"It must be very hard for Americans to fully understand the significance of the Hiroshima bombings to the Japanese. The closest parallel in American history of that lasting fissure in the national psyche resulting from a military defeat would be the Vietnam War. Americans still have not healed those wounds, and perhaps it is presumptuous to expect that the Japanese would be any different. In a way, the endurance of Godzilla's popularity suggests that those wounds have not healed at all. For some reason, Japanese popular culture still feels the need to discuss the issues in the coded context of giant monsters."