The Cultural History of Godzilla – Pt 37

P 94

芹沢博士と化学兵器
Dr. Serizawa and Chemical Weapons

では、個人が研究室で作り出せてゴジラを倒す実用的な武器となる少量の物質とは何だろう。芹沢博士が化学者であることを考え、「水中の酸素を奪う」という能力からも、原爆以外の可能性が高い。それは一九九五年のオウム事件で有名になったサリンのような毒ガスである。毒ガスならば研究室のなかで実験をするだけでなく、実用品までも生産できたはずだ。

What, then, is the small amount of substance that an individual can create in a lab to become a viable weapon to defeat Godzilla? Considering that Dr. Serizawa is a chemist, it is highly possible that it was something other than the atomic bomb, given his ability to “take oxygen out of water.” It is a sarin-like poison gas made famous by the Aum attack in 1995. Poison gas could have been used not only for laboratory experiments, but also for practical production.

The Tokyo subway sarin attack (地下鉄サリン事件, Chikatetsu Sarin Jiken, “Subway Sarin Incident”) was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated on 20 March 1995, in Tokyo, Japan, by members of the cult movement Aum Shinrikyo. (Source: Wikipedia)

しかしながら、毒性の大気(といってもエーテルは存在しないことが証明されたが)によって、世界が滅びるというのはその後具体化する。第一次世界大戦の勃発時に催涙ガスが使われ、その後ドイツによって塩素ガスなどの毒ガスが使用された。ガスは灯りや燃料用から殺害に利用できるものへと、平和利用から戦争の化学兵器へとイメージが大きく変わった。最後にゴジラを倒したオキシジェン・デストロイヤーから出てくる気泡が、とりわけ化学兵器としての水溶性の毒ガスを示すのだ。だとすると、「スイスの特派員が話を聴いたドイツ人」という芹沢博士の旧友は、捕虜のソ連軍兵士や収容所のユダヤ人を殺害したとされるナチスドイツのガス室とも結びつく化学者なのかもしれない。

However, it later materialized that the world would be destroyed by a toxic atmosphere (although ether proved to be non-existent). Tear gas was used at the outbreak of World War I, and later poison gases such as chlorine gas were used by Germany. The image of gas has changed significantly, from being used for lighting and fuel to something that can be used for killing, and from being used for peaceful purposes to being a chemical weapon for warfare. The bubbles coming out of the Oxygen Destroyer that finally defeated Godzilla show water-soluble poison gas as a chemical weapon. If so, Dr. Serizawa’s old friend, “the German whom the Swiss correspondent listened to,” may also be a chemist linked to the Nazi German gas chambers that allegedly killed prisoners of war Soviet soldiers and Jews in concentration camps.

しかも、コナン・ドイルのSF小説の愛読者だった香山が『毒ガス帯』(一九一三年)を読まなかったはずがない。これは毒性エーテルの帯が地球を通過するときに世界が破滅するのではないか、というシミュレーション小説だった。インドネシアのスマトラ島(またも南洋だ)で発した被害から、チャレンジャー教授が察知し、酸素ボンベを用意して世界の終末を見届けようとする。ただし、地球にとって、というよりもイギリスにとって都合よく実際には害が及ばずに終わってしまう。

Moreover, it is impossible that Kayama, who was a fan of Conan Doyle’s sci-fi novels, did not read Poison Gas Belt (1913). This was a simulation novel about the destruction of the world when a belt of toxic ether passes through the earth. Professor Challenger senses the damage caused in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island (again, in the South Seas), prepares oxygen cylinders, and tries to see the end of the world. However, for the Earth, or rather for Britain, it actually ends up harmless.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ DL was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction. (Source: Wikipedia

映画では演じる俳優に合わせて二十七歳になったが、すでに述べたように『G作品検討用台本」での芹沢博士は四十歳という年齢だった。

In the movie, he turned 27, just like the actor who played him, but as I mentioned earlier, Dr. Serizawa was 40 years old in the “G work review script.”

P 95

さらに北京大学にいて満州にも出かけたという大陸との関係からすると、七三一部隊とのつながりさえも読めるのかもしれない。芹沢博士の研究所はゴジラの足音が聞こえる山根博士の家のような湾岸近くではなくて、東京の奥まったところに位置している。東京と接する川崎にあった陸軍登戸研究所をどこか想起させる。そこでは人間魚雷回天などの特攻兵器と同時に生物化学兵器も開発していた。現在も建物の一部は明治大学平和教育登戸研究所資料館として残っている。

Furthermore, judging from his relationship with the continent, where he was at Peking University and also went to Manchuria, it may be possible to read his connection with Unit 731. Dr. Serizawa’s laboratory is located deep in Tokyo, not near the coast like Dr. Yamane’s house where you can hear Godzilla’s footsteps. It somehow reminds me of the Army Noborito Research Institute in Kawasaki, which borders Tokyo. There, they developed biochemical weapons as well as special attack weapons such as human torpedoes. Part of the building still remains today as the Noborito Research Institute for Peace Education Museum of Meiji University.

