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79-510: The Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway Company, Ltd. ( 北大阪急行電鉄株式会社 , Kita Ōsaka Kyūkō Dentetsu Kabushiki-gaisha ) is 54% owned by Hankyu Corporation , a major component of the wider Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group . Kitakyu , as it is often abbreviated, also owns various commercial and residential properties along the line. It is not to be confused with an earlier railway company called Kita-Osaka Electric Railway  [ ja ] which operated

158-417: A Stegosaurus and an alligator to form a sort of blended chimera , inspired by illustrations from an issue of Life magazine. To emphasize the monster's relationship with the atomic bomb, its skin texture was inspired by the keloid scars seen on the survivors of Hiroshima . The basic design has a reptilian visage, a robust build, an upright posture, a long tail and three rows of serrated plates along

237-546: A portmanteau of the Japanese words gorira ( ゴリラ , "gorilla") and kujira ( 鯨 （ クジラ ） , "whale") due to his burly build to resemble a gorilla and his habit to favor whale meat . The account has been acknowledged by Toho themselves, director Ishirō Honda , producer Tanaka, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya , producer Ichirō Satō  [ ja ] , and production head Iwao Mori  [ ja ] , with Satō and Mori recalling that

316-427: A body cavity made of thin wires and bamboo wrapped in chicken wire for support and covered in fabric and cushions, which were then coated in latex. It was held together by small hooks on the back, though subsequent Godzilla suits incorporated a zipper. Prior to 1984, most Godzilla suits were made from scratch, thus resulting in slight design changes in each film appearance. The most notable changes from 1962 to 1975 were

395-532: A distinctive disyllabic roar (transcribed in several comics as Skreeeonk! ), which was created by composer Akira Ifukube , who produced the sound by rubbing a pine tar-resin-coated glove along the string of a contrabass and then slowing down the playback. In the American version of Godzilla Raids Again (1955) titled Gigantis the Fire Monster (1959), Godzilla's roar was mostly substituted with that of

474-487: A filmographic metaphor for the United States, as well as an allegory of nuclear weapons in general. The earlier Godzilla films, especially the original, portrayed Godzilla as a frightening nuclear-spawned monster. Godzilla represented the fears that many Japanese held about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the possibility of recurrence. As the series progressed, so did Godzilla, changing into

553-777: A fire-breathing monster in a commercial for the Honda Odyssey . The monster was never mentioned by name, being seen briefly on a video screen inside the minivan. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society christened a vessel the MV Gojira . Its purpose is to target and harass Japanese whalers in defense of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The MV Gojira was renamed the MV ; Brigitte Bardot in May 2011, due to legal pressure from Toho . Gojira

632-456: A giant version of NBA player Charles Barkley . The commercial was subsequently adapted into a comic book illustrated by Jeff Butler . Godzilla has also appeared in a commercial for Snickers candy bars , which served as an indirect promo for the 2014 film. Godzilla's success inspired the creation of numerous other monster characters, such as Gamera , Reptilicus of Denmark, Yonggary of South Korea, Pulgasari of North Korea, Gorgo of

711-437: A holding company and was renamed Hankyu Holdings, Inc. ( 阪急ホールディングス株式会社 , Hankyū Hōrudhingusu Kabushiki-gaisha ) . The railway business was ceded to a subsidiary, now named Hankyu Corporation (before the restructuring, the new company which reused a dormant company founded on December 7, 1989, was called "Act Systems" ( 株式会社アクトシステムズ ) until March 28, 2004, then "Hankyū Dentetsu Bunkatsu Junbi K.K." ( 阪急電鉄分割準備株式会社 ) from

790-425: A human to create the movements of the computer-generated Godzilla, but it was said to have ended up looking too much like a man in a suit. Tatopoulos subsequently reimagined the creature as a lean, digitigrade bipedal, iguana-like creature that stood with its back and tail parallel to the ground, rendered via CGI . Several scenes had the monster portrayed by stuntmen in suits. The suits were similar to those used in

