Fears of A Mount Fuji Eruption Rises In Japan

by Armand Vaquer

Above, Mount Fuji peeks above the cloud cover.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.



It was the site where King Kong and Godzilla began their epic battle.  It was also the location where all of Earth's monsters battled the space monster King Ghidorah.  (These are covered on page 37 of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.)

The biggest symbol of Japan is Mount Fuji and hundreds of people scale its slopes to view spectacular sunrises annually.

All that may change if Japan's worse fears about Mount Fuji come to pass: an eruption.  Mount Fuji last erupted in December 1707.

The Japan Times posted an article on fears that the 3/11/11 earthquake may re-awaken the sleeping peak:

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear crisis were unparalled disasters, but people in and around Shizuoka Prefecture fear the ultimate catastrophe — the eruption of Mount Fuji — may be looming. 

"If Mount Fuji were to erupt, the consequences will be felt in the Kanto region and beyond," Hideo Ogawa, head of Shizuoka Prefecture's disaster management department, said during a meeting held by the Cabinet Office in June on the possibility of such calamity. "This is an issue that requires surrounding prefectures to collaborate and take prompt measures." 

The meeting, attended by approximately 60 organizations, including government bodies as well as officials from Shizuoka, Kanagawa and Yamanashi prefectures, concluded that studies on possible evacuation routes in the surrounding area should start in January. 

Measures to evacuate residents as well as tourists out of the region should also be prepared, they said, with an eye at holding a large-scale evacuation drill in 2014.

To read the full article, go here.

It's Official: Media Blasters To Release "Godzilla vs. Megalon" and "Destroy All Monsters"

by Armand Vaquer

Above, the U.S. poster of "Godzilla vs. Megalon."

After weeks of speculation and rumors, it is now official: Media Blasters has Godzilla vs. Megalon and, also, Destroy All Monsters.

According to their Facebook page:

Talking about Godzilla we can make it official now, we have DAM and Godzilla vs. Megalon. DAM is scheduled for October and will be both Blu-Ray and DVD releases. Do not know all the details about the extras yet. We will post with it later as they become available. Now for the funny part, we were not looking at Godzilla vs. Megalon till everyone said we have it so we asked they said ok so we picked it up.

There is no word as yet on the release date of Godzilla vs. Megalon, but it will likely be in 2012.

The last sentence from Media Blasters' announcement is interesting:

Now for the funny part, we were not looking at Godzilla vs. Megalon till everyone said we have it so we asked they said ok so we picked it up.

As mentioned previously, Robert Dunham's daughter Emiko Jade Frost said she was approached by someone working on the extra features for the DVD some months ago. Then, the word about it was announced by August Ragone. I posted the news as Ragone has been a reliable source for news in the world of kaiju. Then Media Blasters said they don't have Megalon. After this, all hell broke loose and Ragone found himself on the receiving end of attacks by irate fanboys.

Perhaps the hullabaloo surrounding the Ragone announcement was a good thing in the end as Media Blasters acquired Megalon and it'll finally receive an official release.

As far as Destroy All Monsters is concerned, I have the ADV VHS and DVD releases. Unfortunately, both have Toho's international dub instead of the original A.I.P. dub. It is hoped that Media Blasters can release Destroy All Monsters with the A.I.P. dub or, at least, the Japanese language, but subtitled version. The international dub is atrocious.

Nevertheless, this is good news! (Now if we can only get Return of Godzilla (Godzilla 1985) and Godzilla vs. Biollante released on DVD.)

Daily Yomiuri Article On "The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan"

by Armand Vaquer


The Daily Yomiuri has its article on The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan posted at its online site.

As mentioned earlier, it was scheduled to be published/posted on Christmas Eve. Since Japan is 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles, it is already Christmas Eve in Japan. So they're right on schedule!



The article starts out with:

Godzilla was the embodiment of war in his eponymous 1954 debut film, but he saved the Earth from ecological doom in Godzilla vs the Smog Monster in 1971. The giant reptilian monster has meant many things to many people.

But did you ever imagine him as a tourist? According to The Monster Movie Fan's Guide to Japan (51 pp, 15 dollars, available via www.comixpress.com), Godzilla has ranged as far north as Sapporo, where he destroyed the TV Tower in one of his many films, and as far south as the Sakurajima volcano in Kyushu, near which he came ashore in another.

One place he hasn't visited is New York. Or perhaps that point is arguable. Armand Vaquer, the guidebook's author, told The Daily Yomiuri in a recent interview that devoted fans refer to the 1998 U.S. film in which Godzilla took a bite of the Big Apple as GINO ("Godzilla In Name Only").

We didn't discuss Godzilla's New York visits except for GINO, as fans are aware the real Godzilla did pay a visit to the Big Apple in Destroy All Monsters. Besides, the Guide is on Godzilla's Japan locations, not New York.

Above, Ai. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One bit of information in which the article noted as "dated," the bus ride from newly-arrived planes to the Narita Airport terminal:

Some of the practical information in the book is a bit dated. For instance, it has been a few years since a plane-to-terminal bus ride was a routine part of arriving at Narita Airport.

Prior to this month's trip to Japan, my last trip there was in 2007 in which I did have to take the shuttle bus ride from the plane to the airport terminal. It didn't happen all the time in my previous trips, just when there wasn't a gate available. It is nice to know that Narita totally did away with the shuttle bus ride. A welcome change.

The article did note Immigration's video featuring G-actress Shelley Sweeney.

To read the full article, go here.

Destroy All Monsters - Rare Godzilla vs Manda Footage

Sources: Baradagi1985 / Godzilla Society of North America - Forums

One of the members of the Yahoo Group (His handle is lbh66622001), The Godzilla Society of North America, was keen in spotting this on the UK version of Youtube. The sequence shows some deleted footage from "Destroy All Monsters' in which Godzilla and Manda fight each other during their attack on Tokyo. According to the person who found the footage, "The rumor is that one day Mr. Honda got bored during shooting and decided to stage a little tussle between Godzilla and Manda." My guess would be that the footage came from a Japanese DVD release, but I don't know that for sure. Maybe one of these days I will fork out the $50 and get the import DVD for the movie, like I have always wanted to.

See Also: The King Of Monsters Sings Opera In Waiting For Godzilla /G-FEST XV News Release /Hitomi Muto Talks About Her Grandfather Eiji Tsuburaya / Toho Sues Subway Over Monster Sandwich Add / 3D Godzilla Film In Production / Godzilla vs The Gryphon - Jeff Farley's Godzilla Sculpt / G-FEST XV Guests /G-FAN Special Update /An Exclusive! Godzilla 94' Page 60 / Comic Book Artist Dave Stevens Passes Away At Age 52 / Godzilla Takes Out A Drunk In Bangkok / Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster (1964) / Mothra vs Godzilla (1964) /Gigantis The Fire Monster