A mural of the giant prehistoric turtle, Gamera, outside Kadokawa Daiei Studio in Chofu, Tokyo, on June 15, 2023. While the monster is not as much of a household name as his kaiju cousin, Godzilla, no less than five Gamera B-movies appeared on Comedy Central’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the 1990s. The silhouettes of host Joel Robinson and his space companions, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, would sit in the front row of a theater and riff, offering humorous running commentary on each film, beginning with Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965).
There are also several Gamera wall decorations in Chofu Station, and when you get outside, you’ll see a sign for “Cinema Town Chofu,” explaining the city’s history as a movie studio hub. Heading toward the Tama River, Kadokawa Daiei Studio — which also has a pair of statues from the Daimajin film series outside it — is about a 13-minute walk down the street from the local movie theater, Aeon Cinema Chofu. If you take a walking route in the opposite direction to the popular Jindai Botanical Gardens, you might pass by the costume department for Toho Studios, too.