Godzilla Is In Japan by J David Macor

A Fine Farewell

2005-10-28T20:06:00.000+02:00

Well, I have had a crazy good time here in Japan. There was a lot of bad blood on this trip, but I hope that we can all get over it and just appreciate everything that we saw. I would like to thank our travel leaders and everyone else on the trip. Especially those of you who took photos for me! Hope you enjoyed my blog!

Just when you thought Godzilla went soft...

2005-10-26T23:52:00.000+02:00

All of a sudden, it seems that Godzilla has gone soft. I mean look at him, covered in flowers, then listening to BRITNEY SPEARS! Common! This is just pathetic...

But then, out of no where, he attacks Stephanie!! Hooray! The big green guy is back! After taking care of her (i had to again censor the carnage), he turned against the small plastic toys on the table! He is pure evil!

Visiting Japanese Monuments... And A Bus.

2005-10-24T23:19:00.000+02:00

So these are my feeble attempts (or sometimes the attempts of other) to get some good forced perspective shots of Godzilla. None of them really worked out that well, but I thought they were cool anyways.

<--This first shot is from the largest pagoda in Japan. I actually did not have enough money by this time to get into the gates to see it up close. But the people who went in said it was nice, so that is good enough for me!

-->Next we have a picfrom the golden temple in Kyoto. I think that was probably my favorite thing to see there. It was just this pristine, lustrous temple amongst the green scenery. Ofcourse, Godzilla had to ruin it by walking into frame (the bastard), but hey, you try to control a radioactive monster!

<--Finally, we have this random pic of Godzilla next to a bus. I don't remember why we even did it, but here it is... published for the world to see. What a waste of blogger.com's server...

THE BIRDS! An Alfred Hitchcock tribute.

2005-10-24T22:54:00.000+02:00

This was a spontaneous thing when we were at a temple market in Nagoya. I saw all these pigeons in a clustered area. So, I put down Godzilla amongst them. At first nothing happened, but then this random Japanese guy started tossing bird feed on him! Next thing I knew, Godzilla had collapsed. His pride may have been hurt, but at least he came out alive... unless he got bird flu...

Japanese and not so Japanese Cuisine

2005-10-23T22:04:00.000+02:00

I thought that I might dedicate this post to all of the interesting things that we got to eat in Japan. The sheer range of what I managed to actually eat still amazes me. Even Godzilla couldn't stomach everything we encountered, although he was a huge fan of sushi.

<--Here we have the second dinner in Tokyo. Some of it was absolutely amazing. The tempura was excellent, the sashimi was good, and I was not even sick of rice yet. Then there is the second little square from the left. No, that is not Godzilla's throw up... we were supposed to eat that. The best guess I came up with was some sort of brain.... and knowing those Japanese, probably from a fish... Now, not everything was entirely unfamiliar. I must admit having gone to McDonalds... several times. But Godzilla had an even better time there. He tore into the food, including a Big Mac (with an overwhelming number of pickles though...), some fries, and a coke. If you want to know more about McDonalds in Japan, check out Sivi's Blog.

What would you do?...

2005-10-21T14:32:00.000+02:00

Well, at this point, I am just trying to come up with different ideas about what to do with Godzilla. Professor Schuchardt suggested that I approach random people and simply hand them the godzilla doll, and see what they would do. So off I went, to spread the joy of Godzilla around Japan!

So, I started by handing the toy to the group of students that had given up their precious time to show us around, not only their campus (Chukyo University), but all over Nagoya. At any rate, I just handed Godzilla to them, and asked if they would take a picture with him. They seemed pretty damned reluctant, but they eventually caved, and the result was this very awkward photo opportunity.

Later on in the trip, while we were at Toei Uzumasa Movieland, we found a man dressed in a traditional Samurai outfit, and I figured this would be a perfect opportunity. I handed him Godzilla, but I think he felt really stupid. Like this was some big American joke. Well, it kinda was, but at the same time, this blog has a sort of academic value.

This last picture was taken on the Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto. Basically, the setup was that Sivi was sleeping, so I took Godzilla out of my backpack and stuck it in her face. She woke up and she made this strange face as if she had just had a shot of tequila! It was well worth the slap afterwards.

Wait!!! Don't forget about Fishy!!!!

2005-10-20T19:30:00.000+02:00

Seeing as my girlfriend Chelsea put in so much effort into decorating what was a bland white styrofoam fish, I could not completely neglect it on my trip.

As you can see, Fishy has a very complex personality. First of all, she demands attention. Some might even call her needy... But nevertheless, she is loveable. Fishy also tends to feel that she is very important. Seniors and pregnant women be damned! She will take the priority seat!

Furthermore, she is quite the promiscuous little devil. Between a little girl on girl action with Liz, a comfortable position in Terence's crotch, and enjoying being on top of Schuchardt, she is insatiable! There is nothing we could do about it...

But in the end, she is a one man kind of fish. Or should I say a one radioactive lizzard kind of fish?

(While some may notice a similarity to a certain person, Fishy is not real! It is a styrofoam fish! ps, love you fishy!)

Schuchy, Taby, and Amandy take Godzilly out on the Town

2005-10-17T23:55:00.000+02:00

Ahh, the brilliance of my project. I give Godzilla to other people to let them go around and take photos of him. After having completed the work, I get their photos and voila! My project goes online (and generates income from advertising:)

No, seriously, I was not going to be going to a Godzilla friendly area (Merril Lynch office), so I figured Professor Schuchardt, Tabitha, and Amanda could get more interesting photos. Now, I am not sure where they went, but from the pics, I can see Godzilla had a great time.

