Missed Mt Fuji

5.31.18

As I traveled from Shin Godzilla Place to Shin Godzilla Place there was none more impressive than the beach scene at Kamakura. It was the most perfect and beautiful day to go there. I didn’t know how awesome it was until I got there. Kamakura is about an 90-minute train ride from Central Tokyo. To get the beach requires taking a small adorable local train about four stops. After a short walk through narrow winding neighborhood streets guided by Google Maps on my iPad I could see the beach. When I reached the end of a small street I turned my head and I was greeted by the most amazing view second to none.

And there was Mt Fuji! Amazing, breathtaking, and awesome! Seeing Fuji is not ubiquitous as travelers may think. Fuji only shows up about 80 days out of the year. So seeing Fuji is almost as rare as a Godzilla appearance. And it is this that makes the following scene from Shin Godzilla so special.

I didn’t know Mt Fuji was off to the right of Shin Godzilla who in his fourth form was making his grand appearance to the track “Return of Godzilla” (King Kong vs Godzilla) by Akira Ifukube (ゴジラ復活す「キングコング対ゴジラ」 / 再上陸). And at the moment I realized the power and significance of this moment in the film. The selection of this location was obviously not haphazard but rather was intentional for the purpose of juxtaposing these two behemoths over and against each other. Shin Godzilla to the left and Mt Fuji to the right. My photograph does no justice to overpowering presence of Mt Fuji.

To Japanese audiences of Shin Godzilla the location of Mt Fuji would have been known whether it was visible or not in the film. The soaring size of Shin Godzilla’s towering would be made clear and was made most impressive when set across from Fuji. Although Fuji is obscured in the film, knowing its there makes Shin Godzilla’s size all the more impressive. This beach is Inamuragasaki in Kamakura (稲村ヶ崎, 日本, 〒248-0024 神奈川県鎌倉市稲村ガ崎１丁目１９).