869-415: A laser-like high velocity projectile and unleashes it from its jaws in the form of a blue or red radioactive beam. Toho's special effects department has used various techniques to render the beam, from physical gas-powered flames to hand-drawn or computer-generated fire. Godzilla is shown to possess immense physical strength and muscularity. Haruo Nakajima, the actor who played Godzilla in the original films,

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948-544: A less destructive and more heroic character. Ghidorah (1964) was the turning point in Godzilla's transformation from villain to hero, by pitting him against a greater threat to humanity, King Ghidorah . Godzilla has since been viewed as an anti-hero . Roger Ebert cited Godzilla as a notable example of a villain-turned-hero, along with King Kong, Jaws ( James Bond ) , the Terminator and John Rambo . Godzilla

1027-422: A letter of confirmation with Hankyu and Kitakyu regarding studies of the extension in 2011, and the government of Osaka Prefecture joined a four-party memorandum of understanding in 2012. On 19 January 2017, construction began on the extension of the line to Minō-Kayano , which will have one intermediate station at Minō-Semba-Handaimae . Completion of the extension was originally scheduled for 2020; in May 2019,

1106-611: A section of the Hankyu Senri Line (between Awaji and Senriyama ) and Hankyu Kyoto Main Line (between Jūsō and Awaji) from 1919 until 1928, when it was merged into Keihan Electric Railway . All Kita-Osaka Kyuko rolling stock are stored and maintained at Momoyamadai Depot. Planning for the Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway began on 23 May 1966 as part of preparatory works for the 1970 World's Fair . Although

1185-437: A short period when the organ recycles. Various films, non-canonical television shows, comics, and games have depicted Godzilla with additional powers, such as an atomic pulse, magnetism, precognition, fireballs, convert electromagnetic energy into intensive body heat, converting shed blood into temporary tentacle limbs, an electric bite, superhuman speed, laser beams emitted from its eyes and even flight. Godzilla has

1264-490: A whim. It is generally not motivated to attack by predatory instinct; it does not usually eat people and instead sustains itself on nuclear radiation and an omnivorous or piscivorian diet consisting especially of cetaceans and large fish. When inquired if Godzilla was "good or bad", producer Shōgo Tomiyama likened it to a Shinto "God of Destruction" which lacks moral agency and cannot be held to human standards of good and evil. "He totally destroys everything and then there

1343-483: Is maroon . The Hankyu network serves 1,950,000 people every weekday and offers several types of express service with no extra charge. The head offices of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings , Inc. and Hankyu Corporation are at 1-16-1, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka ; both companies' registered headquarters are at 1-1, Sakaemachi, Ikeda , Osaka Prefecture . The Takarazuka Revue , an all-female musical theatre performance company,

1422-618: Is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region and is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group (which includes H 2 O Retailing Corporation and Toho Co., the creator of Godzilla ). The railway's main terminal is at Umeda Station in Osaka. The signature color of Hankyu cars

1501-456: Is a fictional monster, or kaiju , that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film , directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda . The character has since become an international pop culture icon , appearing in various media : 33 Japanese films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. , five American films , and numerous video games , novels, comic books , and television shows . Godzilla has been dubbed the King of

1580-431: Is a rebirth. Something new and fresh can begin." Tomoyuki Tanaka noted in his book that Godzilla and humanity can become temporal allies against greater threats, however they are essentially enemies due to the difficulty to co-exist. Godzilla's signature weapon is its "atomic heat beam" (also known as "atomic breath" ), nuclear energy that it generates inside of its body, uses electromagnetic force to concentrate it into

1659-559: Is considered "the original radioactive superhero " due to his accidental radioactive origin story predating Spider-Man (1962 debut), though Godzilla did not become a hero until Ghidorah in 1964. By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as "Superhero of the '70s." Godzilla had surpassed Superman and Batman to become "the most universally popular superhero of 1977" according to Donald F. Glut. Godzilla

