Film star and reigning King of Monsters Godzilla, 61, has finally been recognized as a citizen of Japan, Anime News Network reports.

After living in the country for more than half a century, the atomic immigrant was awarded honorary citizenship by Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward earlier this year. According to ANN, however, Godzilla’s paperwork was only finalized last week.

“Godzilla is a character that is the pride of Japan,” Shinjuku Mayor Kenichi Yoshizumi said of the reptilian sexagenarian at a special ceremony in April.

In addition to becoming a citizen of the ward, Godzilla will reportedly serve as Shinjuku’s tourism ambassador.

According to the monster’s new residency papers, Godzilla’s official duties include “promoting the entertainment of and watching over the Kabuki-cho neighborhood and drawing visitors from around the globe in the form of the Godzilla head built atop the Shinjuku TOHO Building.”

Godzilla, 61-Year-Old Monster Island Resident, Becomes Japanese Citizen

 

Bout dam time.

 

How bout he take over as President of FIFA? Couldn't be any worse than the previous guy.

 

cool

 

I'm so proud of you, Godzilla. At last, you have been given the treatment you deserve.

 

Japan gives citizenship to fictional character famous for repeatedly destroying Japanese cities, dissuades pretty much everyone else from naturalization through a complicated and onerous citizenship process. Seems legit.

 

Kind of pointless and silly.

 

Well, Godzilla might be a kaiju, but at least he's not a gaijin.

 

Especially since Godzilla has been living in Japan longer than the name the island's people.

That's like me with my Asian genes getting my citizenship. Brown folks have been living here first.

 

Given how hard it is, some might think how much of a joke or insult this is.

I have some white friends who's been living there for quite some time too.

 

Japan seems to be very racist and xenophobe from what I hear.

 

About the same as any non-immigrant built nation.

 

first the MTV movie awards for lifetime achievement.

then a star on tbe Hollywood Walk of Fame

now this? awesome moment for Godzilla!!! woop woop!

 

Amazing how one kaiju can cause so much damage and still be loved by millions if not billions.

 

Awesome.   It's not too surprising since Godzilla has such an impact not only in Japan but also the entire world.

 

Kinda surprised that it took so long.

 

Just goes to show how important Godzilla is to Japan. Heck, when Godzilla vs. Desotroyah came out they held a funeral for him.

 

i just found out that in Japan, a video game simply titled Godzilla, was released on Dec. 18, 2014 for the ps3 and ps4.

it is coming to north america on july 14th 2015 and later on july 17th, 2015 for europe. from what ive read, the ps4 has more features than the ps3 version.

 

Well... he has 'helped' the economy many times over, all that rebuilding of Tokyo and surrounding areas!!!  

 

So, I'm assuming that the 2014 Godzilla and Zilla Jr. won't be getting citizenship anytime soon.

 

How many Snickers did they have to feed that thing to get him to pose for a picture?