Category: Tokusatsu

Godzilla: It Came From Japan (part 3)

King Kong vs. Godzilla (キングコング対ゴジラ, Kingu Kongu tai Gojira) is a 1962 tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Ishiro Honda with visual effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of kaiju films featuring the monster Godzilla.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, released in Japan as San DaikaijÅ«: ChikyÅ« Saidai no Kessen (三大怪獣　地球最大の決戦, San DaikaijÅ«: ChikyÅ« Saidai no Kessen? lit. “Big Three Monsters: Greatest Decisive Battle on Earth”) and alternatively spelled Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster, is a 1964 tokusatsu kaiju film, and is the 5th film in Toho’s Godzilla series. It was directed by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.

This movie is noted for having Godzilla playing a role where he benefits Japan, instead of trying to destroy it. It also features Mothra and Rodan, and introduces King Ghidorah, a very Chinese-looking space dragon, perhaps representative of Japan’s anxieties surrounding China’s satellite weapon program at the time.

Godzilla: It Came From Japan (part 2)

As the Godzilla series continued, the monster has been both a hero and an anti-hero. Godzilla is one of the most recognizable aspects of Japanese popular culture worldwide. To this day, Godzilla remains an important facet of Japanese films, embodying the kaiju subset of the tokusatsu genre. Godzilla has been considered a filmographic metaphor for the United States. The earliest Godzilla films, especially the original Gojira, attempted to portray Godzilla as a frightening, nuclear monster. Godzilla represented the fears of many Japanese of a repeat of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Peanuts are a Japanese twin sister singing group. They are Ito Emi (Ito Hideyo) and Ito Yumi (Ito Tsukiko). The twins were born in Nagoya on April 1, 1941. They are probably most known internationally for their appearances in the Mothra and Godzilla movies of the 1960s, in which they appeared as fairies called shobijin (small beauties) who had telepathic communication with Mothra. Although of course now played by different actresses, the characters have continued to appear in the more recent films as well.

Samurai Cockroach Killer

大日本除虫菊株式会社（だいにほんじょちゅうぎくかぶしきがいしゃ、Dainihon Jochugiku Co.,Ltd.）は、殺虫剤など衛生薬品の製造・販売を行っている日本の日用品メーカー。

Translation: Dainihon Jochugiku Corporation manufactures and sells insecticide and medicine.

Cockroaches (or simply “roaches”) are insects of the Order Blattodea. The name of the order is derived from the Latin word for “cockroach,” blatta. There are roughly 3,490 species in six families. Cockroaches exist worldwide, with the exception of the polar regions.

Samurai (侍, Samurai) was a term for the military nobility in pre-industrial Japan. The word “samurai” is derived from the archaic Japanese verb “samorau”, changed to “saburau”, meaning “to serve”; a samurai is the servant of a lord.