ASIA / PACIFIC
August 21, 2017
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
Department of Consumer & Business Services
Building Codes Division
ORIGINAL GODZILLA. In this April 28, 2014 file photo, original Godzilla actor Haruo Nakajima, speaks
during an interview at his home in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Nakajima, the actor who stomped in a rubber suit
to portray the original 1954 Godzilla, died August 7, 2017 at age 88. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)
Haruo Nakajima, who played the
original 1954 Godzilla, dies at 88
By Yuri Kageyama
AP Business Writer
OKYO — He stomped over
miniature bridges and buildings in
a rubber suit and gave the world
Godzilla, the fire-breathing, screeching
monster that became Japan’s star cultural
export and an enduring symbol of the
pathos and destruction of the nuclear age.
Haruo Nakajima, who portrayed God-
zilla in the original 1954 classic, died of
pneumonia, his daughter Sonoe Nakajima
told The Associated Press. He was 88 years
old.
The film, which went on to become a
mega-series and inspired Hollywood spin-
offs, struck a chord with postwar Japan,
the only nation in the world to suffer
atomic bombing, in Hiroshima and Naga-
saki in the closing days of World War II.
Vivacious and energetic, Nakajima said
he invented the character from scratch,
and developed it by going to a zoo to study
how elephants and bears moved. He said it
was important to show the pathos of the
creature, which could only smash
everything in its way.
The theme of his Godzilla was grand and
complex, he said, addressing universal
human problems, as it spoke to a Japan
that still remembered wartime suffering.
“If Godzilla can’t walk properly, it’s
nothing but a freak show,” Nakajima said
in a 2014 interview with The AP at his
T
suburban Tokyo apartment, proudly
sitting among sepia-toned photos of him as
a young man and Godzilla figures.
“It’s not some cowboy movie,” he said.
He recalled that the rubber suit he wore
was so hot, especially under the glaring
lights of the movie set, that the sweat he
wrung from his shirt would fill half a
bucket.
In the original movie, directed by Ishiro
Honda with an unforgettable score by
Akira Ifukube, Godzilla surfaces from the
Pacific Ocean suddenly, a mutation as a
result of nuclear testing in the area.
Nakajima was a stunt actor in samurai
films when he was approached to take the
role of Godzilla. Some fans prefer
Nakajima’s version over some Hollywood
depictions, which they say resemble an
evil-looking animal.
Although recent Godzilla films use
computer graphics, the latest Japanese
Godzilla remake, released last year, went
back to using a human actor, Mansai
Nomura, a specialist in the traditional
theater of kyogen. His movements were
duplicated on the screen through “motion-
capture” technology.
Until recently, Nakajima had continued
to be a star guest at festivals and events.
He had been scheduled to be featured at
the Tokyo International Film Festival in
October.
“I am the original, the real thing,” he
said in 2014. “My Godzilla was the best.”
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services,
Building Codes Division (BCD) ensures safe building construction
while supporting a positive business climate.
Hiring a licensed electrician or plumber helps ensure that the person doing the work is qualified. To check
on whether a person you wish to hire is licensed, visit our website at bcd.oregon.gov, then click on
“license holder search.” For more information about obtaining a license, please call (503) 373-1268.
BCD also wants to remind you that permits help protect the safety and value of your home.
You may need a permit if you are:
a room
n Building a fence taller than 6 feet
n Remodeling a kitchen or bathroom
n Adding electrical circuits
n Building a deck 30 inches above ground
n Building a shed
n Adding
Call your local building department or check our website, www.PermitsProtect.info,
to find out when you need a permit for your building or remodeling job.
www.bcd.oregon.gov
72nd A-bomb anniversary in Nagasaki
held amid U.S.-North Korea tension
TOKYO (AP) — Japan
marked the 72nd anniver-
sary of the atomic bombing
of Nagasaki amid growing
tension between the U.S.
and North Korea.
Nagasaki mayor Tomi-
hisa Taue said the fear of
another nuclear bomb
attack is not in the distant
future and urged nuclear
states to abandon the
weapons. He criticized
Japan’s government, being
under the U.S. nuclear um-
brella, for not contributing
to the U.N. nuclear arms
ban treaty.
Pyongyang and Wash-
ington recently traded
escalating threats. U.S.
President Donald Trump
threatened North Korea
“with fire and fury” and
North Korea’s military said
The Asian Reporter is published on the first & third Monday each month.
A-BOMB ANNIVERSARY. People pray at a church in Nagasaki to
mark the 72nd anniversary of the world’s second atomic bomb attack over
the southwestern city, on August 9, 2017. Japan marked the anniversary
of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki amid growing tension between the
U.S. and North Korea. (Takuto Kaneko/Kyodo News via AP)
it was examining its plans
for attacking Guam.
The U.S. launched the
world’s first nuclear attack
with a bomb dropped on
August 6, 1945 that killed
140,000 people in Hiro-
shima. The bombing of
Nagasaki three days later
killed 70,000 more.
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