Hibiya's Godzilla Statue

by Armand Vaquer

This coming December 5 marks the 15th anniversary of the Godzilla statue in Hibiya, Tokyo.

The statue was erected on that date concurrent with the release of the final Heisei series Godzilla movie, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah on December 9, 1995.

I've visited the statue several times during my five trips to Japan, the first being my 2001 trip for the Tokyo International Film Festival premiere of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Of course, one must have a camera on hand (as I did) for the obligatory photos of the statue. Godzilla fans traveling to Japan consider a visit to the statue as a "must."






Left, my first visit to the Godzilla statue in Hibiya came in November 2001.



Above, the statue is visited by members of G-TOUR in August 2004.

Above, to kill some time before going to Toho International to meet with Masaharu Ina, I stopped by the statue and found a television crew conducting an interview in October 2005. The statue is in the background at left.




Using a digital camera in Japan for the first time, I took this photo (right) of the statue in April 2007. It was the photo used on the cover of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.



Information on how to get to the Godzilla statue in Hibiya is included in The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.






Toho Co., Ltd. has erected a new statue of Godzilla at the front of the studio. Visitors can go there to view it along with a new mural of The Seven Samurai.




Above, also from my 2007 trip to Japan, Japanese office workers are taking cigarette breaks near the statue.