The interdisciplinary, international conference In Godzilla’s Footsteps: Japanese Pop Culture Icons on the Global Stage marks the fiftieth birthday of the King of the Monsters, commemorating the release of the original film Gojira in Tokyo on November 3, 1954. The conference speakers will consider the Godzilla films and how they were shaped by (and in turn shaped) postwar Japanese culture, as well as the globalization of Japanese popular culture in the wake of the Godzilla phenomenon. Fifteen scholars from a wide range of disciplines - Anthropology, Culture Studies, Film Studies, History, Literature, and Theater - were selected to participate in the symposium through an international call for papers in the fall of 2002. Invited plenary presentations will be made by Ted Bestor (Harvard University), Yoshikuni Igarashi (Vanderbilt University), and Susan Napier (University of Texas, Austin). A variety of related public programming - film screenings, exhibitions in libraries and museums, presentations, and other events - will supplement the formal symposium sessions and engage the community in the event.