In “Oh No There Goes Tokyo”, Tsutsui W.M mentions that in the years since World War II fictional apocalypse has been visited upon Tokyo more frequently than any location on the globe. He claims that in the “Doom laden dreams “of Japanese popular culture, Tokyo has fallen victim to, earthquakes, floods, fire cyclonic winds, alien invasions, giant monsters and robots.
These fictional apocalypses are usually understood by audiences as a result of humiliation and persisting traumas from the second world war. It is true that the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki have engraved wounds on the Japanese minds that would take longer than a century to heal. The Godzilla franchise constantly reminds the Japanese of the strong humiliation faced in the last century. While some critics claim Godzilla as a reimagination of the country’s wartime horrors, others claim that it allowed reconstruction of ideology and the revitalization of faith.
Apocalyptic imagination, like two sides of a coin, has both negative and positive impact, depending on the viewer’s perspective. Like the American critic reflected “The end of the world? No big deal” as he believed that these stories comfort people’s insecurities and give them hope by creating happy endings. Having the city experiencing multiple apocalypses, regular destruction and reconstruction allow the society to get familiar and practice the process, developing a stronger mentality.
shaurya kang
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