Godzilla & Toho Studios | Tokyo, Japan

If there was one thing on this earth that Markus loves as much as me, it would be Godzilla. This kid is a fan of all things kaiju. I think it stems from his childhood and watching anything involving the Japanese monsters. I'm not joking. When he found out that Toho Studios was breaking Godzilla's ten year hibernation, he was ecstatic. All he talks about is this new Godzilla movie, it's quite funny. He owns almost every Godzilla movie and is constantly searching for the ones he's missing. The other night I walked into the bedroom and he was watching Gamera, the other famous Japanese kaiju. He even loves Ultraman, which has heaps and heaps of giant monsters. Personally, I think this obsession is adorable and unique. When we decided to travel to Japan, it was really his decision. The UK was my dream trip and Japan was his. In order to really make this an unforgettable trip, we had to trek to Toho Studios, the home of Godzilla.

Unfortunatley, Toho Studios does not offer tours. It totally stinks, but real diehard fans, still visit the exterior entrance.  Markus did all the research and figured out a way to get there. There isn't a direct way there and you have to walk through various suburban neighborhoods. To be honest, I really didn't want to go. It was out of the way and difficult to get there, but for Markus I relented. When we finally got to the exit after an hour, we walked for a bit and got lost a few times. I remember walking through this random gate and we finally found it. Toho is pretty brilliant, because the outside has a mini Godzilla and a huge wall homage to the Seven Samurai. It's enough to please any fan and Markus was more than pleased. I looked over at him as soon as the studio was in sight and he was more than happy. It's like he was a kid again. I've never seen him like that and it made all the trouble worth it.