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1738-401: Is shown to have great vitality: it is immune to conventional weaponry thanks to its rugged hide and ability to regenerate , and as a result of surviving a nuclear explosion, it cannot be destroyed by anything less powerful. One incarnation possesses an electromagnetic pulse-producing organ in its body which generates an asymmetrical permeable shield, making it impervious to all damage except for

1817-515: Is the name of a French death metal band, formerly known as Godzilla; legal problems forced the band to change their name. In May 2015, Toho launched a lawsuit against Voltage Pictures over a planned picture starring Anne Hathaway . Promotional material released at the Cannes Film Festival used images of Godzilla. Steven Spielberg cited Godzilla as an inspiration for Jurassic Park (1993), specifically Godzilla, King of

1896-552: Is well known as a division of the Hankyu railway company; all of its members are employed by Hankyu. The name Hankyu is an abbreviation of Keihanshin Kyūko ( 京阪神急行 ) . Keihanshin ( 京阪神 ) refers to the area served by Hankyu trains, comprising the cities of Kyoto ( 京都 ) , Osaka ( 大阪 ) and Kobe ( 神戸 ) , along with the suburbs that connect them to each other. Kyūko ( 急行 ) means "express train(s)". In 1907,

1975-859: The Fantastic Four , and the Avengers , as well as DC Comics characters such as the Justice League , the Legion of Doom and the Green Lantern Corps . First appearing in 1954, Godzilla has starred in a total of 38 films: 33 Japanese films produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. and five American films, one produced by TriStar Pictures and four produced by Legendary Pictures . He has also appeared in countless other entertainment mediums, which include comic book lines, novelizations , and video games; each appearance expands upon

2054-1324: The Keihan Main Line , the Uji Line , the Shinkeihan Line (present-day Kyoto Main Line), the Senriyama Line (present-day Senri Line), the Jūsō Line (part of Kyoto Main Line), the Arashiyama Line , the Keishin Line and the Ishiyama Sakamoto Line . The Katano Line was also added in 1945. On December 1, 1949, the Keihan Main Line, the Katano Line, the Uji Line, the Keishin Line, and the Ishiyama-Sakamoto Line were split off to become part of

2133-775: The Nishinomiya Stadium as the team's home field was completed near Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station . The Hankyu Braves (named in 1947) played until the 1988 season and became the predecessors of the present-day Orix Buffaloes . On October 1, 1943, under the order of the government, Hanshin Kyūkō and Keihan Electric Railway were merged, and renamed Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway Company ( 京阪神急行電鉄株式会社 , Keihanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu Kabushiki-gaisha , referred to as "Keihanshin", 京阪神 ) . The merged lines included

2212-491: The Shinjuku ward of Tokyo named Godzilla a special resident and official tourism ambassador to encourage tourism. During an unveiling of a giant Godzilla bust at Toho headquarters, Shinjuku mayor Kenichi Yoshizumi stated, "Godzilla is a character that is the pride of Japan." The mayor extended a residency certificate to an actor in a rubber suit representing Godzilla, but as the suit's hands were not designed for grasping, it

2291-713: The human condition . Godzilla has been featured alongside many supporting characters and, over the decades, has faced off against various human opponents, such as the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), in addition to other gargantuan monsters, including Gigan , King Ghidorah , and Mechagodzilla . Godzilla has fought alongside allies such as Anguirus , Mothra , and Rodan and has had offspring, including Godzilla Junior and Minilla . Godzilla has also battled characters and creatures from other franchises in crossover media —such as King Kong — as well as various Marvel Comics characters, like S.H.I.E.L.D. ,

2370-716: The nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons . Others have suggested that Godzilla is a metaphor for the United States, a "giant beast" woken from its "slumber" that then takes terrible vengeance on Japan. As the film series expanded, some storylines took on less serious undertones, portraying Godzilla as an antihero or lesser threat who defends humanity. Later films address disparate themes and commentary, including Japan's apathy, neglect, and ignorance of its imperial past , natural disasters , and

