This entry makes use of Japanese characters and will require Japanese language support to be installed on your computer in order to avoid the characters being replaced by question marks, or blanked out.
Kaiju (ĉŞç£) is a Japanese word meaning "weird beast" or simply "monster". The word daikaiju indicates a giant monster, and daikaiju eiga is a "giant monster film". The most famous example of a kaiju is the giant monster Godzilla, who was perhaps the first Japanese daikaiju to hit the screen. Godzilla has since been joined by numerous other monsters with which he has co-starred, and some have had movies all to their own.
Some kaiju, such as in popular Japanese television, have been based on things such as tomatoes and common household objects (such as toasters and umbrellas).