Our Resident Expert Answers The World's Hardest Godzilla Questions Our Resident Expert Answers The World's Hardest Godzilla Questions By Hunter Cates/Feb. 23, 2021 6:51 pm EDT/Updated: Feb. 24, 2021 12:04 am EDT Godzilla first arrived upon cinema's shores back in 1954. Nearly 70 years later, you could argue Godzilla is Japan's most significant pop culture export. Before there was Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Hello Kitty, Studio Ghibli, and a bazillion other Japanese characters, genres, and consumer goods, there was Godzilla. As Japan's first mainstream, post-war cultural export, the big guy opened Japanese culture to the world. Okay, so giving Godzilla partial credit for Sony or Toyota's success may be