Imagine waking up face-to-face with Godzilla. It can happen. Never has there been a more elaborate and immersive hotel room than the Godzilla room at the Hotel Gracery of Shinjuku Japan. Even from across town, the life-sized monster can be seen peering down from the eighth floor hotel lobby.
Opened in April 2015, the towering hotel sits atop an IMAX movie theater (showing Godzilla movies) in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Shinjuku, Japan.
“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” first crashed into theaters in 1954 and has been terrorizing Tokyo–and other places–ever since. The rampaging, fire-breathing behemoth has been a menace in 28 feature films and starred in a 1978 Hanna-Barbara Saturday morning cartoon (“up from the depths, thirty stories tall. . .”).
Enter the mid-range rooms of the Hotel Gracery and their monstrous manifestation at the Shinjuku location. At home in a, coincidentally, thirty-story tall tower, the hotel’s horror hook is a life-size, light up, fire-breathing, Godzilla head and claw, which peers upon pedestrians from its 8th floor perch – the same level of the hotel’s lobby.
After presumably partaking in any of the various Godzilla movies showing at the ground-floor Toho IMAX Theater, guests can take the elevator to the hotel lobby. Upon exiting the elevator, a series of Godzilla movie posters greet guests as they make their way down the hall to the lobby. Inside the main lobby, a display from the most recent film “welcomes” visitors to the hotel.
Hotel Gracery keeps the King of the Monsters mayhem going in their Café Terrace Bonjour. Within view of the iconic creature, guests can order Godzilla-themed delights.
For the ultimate thrill, fans can book one of two Godzilla rooms.
The first of these horror hotel rooms gives the phrase “room with a view” an entirely eerie experience. Since it is situated with an eye level view of monster’s head, waking up might be a bit of shock. Brave visitors spending the night in the “Godzilla View Room” will receive a couple of Godzilla goodies as well.
Etched glass windows, in the Godzilla room, pay tribute to the many movie monsters making appearances over the past sixty years. Along the walls, movie posters tell the tale of the terrible titan’s film career. Even the shower has story boards from the famous films! Looming over the beds and crashing through the ceiling, the creature’s claw takes center stage in the sleeping area. In the living room, a full-size, rampaging Godzilla with glowing scales appears to making his way through the city while a “live” news report sounds the alarm of Godzilla’s return. There is hope for survival, though, as a replica of the device used to destroy the monster (from the first film) is also on display. Guests won’t go home empty-handed either. A souvenir of their experience, a Godzilla room goodie bag, is theirs for the taking.
While these rooms were built to prepare for the tourism brought in by the Olympics in 2020, the added appearances and tributes to the King of Monsters is sure to attract fans of the franchise long past the Olympic Games.
Source and Images: Hotel Gracery website and Facebook page; Shinjuku Station; Wikipedia