One of the biggest (pun intended) things to come out of CinemaCon this week was the first teaser for Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero. What folks might be less aware of is that outside of his incredible work on Godzilla Minus One, Yamazaki made a gastro creature feature short called Foodlosslla. I hadn’t heard about it when I wrote my article for NightTide Magazine about gastro creature features, so I thought it might be fun to give y’all a bit more information about this food waste-fighting gastro kaiju!
Gastro creature features are really nothing new in Japan. Dead Sushi, The Night of the Naporitan, and Monster Seafood Wars all came before Foodlosslla. Heck, Monster Seafood Wars is even gastro kaiju! So, why did an Academy Award-winning filmmaker make a gastro kaiju short? To combat the large amounts of food waste in Japan, of course!
Part commercial and part short, Foodlosslla is a manifestation of “the grief of 2.4 million tons of annual household food waste.” So, in short, he’s a kaiju who is bummed out about people wasting food.
Ajinomoto, a Japanese company known for seasonings and frozen food products, came up with Foodlosslla as part of their strategy to help tackle food waste. According to an article on MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, a spokesperson from Ajinomoto told them, “that the project aims to widely communicate the current [food waste] situation and encourage consumers to take action to reduce food loss at home.” At the time the short was produced, Japan had 2.4 tons of usable food waste. Fortunately, projects like this, as well as focus from other companies, have helped these go down since the start of the decade.
So yes, this is essentially an 80-second commercial. However, I’d argue that it’s also a really neat piece of gastro horror. You never know how long commercials will stay on YouTube, so while you’re waiting for Godzilla Minus Zero to come out, give this one a peek!
Watch the short below:
References
“Driving Change Locally: CGF Japan’s Efforts to Combat Consumer Food Waste in 2025 – the Consumer Goods Forum.” The Consumer Goods Forum, 27 Nov. 2025, www.theconsumergoodsforum.com/news_updates/driving-change-locally-cgf-japans-efforts-to-combat-consumer-food-waste-in-2025/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
Squires, John. ““Foodlosslla” – Watch a New Kaiju Short Film from the Director of “Godzilla Minus One”!” Bloody Disgusting, 14 Mar. 2024, bloody-disgusting.com/videos/3804332/foodlosslla-watch-a-new-kaiju-short-film-from-the-director-of-godzilla-minus-one/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
Stubbs, Sarah Anne. “CREATURES from the KITCHEN: GASTRO CREATURE FEATURES.” NightTide Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025, nighttidemag.com/2025/03/28/monthly-macabre-creatures-from-the-kitchen-gastro-creature-features/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
“Tackling Food Loss and Waste. | the Ajinomoto Group Global Website – Eat Well, Live Well.” The Ajinomoto Group Global Website – Eat Well, Live Well., 2018, www.ajinomoto.com/tackling-food-loss-and-waste. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
Wong, Karen. “Ajinomoto and Hakuhodo Join Hands to Fight Food Waste in Japan.” Marketing-Interactive, 15 Apr. 2024, www.marketing-interactive.com/ajinomoto-japan-raises-awareness-of-household-food-waste-with-new-campaign. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.