The joke about the 1998 Godzilla isn't just a jab at the film, it plays into the plot thread of the first Godzilla attack having largely faded from Japan's memory. After all, it was a Japanese fisherman that gave the American monster the name of "Gojira" in the 1998 film, no different then people mistaking Baragon for a "Red Godzilla" or dismissing Godzilla as just being a legend. Recall the 1998 film. The only thing the Japanese fishers saw of "Zilla" was a spiny tail and a familiar roar. And when asked what he saw, the survivor answered "Gojira". Not "a monster", Gojira specifically. That means that, like in all continuities, the original 1954 film (let's say the 1956 US version to be nice to the US) is canon. Thus your clue is right there from the beginning. The monster wasn't Godzilla at all. Disappointing, maybe, but it gave Toho a good escape clause. Admittedly both the official screenplay and novelization for the 1998 film indicate that quite a bit was cut for the movie. The screenplay explicitly states that the only part of the 1954 movie that is "canon" to the 1998 film is the legend. In the film, "Gojira" is merely the term for a gigantic, marine dragon from Japanese myth. The cook was referring to Zilla as a MYTHICAL CREATURE, likely one his grandparents told him about. That being said, it didn't end up in the film so we are free to assume the above is true.
The man attempting to hang himself in a Mount Fuji forest is most certainly the Aokigahara Forest, a popular suicide destination in Japannote Made particularly infamous when Logan Paul filmed a dead body there, or at least a direct reference to it. It's stated that the Guardian Monsters are empowered by souls, the same as Godzilla...and considering what forest it is, that man isn't the first to try and kill himself there, and King Ghidorah was sleeping in that forest. In other words, Ghidorah was absorbing the souls of the people who committed suicide there.
Godzilla is noticably...heavier in this film. Corpses swell after a certain amount of time, suggesting further that whatever the thing attacking Tokyo is, it's not a living Godzilla anymore.
King Ghidorah is said to be an immature 8-headed dragon. Plain ol' ordinary three-headed Ghidorah is one of Big G's greatest and most dangerous foes in any of either monsters' incarnations. Now imagine Ghidorah with eight heads, at full power and mad as hell. He'd be un-freakin'-stoppable.
, a popular suicide destination in Japannote , or at least a direct reference to it. It's stated that the Guardian Monsters are empowered by souls, the same as Godzilla...and considering what forest it is, that man isn't the first to try and kill himself there, and King Ghidorah was sleeping in that forest. In other words, Ghidorah was absorbing the souls of the people who committed suicide there.