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Godzilla named Tokyo’s tourism ambassador

By Alexandra Huber

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Infamous movie monster Godzilla appointed as Tokyo’s tourism ambassador

It seems as though the stomping, fire-breathing and destruction has been forgiven.

In a ceremony on Thursday, Tokyo named Godzilla (yes, that Godzilla) as the city’s special resident and tourism ambassador of its Shinjuku ward, according to the Associated Press.

The announcement had all the subtlety of the monster itself as a 171-foot tall Godzilla head was unveiled at an office in Toho, the Japanese studio behind the original 1954 film. In a not-so-surprising coincidence, the studio is shooting a comeback Godzilla film this year.

Next to the towering Godzilla head, a mini Godzilla clad in a rubber suit stood next to Shinjuku Mayor Kenichi Yoshizumi. Yoshizumi assured the crowd that any building that Godzilla destroys in the movies is purely fiction and that those places are sure to prosper in real life. (In case you had your doubts).

“Godzilla is a character that is the pride of Japan,” he continued.

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Japan is hoping that Godzilla, arguably its most recognizable movie star, will help lure tourists to the country’s largest city. It seems as though the success of last year’s Hollywood, “Godzilla” remake directed by Gareth Edwards, had something to do with the monster’s renaissance.

In case your movie history is a bit rusty, in the original 1954 motion picture, Godzilla was a towering, destructive monster created as a result of American nuclear weapon testing. The film, directed by Ishirô Honda, is revered as a classic, spurring a number of remakes. 

Over the years, Godzilla has demolished some of the world’s most recognizable landmarks including Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge, Japanese castles, and the Gold Gate Bridge. Even the Shinjuku ward, the area of Tokyo now represented by Godzilla, has received its fair share of destruction throughout the years. It has been flattened in three Toho movies. Time is, as they say, a flat circle.

And here we thought Taylor Swift was the oddest ambassador choice.

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