Where'd Godzilla Go?

All that's left of Godzilla outside Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. Photo by Brett Homenick.

While browsing social media the other day, I saw a post from someone who shared a photo from the recent Hibiya Meets Godzilla exhibit just outside Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. This individual speculated that someone at Toho must have seen Godzilla Minus One's below-the-line, technical category win at the Oscars, shrugged, and put up a completely irrelevant bust of the original Godzilla from 1954 to "celebrate." 

Well, having stopped by Tokyo Midtown Hibiya on Friday night (less than a week after the Oscars aired), here's all that's left of the "celebration." It was rather short, don't you think?

(Spoiler: It was always scheduled to end on March 10.)

Hibiya Meets Godzilla, Take Three!

Hibiya Meets Godzilla. Photo by Brett Homenick.

While stopping by Toho Cinemas Hibiya after work today, I decided to check out the Hibiya Meets Godzilla display one more time, especially to see how it would look at night. It certainly didn't disappoint -- it was quite impressive! Here's what I saw.

Hibiya Meets Godzilla ... Again!

Hibiya Meets Godzilla. Photo by Brett Homenick.

 

Today, I returned to Tokyo Midtown Hibiya to take another look at the Hibiya Meets Godzilla exhibit just outside the venue. When I was entering the building via the subway, I happened upon the above posters promoting the event -- didn't notice them last time! With all that said, let's check out the highlights. 

HIBIYA MEETS GODZILLA! Godzilla Celebrates His 70th Anniversary in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya!

Godzilla in Hibiya for his 70th anniversary. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier today, I made my way to Hibiya to check out the Godzilla '54 bust standing guard in front of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. What a cool way to celebrate his 70th anniversary! The Big G will be hanging out there from February 1 until March 10, so you can bet your bottom dollar I'll come back again before it's gone. Let's check out the highlights.

THE STAR GALLERY! Toho Stars Triumphantly Return to Hibiya!

The Star Gallery in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. Photo by Brett Homenick.

By sheer coincidence, I found The Star Gallery in the basement of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. On Saturday, November 4, an advertisement for Godzilla Minus One (2023) caught my eye, and, as I approached it to take a picture of it, I suddenly discovered The Star Gallery, which was right next to it.

The Star Gallery contains all the hand casts of Toho stars that was removed from the old Hibiya Chanter Square in late 2017 in anticipation of the area's renovation. I never found out what had happened to those hand casts and figured they were tossed into storage somewhere or worse. 

So you could imagine my surprise when I accidentally stumbled upon those same hand casts on the wall of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya some six years later. I was ecstatic to find it and snapped some photos. I'll highlight some of the names below.

With Izumi Yukimura's hand cast.

With Yuriko Hoshi's hand cast.

With Frankie Sakai's hand cast.

With Yosuke Natsuki's hand cast.

With Akira Takarada's hand cast.