Now like I said, this is a rough guess based off of the pictures, but it seems that first, Godzilla went up an escalator. Then he attacked the city. Afterwards, he simply wanted to relax and enjoy a hot cup of joe (I also think he signed an endorsement deal with Loto Cafe). At any rate, all in all, it looks like he had a good day.

Subway Adventure and Food

2005-10-17T15:56:00.000+02:00

Well, today Godzilla had his chance to go after his favorite food: fish (at least in the American movie he was really interested in fish...). We left at what can only be described as the ass crack of dawn to head to the stock exchange for fish. Our mode of transportation was the subway, and it just so happened to be Godzilla's first time on a subway. He was super siked. He clutched his ticket practically the entire way. But after a while, he was getting a little antsy and started swinging from the ceiling like his arch nemesis, King Kong. Shortly after this little scene, we arrived at the fish market of Tokyo.

Now, I decided not to have any photos shot, because
1) Godzilla is too self conscious to eat while having his photo taken
2) The horror and carnage on display while Godzilla devoured the fish is a bit too graphic...

On the way back, while on the subway, a horrible thing was discovered. This Japanese icon was really made in China! It was absolutely horrifying!

Anyways, after the shock had dissipated we enjoyed a meal at our hotel. Now there was fish for breakfast, so I had to keep an eye on my plate, but Jason had no such worries... he had the vegetarian meal. Godzilla contemplated eating it, but found the turd like objects a bit too repulsive.

Godzilla is Born!!!

2005-10-16T22:07:00.000+02:00

The one million hour flight had taken its toll on me... I was ready to just take a shower and go to bed. Then, I found out that our room did not in fact have a personal shower, so we had to use the communal one; I decided that I was not that dirty... Well, as soon as I started contemplating how long I could go without a shower, an earthquake hit. It was the strangest experience of my life. Although, now that I think about it, that may very well have symbolized Godzilla's arrival; a 2 ton lizzard crashing into the island of Japan would indeed shake the Tokyo quite a bit... then again, considering that it was actually a 6 ounce plastic toy, seismic activity was probably the culprit.

At any rate, later on that night, some of the group went by subway to the Akihabara District, aka Super Crazy Fun Light Seizure District. As soon as we emerged from the stairway out of the subway, I saw it, sitting pristinely in a glass window: Godzilla. I scrambled into the store and bought it immediately (later on I realized that this rubber/plastic hybrid of a child's toy cost me some $40...).

Afterwards, my crew and I (for this night, my photographer was Stephanie Green and my guest model was Christine Nitescu) just took some random photos. We were just testing the water and seeing what we could actually do with Godzilla.

Another problem, with a Fishy Solution

2005-10-14T16:17:00.000+02:00

Well, I leave in less than a day and I still haven't received my godzilla action figure... damn you toycup.com! At any rate, Chelsea, being the creative goddess that she is, has come up with a substitute. We found a styrofoam fish at Coop, and we bought some markers and glitter, and after a few hours of Chels letting her creative juices flow, we had "Fishy." I figure, a fish is still related to Japan, plus godzilla likes fish, so it seemed like a good solution to me. Also, when I get to Japan, hopefully I will be able to buy a godzilla action figure.

Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.

George Lois

Spanktacular Idea!

2005-09-23T18:28:00.000+02:00

Alright, I had a stroke of brilliance. Well, really it was my girlfriend Chelsea's idea... but I will take credit for it. So we were talking about taking pictures with gnomes, and I was like wait! What if I did the same thing, but with a little godzilla figurine! I mean, that is not what my original idea was for this blog. It was a total fluke that I named it after Godzilla. It was only because professor Schuchardt had mentioned the godzilla movies in class earlier that day. But it all worked out, so I think this will be a pretty experience. If you want to give me suggestions for what kind of creative pictures I could take, please feel free to leave a comment!

Crazy Stalkers!

2005-09-16T11:48:00.000+02:00

Today when I got to school, one of the co-leaders of our trip, Susan, informed me that I had to take down the link to our tentative itenerary from my blog. Why, one might ask? Because of stupid stalkers! That's right, you heard me! Apparantly we may have the problem of some weirdo people following us around as we travel all over Japan, and depending on their level of creepiness, that might put a little damper on the trip. So, this is a warning to all potential stalkers: Stay away, or else... I might do something... Oh yeah, and I am a 8 foot tall guy weighing in at 300 pounds... so stay away!

Bump in the Road...

2005-09-14T23:36:00.000+02:00

Well, we had our second travel meeting today, and I have to admit, I am a little bit scared… We had this ridiculous argument about the assignment. I really was not involved at all, but the whole thing was ridiculous. I guess there was a little bit of a misunderstanding on the website about what our evaluation was to be based on. So, we have to do this blog, and then after travel, turn in a ten page research paper. I thought that that sounded relatively standard. At least the blog idea was different. I have never had one, so this is a really cool opportunity. I think that the idea is great, and I just wish my classmates would see that. They complained and bitched and moaned about having to do two things… big freakin whoop. I’m a senior too. I have a thesis. I am in like a million clubs. But would I give up this opportunity because I had to write a paper and a blog? No. That is retarded…

Anyways, the whole matter was settled and we have our assignment. I just wish that we didn’t have to go through all that drama. I mean, professor Schuchardt looked really disheartened. I don’t want him to get the wrong impression of our student body, but the fact is, some are dedicated to making this school better, others just want to buy their degree, more or less.

So, at the end of this, my first blog entry, I thought I would throw in a symbolic image: Godzilla of course. I guess I will probably see a film or two with the big green guy, so I thought I would indirectly dedicate my blog to him. So, if anyone actually reads this, enjoy!