2449-404: The American film Godzilla (2014) from Legendary Pictures , Godzilla was scaled to be 108.2 m (355 ft) and weighing 90,000 short tons (81,650 metric tons), making it the largest film version at that time. Director Gareth Edwards wanted Godzilla "to be so big as to be seen from anywhere in the city, but not too big that he couldn't be obscured". For Shin Godzilla (2016), Godzilla

Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

2528-648: The Itami Line from Tsukaguchi to Itami were opened. On April 1, 1936, the Kobe Main Line was extended from Nishi-Nada (present-day Ōji-kōen) to the new terminal in Kobe (present-day Kobe-Sannomiya Station ), and the Kobe Main Line from Nishi-Nada to Kamitsutsui was named the Kamitsutsui Line, which was abandoned on May 20, 1940. In 1936, Hankyu established a professional baseball team and in 1937

2607-993: The Kobe Main Line started through service to the Kobe Rapid Transit Railway Tozai Line and the Sanyo Electric Railway Main Line . On December 6, 1969, the Kyoto Main Line and the Senri Line started through service to the Osaka Municipal Subway Sakaisuji Line . In 1970, the Senri Line was one of access routes to the Expo '70 held in Senri area. On April 1, 1973, Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway Company assumed its current name. On April 1, 2005, former Hankyu Corporation became

2686-648: The Minoo Arima Electric Tramway Company ( 箕面有馬電気軌道株式会社 , Minoo Arima Denki Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha ) , a forerunner of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings , Inc., was established by Ichizō Kobayashi (precisely, he was one of the "promoters" of the tramway). On 10 March 1910, Minoo Arima Tramway opened the rail lines from Umeda to Takarazuka (the Takarazuka Main Line ) and from Ishibashi to Minoo (the Minoo Line ). The tramway

2765-476: The Monsters , portraying the character through performance capture . In Shin Godzilla , a majority of the character was portrayed via CGI, with Mansai Nomura portraying Godzilla through motion capture. In 2024, Godzilla Minus One was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects , becoming the first Godzilla film nominated for an Oscar . At the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, it won

2844-467: The Monsters , an epithet first used in Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), the American localization of the 1954 film. Originally and in most iterations of the creature, Godzilla is a colossal prehistoric reptilian or dinosaurian monster that is amphibious or resides partially in the ocean, awakened and empowered after many years by exposure to nuclear radiation and nuclear testing . With

2923-573: The Monsters! (1956), which he grew up watching. Spielberg described Godzilla as "the most masterful of all the dinosaur movies because it made you believe it was really happening." Godzilla also influenced the Spielberg film Jaws (1975). Godzilla has also been cited as an inspiration by filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton . A carnivorous dinosaur from the Triassic period

3002-654: The Toho films, with the actors' heads being located in the monster's neck region and the facial movements controlled via animatronics. However, because of the creature's horizontal posture, the stuntmen had to wear metal leg extenders, which allowed them to stand two metres (six feet) off the ground with their feet bent forward. The film's special effects crew also built a 1 ⁄ 6 scale animatronic Godzilla for close-up scenes, whose size outmatched that of Stan Winston 's T. rex in Jurassic Park . Kurt Carley performed

3081-767: The United Kingdom and the Cloverfield monster of the United States. Dakosaurus is an extinct sea crocodile of the Jurassic Period , which researchers informally nicknamed "Godzilla". Paleontologists have written tongue-in-cheek speculative articles about Godzilla's biology, with Kenneth Carpenter tentatively classifying it as a ceratosaur based on its skull shape, four-fingered hands, and dorsal scutes and paleontologist Darren Naish expressing skepticism, while commenting on Godzilla's unusual morphology. Godzilla's ubiquity in pop culture has led to

