Japan Monster Locations, Not So Tricky A Concept

Above, the Saikai Bridge near Sasebo City in Kyushu was featured in "Rodan" (1956).

Last November, the Japan Visitor Blog reviewed The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. In the review, they wrote:

Californian Armand Vaquer is a serious kaiju eiga (monster movie) fan, especially of the monster of monsters, Godzilla. He writes for various fan blogs on the subject, he travels to fan conventions, he has met up with Godzilla personnel all to the way up to the president of Toho Pictures, and he has traveled numerous times to Japan to visit the original Godzilla settings.

"Original settings" is a bit a tricky concept in this context, of course. Those Japanese landmarks had been recreated as scale models in the Toho Studios and were then destroyed by the giant monster. In real life, they still stand unscathed by any monster action and can easily be visited.

I would have to slightly disagree on it being a "tricky concept." As most fans of the kaiju eiga know, while it is true that the landmarks destroyed were detailed miniatures, shots of the actual landmarks were interwoven into the movies.

For example, the Saikai Bridge near Sasebo in Kyushu was blown down by Rodan in the 1956 film. But, shots of the actual bridge with people fleeing (below) it to get aboard buses before the monster's arrival were included.



After this, the miniature Saikai Bridge with Rodan was edited into the film with the monster in the waters of the Hario Straits (below). After this, Rodan takes flight and then blows down the minature bridge.



Also in Rodan, actual shots of Rodan flying by the Hario Wireless Towers near the Saikai Bridge were included in the movie. No miniatures of the towers were used.

It is these actual locations included in the films that fans travel to Japan to visit. Obviously, fans can't visit the miniatures, they were most likely discarded into the Toho dumpster anyway. The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan is the Japan travel guide to get to these locations.

I visited the Saikai Bridge in April 2007 and enjoyed seeing the bridge and the scenic Hario Strait area.