KING KONG APPEARS IN KAMAKURA! A Rare Japanese Kong Photo Surfaces!

On the way back to Skull Island, King Kong took a little-known vacation in Japan in the mid-1930s. Photo © Shigeo Kato.

One of the birthday gifts actor Shigeo Kato (Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Godzilla vs. the Thing, etc.) gave me was this photo of a 14-meter King Kong statue in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan. The date listed on the back of the photo is July 8, 1934, and it was built just after the original King Kong was released in Japan.

Naturally, this Kong statue no longer exists in Kamakura, but given the mystery surrounding the lost Japanese Kong films of the 1930s, it is an interesting curiosity. Japan truly went Kong Crazy in the wake of RKO's 1933 classic!