Unit 731, short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and the Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese. (Source: Wikipedia)

陸軍で実際に開発された毒ガスのなかで「オキシジェン・デストロイヤー」にいちばん近いのは、呼吸能力を奪う「あお剤」と暗号名で呼ばれた窒息ガスのホスゲンだろうか。第一次世界大戦でもドイツによって多く使用され、肺水腫などを引き起こし呼吸不全で死に至る。目の角膜に作用すると失明の被害をもたらす。だとすると、芹沢博士のアイパッチをした目の傷はこの「あお剤」の実験中の事故が原因とも考えられる。

Of all the poison gases actually developed by the Army, the closest thing to an “oxygen destroyer” would be phosgene, a suffocating gas codenamed a “breathing agent.” It was used extensively by the Germans in World War I, causing pulmonary edema and death from respiratory failure. If it acts on the cornea of the eye, it causes blindness. In that case, Dr. Serizawa’s eye scar caused by the eye patch may have been caused by an accident during the experiment of this “green agent.”

もっとも、狼に襲われたときの傷だという香山の説明からすると、原作ではあくまでも物理的な原因が考えられていた。ただし、映画の「戦争さえなかったらあんなひどい傷を受けずに済んだはずなんだ」という尾形の説明からは、毒ガスのような化学兵器と関与していたと解釈もできるのだ。原子爆弾は物理学だろうが、こちらは芹沢博士の専門の化学なのだ。国会にも呼ばれるように世間で地位を得ている恩師の山根博士と違って、芹沢博士が半分地下に潜った生活をしているのは、こうした化学兵器の開発や生産に携わっていて、戦後公職追放になったせいかもしれない。

However, according to Kayama’s explanation that it was a wound when he was attacked by a wolf, in the original work, the physical cause was considered to be the last. However, from Ogata’s explanation in the movie, “If it hadn’t been for the war, I wouldn’t have been hurt so badly,” it could be interpreted that he was involved in chemical weapons such as poison gas. The atomic bomb may be physics, but this is Dr. Serizawa’s specialty, chemistry. Unlike his teacher, Dr. Yamane, who has established himself in the public domain, Dr. Serizawa is living half underground because he was involved in the development and production of these chemical weapons. It may be because he was expelled from public office.

山根博士の専門の古生物学ならば死んだ生物を扱うので人畜無害に見えて安全だが、生きた生物を滅ぼす化学兵器となると世間からの追求はまぬがれない。

Dr. Yamane specializes in paleontology, which deals with dead organisms, so it appears harmless and safe, but when it comes to chemical weapons that destroy living organisms, public pursuit is unavoidable.

P 96

一九四八年に青酸カリが使われて金が奪われた帝銀事件で、毒殺の手際のよさに七三一部隊の旧隊員の関与もとりざたされたが、GHQの指示でそちらの捜査が打ち切りになって、犯人は平沢貞通という画家に絞られた。取材のなかでドイツ人との友人関係が否定されたので、新聞記者の萩原が「ところで今何のご研究ですか?」と質問しても、芹沢博士が「お話しするほどのようなことはやっておりません」と口を濁すのは、そうしたつながりを邪推されたくないせいだとも考えられる。玄関の「芹沢科学研究所」という表札は間違いではないが、どこか専門の「化学」を隠しているように思えてくる。

In the 1948 Teigin Incident, in which potassium cyanide was used to steal money, former members of the 731st Unit were said to have been involved in the poisoning, but GHQ ordered the investigation to be terminated. Then, the culprit was narrowed down to a painter named Sadamichi Hirasawa. During the interview, he denied that he had a friendship with a German, so when Hagiwara, a newspaper reporter, asked, “What are you currently researching?” I don’t think so,” he said, perhaps because he didn’t want to be misled by such connections. There is no mistake in the nameplate “Serizawa Science Laboratory” at the entrance, but it seems to hide the specialty “Chemistry” somewhere.

Sadamichi Hirasawa (平沢 貞通, Hirasawa Sadamichi, February 18, 1892 – May 10, 1987) was a Japanese tempera painter. He was convicted of mass poisoning and sentenced to death. Due to strong suspicions that he was innocent, no justice minister ever signed his death warrant. (Source: Wikipedia)

オキシジェン・デストロイヤーが水溶性の毒ガスのような化学兵器であると説明のつくことが多い。芹沢博士は助手の手も借りずに地下の研究室で製造できたし、黒い手袋をはめて水槽に設置したのも、水槽を覗きこもうとする恵美子を危ないとして抱きとめるのも、水に溶けなかった気泡の毒性を警戒してなのだ。彼が悪魔の発明とみなしているのは、オキシジェン・デストロイヤーの生産がアイデアと手順さえわかれば、素人でも手軽にできる点かもしれない。化学兵器は「貧者の核兵器」とも呼ばれ、原水爆の開発に比べて小さな施設で生産可能なのは、まさに地下鉄サリン事件が証明している。大がかりな国家プロジェクトが必要な原子爆弾や水素爆弾に比べて、五四年当時の日本でも十分生産が可能な秘密兵器なのだ。

The Oxygen Destroyer is often explained as a chemical weapon, like water-soluble poisonous gases. Dr. Serizawa was able to manufacture it in his basement laboratory without the help of his assistants, put on black gloves to set it up in the tank, and hugged Emiko when she tried to peer into the tank because it was dangerous. I was wary of the toxicity of the bubbles that it didn’t have. What he sees as the devil’s invention may be the fact that the production of Oxygen Destroyers can be easily done by laymen, given the idea and the procedure. Chemical weapons are also called “poor man’s nuclear weapons,” and the subway sarin attack proves that chemical weapons can be produced at smaller facilities compared to the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs. Compared to atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs, which require large-scale national projects, they are secret weapons that even Japan in 1954 could produce.