Japanese "monster" movies of the post-war 1950s were cleverly-disguised satires of the American occupation.
Two things were going on: The Americans were every where and they had lots of money. The US set the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar. The Japanese were desperately trying to rebuild their economy and taxes ran high along with barely submerged resentment of Americans.
Enter the low-budget film maker. Finding production money was tough so they were rather frugal in their spending on everything but film and sound tape. Indulge in a guilty pleasure and re-visit the genre; imagine sitting in a theater full of Japanese kids cheering every time the giant mutant monster destroys a US tank or airplane.
Two things were going on: The Americans were every where and they had lots of money. The US set the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar. The Japanese were desperately trying to rebuild their economy and taxes ran high along with barely submerged resentment of Americans.
Enter the low-budget film maker. Finding production money was tough so they were rather frugal in their spending on everything but film and sound tape. Indulge in a guilty pleasure and re-visit the genre; imagine sitting in a theater full of Japanese kids cheering every time the giant mutant monster destroys a US tank or airplane.