3160-439: The award. Godzilla is one of the most recognizable symbols of Japanese popular culture worldwide and remains an important facet of Japanese films, embodying the kaiju subset of the tokusatsu genre. Godzilla's vaguely humanoid appearance and strained, lumbering movements endeared it to Japanese audiences, who could relate to Godzilla as a sympathetic character, despite its wrathful nature. Audiences respond positively to

3239-406: The back. In the original film, the plates were added for purely aesthetic purposes, in order to further differentiate Godzilla from any other living or extinct creature. Godzilla is sometimes depicted as green in comics, cartoons, and movie posters, but the costumes used in the movies were usually painted charcoal gray with bone-white dorsal plates up until the film Godzilla 2000: Millennium . In

Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

3318-651: The center of the train (exceptions are noted below). The Kobe Line and Takarazuka Line use the same fleet. Some former Hankyu trains, such as the 2000 series and 3100 series , have been transferred to the Nose Electric Railway . Single fare (adult) in Japanese Yen by travel distance is as follows. Fares for children (6–11 years old) are half the adult fare, rounded up to the nearest 10 yen. October 1, 2019 For fare collection, IC cards ( PiTaPa , ICOCA and others) are accepted. The fare rate

3397-576: The character because it acts out of rage and self-preservation and shows where science and technology can go wrong. In 1967, the Keukdong Entertainment Company of South Korea, with production assistance from Toei Company , produced Yongary, Monster from the Deep , a reptilian monster who invades South Korea to consume oil. The film and character has often been branded as an imitation of Godzilla. Godzilla has been considered

3476-554: The character, eventually making Godzilla as tall as 100 m (328 ft). This was done so that it would not be dwarfed by the newer, bigger buildings in Tokyo's skyline, such as the 243-metre-tall (797 ft) Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building which Godzilla destroyed in the film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991). Supplementary information, such as character profiles, would also depict Godzilla as weighing between 20,000 and 60,000 metric tons (22,050 and 66,140 short tons). In

3555-414: The context of the Japanese films, Godzilla's exact origins vary, but it is generally depicted as an enormous, violent, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. Although the specific details of Godzilla's appearance have varied slightly over the years, the overall impression has remained consistent. Inspired by the fictional Rhedosaurus created by animator Ray Harryhausen for

3634-403: The creation of numerous parodies and tributes, as seen in media such as Bambi Meets Godzilla , which was ranked as one of the "50 greatest cartoons", two episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the song " Godzilla " by Blue Öyster Cult . Godzilla has also been used in advertisements, such as in a commercial for Nike , where Godzilla lost an oversized one-on-one game of basketball to

3713-432: The creature's head. The Cybot Godzilla consisted of a hydraulically powered mechanical endoskeleton covered in urethane skin containing 3,000 computer operated parts which permitted it to tilt its head and move its lips and arms. In Godzilla (1998), special effects artist Patrick Tatopoulos was instructed to redesign Godzilla as an incredibly fast runner. At one point, it was planned to use motion capture from

3792-507: The efforts of Takeo Miki , then Minister of International Trade and Industry , who brokered the deal creating said company as a joint venture between the City of Osaka and Hankyu Railway. The line began construction on 16 July 1968 and was opened on 24 February 1970, to connect the then northern terminus of the Midōsuji Line, Esaka , with the grounds of the 1970 World's Fair. The Expo link

3871-553: The employee was Amikura. However, Honda's widow Kimi dismissed the employee-name story as a tall tale in a 1998 BBC documentary on Godzilla, believing that Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya gave "considerable thought" to the name of the monster, stating, "the backstage boys at Toho loved to joke around with tall stories, but I don't believe that one". Honda's longtime assistant director Kōji Kajita  [ ja ] added: "Those of us who were closest to them don't even know how and why they came up with Gojira ." Toho later translated

