Dear zen friend

1)   December mini sesshin:  12/08  12/09,  12/10.  

      January 2024  mini sesshin:  01/12,  01/13,  01/14.

2)  Godzilla-1.0, Godzilla minus one is a new monster movie. It started running on November 3rd, 2023.  It is the 30th Godzilla series movie, and 70th anniversary event. It is said to be a masterpiece. 

The original Godzilla appeared on the screen on the 3rd of November 1954.  Somehow I watched it. I was a child. The body of Godzilla was huge. It swam to Tokyo Bay and destroyed houses and trains. It shot radiation beam and set fire everywhere. The directer for special effects was most famous among people who involved with  the film. I do not remember how Godzilla went away, but I knew it was fiction and just entertainment.    

Godzilla was born in the deep sea near Marshall Islands, where a hydrogen bomb exploded. 

When WWII ended, US was the only nation which had nuclear bomb. In a few years USSR found a way how to make  nuclear bomb.  US and USSR began competition for making more bombs and increasing more power to the  bombs, Both made bombs hundred times more powerful than Hiroshima dropping. Both tested blasts more than hundred times in the air. Scientists reported that radiation in the air was more than doubled compared to radiation in nature.

Then American side had an idea.: Hydrogen bomb would be  much more powerful than atomic bomb. It had to be tested. The test was done around Marshall Islands, Vikini was one of them. 

One of the hydrogen bomb blast tests took place on the 1st of March 1954. Fishermen of a Japanese fishing boat saw a light brighter than the Sun. They did not know what it was. They continued fishing. Then,  rain started. They worked while being drenched with rain (Radiation polluted.)  About ten days later the fishermen knew what they saw after they were back to Japan. 

Some fishermen became sick. One person died in July 1954. Question if he died of radiation persisted. Meanwhile, governments in the world became inclined to ban testing atomic bombs in the air. Atomic bombs,  hydrogen bombs, and radiation were scariest things in the world.  

On 3rd of November 1954, the original Godzilla appeared. Godzilla was created based on worldwide scare on  nuclear arms race. Godzilla was born due to mutation stimulated by fierce radiation and the impact of fusion energy.  Godzilla is an ugly, huge, heavy monster. It may represents human scare. Ultimate pursuit of  powerful weapons may lead to the destruction of ourselves.    

Godzilla minus one is said to be a human drama. A monster movie can become an artistic human drama. It suggests  that the  total human destruction would be avoided. We cannot give up our lives. 

Regards.

Eishin Ikeda

Valley Zendo