Gojira is the Japanese name of the "King Of The Monsters," Godzilla. He made his first appearance in the 1954 Japanese movie of the same name. The movie was dubbed in English and scenes with Raymond Burr as reporter Steve Martin were added for the American release in 1956, and he became an international hit. Toho Co. is the film company that has released 33 films with Godzilla.
After the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for both nuclear weapons and for the United States, who was seen as a sleeping giant that was awakened by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In later films, he was seen in collaboration with other kaiju such as Mothra and as a friend of mankind against such other monsters as King Ghidora.
Mary and I are especially fond of the 1962 movie King Kong vs. Godzilla, where the giant ape and giant reptile battle it out to see who the real king of the monsters is.
Who’s the ultimate winner? I’ll let you figure it out. Back with H on Monday!
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
The first thing I loved about this post was the realisation that “Gojira” is the Japanese pronunciation of Godzilla or is Godzilla a westernisation of Gojira? Secondly, I didn’t know that Godzilla was a metaphor for the atomic bombing of Japan – it lends a whole new gravitas…
Visiting from
https://how-would-you-know.com/2023/04/g-greenlit-get-someones-goat-get-there-with-the-olives-spanish-at-end-of-meal-surviving-historical-anachronisms.html
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“Godzilla” is the westernized “Gojira.” Guess they figured it was easier to pronounce that way. Thanks!
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Well I certainly didn’t see that one coming. You were right! My guess was “ganja”.
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That was the word I had originally.
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I’ve seen both the original Japanese movie (with subtitles) and the American Godzilla that added in Raymond Burr. My husband loved the American Godzilla as a child but I’m not sure if he saw any of the sequels. Alana ramblinwitham
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He’d get a good laugh out of “King Kong vs. Godzilla.” The oiginal, not the remake.
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I’m impressed with your G choice. I’m not sure I’ve ever sat through an entire Godzilla movie, but they are so terrible one can’t help but be a fan.
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The effects are primitive and the stories are light on plot, but it’s fun watching Godzilla destroying Tokyo…
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Love this! Kong wins, of course but that doesn’t mean Godzilla won’t be back. I do love a good, bad sci-fi flick and you can always count on the Japanese with Gojiro, Mothra, Rodan etc… Too bad that they are no longer shown on the old fashioned UHF channels. Love these 2 guys who had to sweat it out in these suits
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Svengoolie on MeTV (Saturday nights) occasionally shows them, but it sure isn’t like the days when TV stations leased a movie library and showed movies every night, complete with local commercials and everything…
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I love all silly sci-fi disaster movies!
My A to Z Blogs
DB McNicol – Small Delights, Simple Pleasures, and Significant Memories
My Snap Memories – My Life in Black & White
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They were so bad they were good…
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My dad took me to see Godzilla and some other films in the theater. I had the chance to turn my son onto Godzilla through videos. His love of Godzilla is now being passed to his son. So it goes.
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Passed from father to son… I like that…
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My parents took me to see the original Godzilla or “Gojira” when it first came out in theaters. I was about 5 at the time but it really impacted me in a big way. I still think this is the best and most frightening of all the subsequent remakes. I’ve been watching for them to replay it on TCM so I can record it to watch again. My wife and I have been watching a lot of the old “Perry Mason” TV shows and I wanted her to see Raymond Burr in the Godzilla film which normally she would have no interest in. Maybe she’d watch it now because she enjoys Burr.
Lee
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I wasn’t a big Godzilla watcher. I couldn’t think of a G with a J word. Nicely done.
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I love those movies!
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These movies are classics! We’re introducing them to our grand kids now. They’re loving the monster fights! 🦖
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I have never seen a Godzilla movie.
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Amazing. I never knew about this.
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Wow, didn’t know there was a King Kong vs Godzilla already in the 60’s! I only knew about the recent one, and well, I was very much influenced by the previous King Kong movie so I had my favourite :)
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And the film people were on top of a building planning how Godzilla was going to move around the city and which buildings he would destroy and apparently someone heard them and called the police thinking they were terrorists
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Did you know that they made a model of actual Tokyo for the monster to destroy so that people watching would recognise the buildings (we watched this just last year for my daughter’s film course).
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Mothra was a Saturday morning favorite of mine in the days before cable television.
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The tiny twin fairies. 🎶 M-O-T-H-R-A! 🎶
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I can hear them now! I can still make out the strings used to work Mothra’s wings. Ah, the good old uncomplicated days.
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We knew there were strings, and we didn’t care.
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The strings, actually, were part of the fun.
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Exactly….
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