to have Yemane sneak into the control room that controlled the electrical towers and sabotage the attempt to electrocute Gojira (Godzilla).

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The Original Godzilla Attacks Tokyo, 60 Years Ago

From History

In 1954, inspired by the re-released “King Kong” and other Hollywood hits of the early 1950s, film producer Tomoyuki Tanaka of Toho Studios decided the time was right for Japan’s first monster movie. The result was the story of a mutant creature, spawned from nuclear testing, that emerges from the watery depths of the Pacific and attacks Japan. The sea-monster’s name? “Gojira,” a combination of “gorilla” and “kujira,” the Japanese word for whale. Or, as it was later translated into English, “Godzilla.” Sixty years after its Tokyo premiere, learn about the real-life drama that inspired the original “Godzilla,” and the movie’s significance amid Cold War-era nuclear hysteria.

“King Kong,” the 1933 film re-released in 1952, and “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” (1953) were among the Hollywood movies that inspired Tomoyuki Tanaka of Toho Studios to make a monster movie of his own. But in order to create the fearsome Gojira, the filmmakers also drew from the real-life drama going on in the world at that time. Less than a decade earlier, Allied forces had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing some 120,000 people instantly and causing horrific casualties to thousands more. Defeat, which had been unthinkable for Japan, came suddenly. By 1954, the nation had nearly rebuilt itself post-World War II, but ongoing U.S. nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands meant the wounds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki stayed fresh in the nation’s mind. To make matters worse, conflict in Korea and Cold War tensions had raised the specter of nuclear warfare yet again.

In March 1954, the United States tested a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb—more than 750 times more powerful than the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki—at Bikini Atoll. A massive plume of radioactive dust and debris floated over some 7,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean, and the Japanese fishing trawler Daigo Fukuryu Maru (“Lucky Dragon No. 5” in English) was caught in the fall-out. The 23 crew members, who suffered skin burns and other symptoms of radiation exposure, were quarantined when they reached port. Six months later, the boat’s radio operator developed liver complications and died at the age of 40. After the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission initially accused the Lucky Dragon of entering the restricting testing area on a spy mission, the U.S. government ended up paying out $2 million in damages, of which just over 10 percent went to the ship’s owner and crew.

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"King Kong vs. Godzilla" On Toho Video Blu-ray

CD Japan is releasing the 60th anniversary edition of King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Blu-ray on July 16. The item's description:

Sixtieth anniversary release of tokusatsu series "Godzilla." 16 titles are released as Blu-ray format. Comes with an anniversary logo sticker. This edition features a film "King Kong Tai Godzilla." 

Special Feature / Bonus Track: teaser, trailer, 10-sheet poster, stills, audio commentary

The price is ¥4700 (U.S. $46.14). Along with King Kong vs. Godzilla, CD Japan will be releasing other Godzilla movies on Blu-ray on July 16. Each are 60th anniversary Toho Video editions. They are: Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla x Mecha Godzilla, Godzilla 2000 Millennium,  Son of Godzilla, Godzilla x Mothra x Mecha Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., Godzilla vs. Mothra, Terror of Mechagodzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla and Destroy All Monsters.

Each are ¥4700 ($46.14).

 For details on King Kong vs. Godzilla, go here.

Toho Updates Website Portal To Celebrate Godzilla's 60th Anniversary

by Armand Vaquer

Above, the Godzilla statue at Toho Studios. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Another thing to remind me of my age.

 The Asahi Shimbun has reported that the official portal website of Toho Co., Ltd. has been updated to celebrate Godzilla's 60th anniversary.

They wrote:

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of “Godzilla,” Toho Co. has updated its official portal site and is offering brief introductions of all 28 titles of the monster movie series for fans. 

The anniversary will be celebrated with the releases of the new Hollywood remake of the series and the first digitally remastered version of the original “Godzilla,” which first hit theaters in 1954. 

In addition, the website provides information for Godzilla and his rival “kaiju” monsters, with large photos, and features the weapons used in each film. 

There is also a special section titled “Ore to Godzilla” (me and Godzilla), where interviews with Godzilla fans will be updated. The first guest will be revealed soon.

Unfortunately, it is all in Japanese.

Additionally, Rialto Pictures is releasing the 1954 original Godzilla to selected theaters in U.S. cities starting in New York in April to celebrate the Big Guy's anniversary. This is the same restored version that Rialto released ten years ago for Godzilla's 50th anniversary. (See previous post by Ken Hulsey.)

To read the Asahi Shimbun article, go here.