Childhood Obsessions I

Well, today I will begin a series (not continuous) on memories from my childhood. This isn't particularly about any one thing, moment, etc. but spans whatever I can remember as having a big impact on my life.  Today, I will begin my series with the one reason why I want to visit Japan: Godzilla.

Now, my initial fascination with the monster from Tokyo Bay came by accident, as I stumbled upon classic Godzilla movies not because of their content, but because of their price. After buying a few of these movies, I became entranced not only with the monsters but with collecting more and more of these action-packed, costumed, over-dubbed movies. 

The era of Godzilla films that I have collected spans from the first movie, in 1954 to the last Godzilla film in 1995. Now, since that time more Japenese Godzilla movies have come out, but I don't count them as worth collecting or watching right now as enhanced computer effects have cheapened the franchise by taking away the magic that only physical props can add to such movies.

So, in the era of 54-95, I have all of the movies released (somewhere between 25-30) with the exception of Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, a movie dealing with the ills of pollution in early 70s Japan. Oh, and I only have the VHS of these movies, I refuse to buy the remastered DVDs of these films. So, if you have any VHS' of the one movie I don't have, please feel free to send it my way.

Until I get to Tokyo to see it myself, this'll have to do