This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Back in the 20th Century, New York City ordered subway cars from Japan. They were nice subway cars but there was a problem: backsides. The American backside was simply too broad to fit comfortably in the molded plastic seats from Japan. From which we can conclude that the average American person is broader in the beam than the average Japanese. Apparently, the same can be said for the average American and Japanese monster. Word on the street is that the 2014 American iteration of Godzilla, that fire-breathing spawn of nuclear testing, is broader in the beam than its 1954 Japanese predecessor known in Japanese as Gojira. To put it bluntly: He’s fat. Guess you should have surfaced on the shores of South Beach instead of Tokyo, big guy.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.