3950-485: The extension's scheduled opening date was delayed to 2023 because of construction problems. The scheduled opening of the extension was set for the end of 2023, but was later pushed back further to 23 March 2024. Hankyu Hankyu Corporation ( 阪急電鉄株式会社 , Hankyū Dentetsu kabushiki gaisha , lit.   ' Hankyu Electric Railway Stock Company ' ) , trading as Hankyu Railway ( 阪急電鉄 , Hankyū Dentetsu , lit.   ' Hankyu Electric Railway ' ) ,

4029-425: The film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms , Godzilla's character design was conceived as that of an amphibious reptilian monster based around the loose concept of a dinosaur with an erect standing posture, scaly skin, an anthropomorphic torso with muscular arms, lobed bony plates along its back and tail, and a furrowed brow. Art director Akira Watanabe combined attributes of a Tyrannosaurus , an Iguanodon ,

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4108-547: The films by an actor wearing a latex costume , though the character has also been rendered in animatronic , stop-motion and computer-generated form. Taking inspiration from King Kong , special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya had initially wanted Godzilla to be portrayed via stop-motion, but prohibitive deadlines and a lack of experienced animators in Japan at the time made suitmation more practical. The first suit, weighing in excess of 100 kg (220 lb), consisted of

4187-431: The illusion of great size. In the original 1954 film , Godzilla was scaled to be 50 m (164 ft) tall. This was done so Godzilla could just peer over the largest buildings in Tokyo at the time. In the 1956 American version , Godzilla is estimated to be 121.9 m (400 ft) tall, because producer Joseph E. Levine felt that 50 m did not sound "powerful enough". As the series progressed, Toho would rescale

4266-447: The legs from the suits' steel wire reinforcements wearing through the rubber padding. The ventilation problem was partially solved in the suit used in 1994's Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla , which was the first to include an air duct that allowed suit actors to last longer during performances. In The Return of Godzilla (1984), some scenes made use of a 16-foot high robotic Godzilla (dubbed the "Cybot Godzilla") for use in close-up shots of

4345-472: The line was originally envisioned as a straightforward extension of the Midōsuji Line, the city government was unable to independently build and complete the extension because it went beyond municipal boundaries, thus raising issues of expropriation and financing. The Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway Company was established on 11 December 1967 under the Local Railway Act  [ ja ] as a result of

4424-851: The lines, the Kobe Lines, the Takarazuka Lines and the Kyoto Lines, can be further grouped into two, the Kobe-Takarazuka Lines and the Kyoto Lines from a historical reason. Hankyu has two groups of rolling stock, one for the Kobe-Takarazuka Lines and the other for the Kyoto Lines. The Keihan and Ōtsu Lines were transferred to Keihan Electric Railway Co., Ltd. which separated from Keihanshin Kyūkō (now Hankyu) on December 1, 1949. As of March 31, 2010 , Hankyu had 1,319 cars for passenger service. Standard cars have three pairs of doors per side and bench seating facing

4503-455: The mistaken assumption that the character is in the public domain , resulting in litigation by Toho to protect their corporate asset from becoming a generic trademark . In April 2008, Subway depicted a giant monster in a commercial for their Five Dollar Footlongs sandwich promotion. Toho filed a lawsuit against Subway for using the character without permission, demanding $ 150,000 in compensation. In February 2011, Toho sued Honda for depicting

4582-440: The monster Anguirus . From The Return of Godzilla (1984) to Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Godzilla was given a deeper and more threatening-sounding roar than in previous films, though this change was reverted from Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) onward. For the 2014 American film, sound editors Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl refused to disclose the source of the sounds used for their Godzilla's roar. Aadahl described

4661-588: The monster is referred to as a male and is depicted laying eggs through parthenogenesis . In the Legendary Godzilla films, Godzilla is referred to as a male. Godzilla's allegiance and motivations, as well as its level of intelligence, have changed from film to film to suit the needs of the story. Although Godzilla does not like humans, it will fight alongside humanity against common threats. However, it makes no special effort to protect human life or property and will turn against its human allies on

