What is Shimizu reading?

5.29.2022

Does this magazine look familiar? It’s easy to miss and it was not very clear until the advent of Godzilla on DVDs and blu-ray. This is the magazine our hero Keisuke Shimizu (清水 敬介), played by Masaaki Daimon, was reading while lying on his bed listening to the radio in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla (1974). The cover is on screen for a few fleeting moments when he hops to his feet. But this real magazine supports the identity and interests of the main character, who is an architectural engineer for with Kokuba-Gumi Co., Ltd. (國場組), which is an actual construction and civi engineering company in Okinawa. This magazine is Domus magazine!

Domus is a long-established Italian architecture and design magazine founded and first published on January 15, 1928, by architect Gio Ponti and Barnabite. Domus is published monthly 11 times a year. The publisher is headquartered in Rozzano, Milan. The mission of the magazine was to renew architecture and Italian decorative arts with an emphasize the importance of style in industrial production.¹ The official website of Domus is domusweb.it where a digital archive is available.

Shimizu-san is holding Domus: architettura arredamento arte (Domus²: architecture decor art) issue 526 published in September 1973. The cover reads “prefabricated concrete structures,” “Huddinge hospital stockholm,” “interior design,” “the program of the XV triennial,” and “In milan, the Lombard seventeenth century exhibition.” This late 1973 issue corresponds with the film production of Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla. This scene of Shimizu reading Domus makes complete sense. Such little details add depth to the characters and provide details to an often overlooked historical context in Godzilla movies.