Kyohei Yamane

Dr. Kyohei Yamane was an eminent Japanese paleontologist involved with investigations into and strategies to repel the kaiju Godzilla in 1954 and a second Godzilla (sometimes called Gigantis) in 1955.

Following the devastation of the Oto Island village, Yamane was invited to a special session of the Diet to hear accounts by survivors and give his thoughts. He recommended a investigative party be sent to the island, and subsequently headed the party. On Oto Island his team discovered that areas in the wake of the destruction had been exposed to massive radiation; these areas had been pounded with a trail of holes in the ground, which Yamane identified as footprints of a large creature. In one of these footprints he also discovered a well-preserved trilobite. The investigation was interrupted by the sudden reappearance of the creature beyond a hill. Yamane took several photographs before fleeing with the islanders; the creature soon retreated into the ocean, leaving a new trail of footprints.

Immediately upon the return of the investigative party another Diet session was held, at which Dr. Yamane presented his findings, including the trilobite and sediment from the footprints dense in Strontium-90, a byproduct of hydrogen bombs. Yamane identified the creature as an intermediary (land- and sea-going) dinosaur&mdash;from the Jurassic age, based on carbon-dating the sediment&mdash;and named it "Godzilla" (ゴジラ Gojira) in accordance with an Oto legend. He concluded that modern atomic tests had awoken the creature, and that in having survived exposure to atomic weapons it would be extremely difficult to subdue.

Yamane was consulted by the government and the military for the duration of the crisis, though his personal conviction was that Godzilla, the only known survivor of the atomic bomb and therefore a wealth of knowledge (and hope for a cure to radiation sickness), should be extensively studied while alive. Following the death of Godzilla by the Oxygen Destroyer, Yamane expressed concern that further atomic testing may awaken more monsters in the future, a concern borne out by the appearance of the second Godzilla and Anguirus the following year. While again consulted, Dr. Yamane was not as deeply involved in the investigation and defensive operations that followed, nor was he involved in any subsequent kaiju activity.

Family
Kyohei Yamane fathered one biological child, his daughter Emiko, who at the time of Godzilla's first appearance was betrothed to Dr. Daisuke Serizawa. Following Serizawa's death, however, Emiko remained unmarried and had no known children.

During the investigation of Oto Island, Dr. Yamane visited the grave of Masaji and his mother, victims of Godzilla's raid, and met Masaji's younger brother Shinkichi. Yamane later adopted Shinkichi as a son. Shinkichi Yamane later had two children, Kenichi and Yukari, who played integral roles in the events preceding Godzilla's meltdown in 1995.

Portrayal
Dr. Yamane was portrayed in both Japanese film appearances by Takashi Shimura, a veteran Toho actor and favorite of Kurosawa. In the Jewell Enterprises Americanization Godzilla, King of the Monsters! Yamane was portrayed in scenes with Raymond Burr by an unidentified actor and dubbed in several scenes by an unidentified voice actor.

Appearances

 * Godzilla, 1954
 * Godzilla Raids Again, 1955
 * Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, 1956
 * Godzilla vs. Destroyah, 1995 (mention, photograph)
 * Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, 2001 (photograph)