Toys and monsters.

In the 1954 original movie, the monster, Godzilla , was played by actor Nakajima Haru, who wore a monster suit weighing 200 pounds. Godzilla was an embodiment of Japanese thought about nuclear weapons in the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and it references the 1954 incident in which a Japanese fishing boat crew suffers radiation sickness after exposure to fallout from American nuclear testing on Bikini Atoll.

In the last days of World War II, Japan's resources were depleted, then with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Emperor Hirohito conceded defeat and surrendered on August 15, 1945.

Japan arose from the ashes. By the time of Hirohito's death in 1989, its automobile, consumer electronics, and other industries had flourished, and Japan had become the world's 2nd largest economy.