4740-479: The monster's Japanese name as "Godzilla" for overseas distribution. The first recorded foreign usage of "Godzilla" was printed in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald on November 20, 1955. During the development of the American version of Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Godzilla's name was changed to "Gigantis" by producer Paul Schreibman, who wanted to create a character distinct from Godzilla. Within

4819-575: The newly established Keihan Electric Railway Co., Ltd. Although this revived the former Keihan Electric Railway, Keihan was now smaller than before the 1943 merger, because the Shinkeihan Line and its branches were not given up by Keihanshin. The present structure of the Hankyu network with the three main lines was fixed by this transaction. The abbreviation of Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway was changed from "Keihanshin" to "Hankyū". On April 7, 1968,

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4898-497: The next day). On October 1, 2006, Hankyu Holdings became the wholly owning parent company of Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd. and the holdings were renamed Hankyu Hanshin Holdings , Inc. . Hankyu's stock purchase of Hanshin shares was completed on June 20, 2006. Hankyu operates three main trunk lines, connecting Osaka with Kobe , Takarazuka and Kyoto respectively, and their branches. The three groups of

4977-472: The original Japanese films, Godzilla and all the other monsters are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns equivalent to "it", while in the English dubbed versions, Godzilla is explicitly described as a male. In his book, Godzilla co-creator Tomoyuki Tanaka suggested that the monster was probably male; but also suggested that the original 1954 version could have been female. In the 1998 film Godzilla ,

5056-499: The reduction in Godzilla's number of toes and the removal of the character's external ears and prominent fangs, features which would all later be reincorporated in the Godzilla designs from The Return of Godzilla (1984) onward. The most consistent Godzilla design was maintained from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) to Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), when the suit was given a cat-like face and double rows of teeth. Several suit actors had difficulties in performing as Godzilla due to

5135-612: The southernmost Japanese island, is named the Godzilla Megamullion . The Japan Coast Guard played a role in name, reaching an agreement with Toho. Toho's Chief Godzilla officer Keiji Ota stated that "I am truly honored that (the megamullion) bears Godzilla's name, the Earth's most powerful monster." In a 2007 interview, Japanese defense minister Shigeru Ishiba said that he would mobilize the Japan Self-Defense Forces in response to an appearance by Godzilla. In April 2015,

5214-569: The suitmation sequences for the adult Godzilla. In Godzilla (2014), the character was portrayed entirely via CGI. Godzilla's design in the reboot was intended to stay true to that of the original series, though the film's special effects team strove to make the monster "more dynamic than a guy in a big rubber suit." To create a CG version of Godzilla, the Moving Picture Company (MPC) studied various animals such as bears, Komodo dragons , lizards, lions and wolves , which helped

5293-412: The suits' weight, lack of ventilation and diminished visibility. Haruo Nakajima , who portrayed Godzilla from 1954 to 1972, said the materials used to make the 1954 suit (rubber, plastic, cotton, and latex) were hard to find after World War II . The suit weighed 100 kilograms after its completion and required two men to help Nakajima put it on. When he first put it on, he sweated so heavily that his shirt

5372-458: The trains and at the various stations of the line. It was made into a film in 2011, titled Hankyu Railway: A 15-Minute Miracle . The Hankyu 2000 is the locomotive of choice for Takumi Fujiwara, the main character in Densha de D, a parody of Initial D where the main characters race with trains instead of cars. Godzilla Godzilla ( / ɡ ɒ d ˈ z ɪ l ə / ɡod- ZIL -ə )

5451-431: The two syllables of the roar as representing two different emotional reactions, with the first expressing fury and the second conveying the character's soul. Godzilla's size is inconsistent, changing from film to film and even from scene to scene for the sake of artistic license. The miniature sets and costumes were typically built at a 1 ⁄ 25 – 1 ⁄ 50 scale and filmed at 240 frames per second to create

5530-430: The universe created by the films. Although the process of creating Godzilla's first film is comprehensively recorded, exactly how its name came to be remains unclear. The most widely accepted report of its origin is that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka named the monster after sturdy Toho worker Shirō Amikura, the later chief of the theater club of Toho, who was jokingly dubbed " Gujira " ( グジラ ) then " Gojira " ( ゴジラ ) ,

5609-468: The visual effects artists visualize Godzilla's body structure, like that of its underlying bone, fat and muscle structure, as well as the thickness and texture of its scales. Motion capture was also used for some of Godzilla's movements. T. J. Storm provided the performance capture for Godzilla by wearing sensors in front of a green screen. Storm reprised the role of Godzilla in Godzilla: King of

5688-402: Was a black belt in judo and used his expertise to choreograph the battle sequences. Godzilla is amphibious : it has a preference for traversing Earth's hydrosphere when in hibernation or migration, can breathe underwater due to pore-shaped gills and is described in the original film by the character Dr. Yamane as a transitional form between a marine and a terrestrial reptile. Godzilla

5767-1004: Was also voted the most popular movie monster in The Monster Times poll in 1973, beating Count Dracula , King Kong , the Wolf Man , the Mummy , the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Frankenstein Monster . In 1996, Godzilla received the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award , as well as being given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004 to celebrate the premiere of the character's 50th anniversary film, Godzilla: Final Wars . Godzilla's pop-cultural impact has led to

5846-562: Was changed on April 1, 2014, to reflect the change in the rate of consumption tax from 5% to 8%, and again on October 1, 2019, from 8% to 10%. A 2-car Hankyu train was featured in the 1988 Japanese animated war drama Grave of the Fireflies . One 2008 book by the Japanese writer Hiro Arikawa , Hankyu Densha , occurs entirely on the Hankyu–Imazu line, in the north-west suburbs of Osaka, where various characters meet and interact in

5925-614: Was closed on 14 September, and the line was redirected to the new underground terminal station of Senri-Chūō . The temporary tracks between Senri-Chūō and the Expo Park were removed following the Expo, and the right-of-way repurposed as part of the Chugoku Expressway . A plan to extend the line 2.5 km (1.6 mi) northward from Senri-Chuo to the city of Minoh was proposed in 1989. The Minoh municipal government exchanged

6004-492: Was made even taller than the Legendary version, at 118.5 m (389 ft). In Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017), Godzilla's height was increased further still to 300 m (984 ft). In Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), Godzilla's height was increased to 119.8 m (393 ft) from the 2014 incarnation. Godzilla's appearance has traditionally been portrayed in

6083-561: Was named Gojirasaurus in 1997 . The main-belt asteroid 101781 Gojira , discovered by American astronomer Roy Tucker at the Goodricke-Pigott Observatory in 1999, was named in honor of the creature. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on July 11, 2018 ( M.P.C. 110635 ). The largest megamullion , located 600 kilometers to the south-east of Okinotorishima ,

6162-552: Was popular due to Kobayashi's pioneering act to develop housing around stations along the line (a first in Japan), a forerunner to transit-oriented developments . On February 4, 1918, Minoo Arima Tramway was renamed Hanshin Kyūkō Railway Company ( 阪神急行電鉄株式会社 , Hanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu Kabushiki-gaisha , referred to as "Hankyū", 阪急 ) . On July 16, 1920, the Kobe Main Line from Jūsō to Kobe (later, renamed Kamitsutsui) and

6241-409: Was soaked within seconds. Kenpachiro Satsuma in particular, who portrayed Godzilla from 1984 to 1995, described how the Godzilla suits he wore were even heavier and hotter than their predecessors because of the incorporation of animatronics. Satsuma himself suffered numerous medical issues during his tenure, including oxygen deprivation , near-drowning, concussions, electric shocks and lacerations to

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