Japan's War

The films starts off in the year 1937. The film talks about how the global depression, started in the U.S. by the Stock Market crash, affected Japanese farmers in particular. They could not afford to eat the very rice that they were growing. There was also a major fear of Western domination, which is not surprising considering that Japan was forcibly opened to the world by Admiral Perry.

The situation is so bad in Japan that extremists come to the fore, and the government falls into the hands of militarists. This basically parallels what was happening in Germany with the growth of the Nazi Party and the German government being taken over by the Nazis. It got so bad that people who would speak out against the extremists were threatened and sometimes killed.

The Japanese sign an anti-Soviet pact with German, and the Emperor's younger brother visits England and then Germany. Hitler speaks glowingly of Japan.

The film then goes into the history of Japan and China and the establishment of Japan's control over Manchuria.

The war in Manchuria was actually started by a radical element of the Japanese army, and was not something that the government in Tokyo really wanted to do at the time. The government in Japan ends up totally under the militarists' control, and they support the war. They start drafting men and promise them that the war in China will be over in a month.

On December 13th, 1937, the Japanese people learn that the Japanese army has taken over Nanking (Nanjing). A diary of one of the soldiers is read and tells some of the things that really happened in Nanking. The government in Japan censors the reports of what is really going on in Nanking. More men are drafted in Japan as the war enters a stalemate and some of the Japanese people are getting tired of the war.

The Japanese government responds by trying to get people to support the war effort through parades, etc.

Children in schools are doing military drills. The film then goes into how Emperor worship affected things. Heavy censorship is enforced in Japan and the only accepted behavior is total obedience.

England and the U.S. are supplying the Chinese troops who are fighting the Japanese, and the Japanese see this is an act of aggression. Japan lacked natural resources and the U.S. cuts off oil shipments to Japan when it refuses to stop the Chinese war.

The attack on Pearl Harbor is next to be discussed.

Hong Kong. The Japanese believe in "freeing" the Southern Asian peoples from the dominance of the Westerners. It is trying to present the war as a "struggle between races."

The attack on Midway and the beginning of the end for the Japanese war effort. Yamamoto is quoted as saying that, if the war lasted only one year, Japan would win, but if it went on after that then Japan would eventually lose. U.S. forces surprise the Japanese fleet and sink four aircraft carriers, ending the attack on Wake Island. In Japan, however, the battle is reported as a great victory for Japan. As time goes on Japan comes under attack from several fronts and the government still refuses to reveal the truth to its people.

The attacks on Japanese forces continue. Meanwhile, rationing is very strict in Japan and it is so bad that the animals at the zoo are poisoned so they won't have to be fed any more. If the Marianas islands fall, Japan will be in range of U.S. bombers. The Japanese lose over 400 planes and 3 aircraft carriers in the battle. In one of the worst things to happen in the war, numerous civilians choose to commit suicide rather than surrender to U.S. forces. They had been told in propaganda about how evil the U.S. forces were and thought it was best to kill themselves. Over 13,000 civilians died.

Over 600 of the Guam islanders are murdered by the Japanese in one example of the various Japanese atrocities committed during the war. Various other things are discussed which point out how much the propaganda has affected the soldiers on both sides of the war.

1944, 25th November, Japanese kamikaze attacks begin on U.S. ships. They hit over 400 ships and kill over 5,000 Allied sailors. The Japanese government views them as the salvation of Japan, but it still doesn't stop the allied advance. Over 4000 kamikaze will die by the end of the war.

Okinawa is invaded. The Japanese military wants to make it an example of just how bloody American advancement can become. FDR dies and the Japanese think that's going to help them to get victory, but then Germany surrenders and they realize they are now alone in the war. Nothing they do stops the American advance on the island. 12,000 Americans are killed in the battle by the end, and over 200,000 Japanese. Over 1/4th of the island's civilian population dies.

Firebombing of Japanese cities is then carried out. In one raid on Tokyo alone, over 100,000 people are burned to death.

The two atomic bombs are then dropped.

004

The war ends. The Japanese-run internment camps are liberated and people find out just how bad some of the Allied prisoners were treated. Around 1 in 4 of the Allied prisoners die in the camps.

The surrender document is signed. The movie also talks about the occupation and Japanese reaction to it. Over 100,000 people died during the next fifty years from the aftereffects of the radiation from the atomic bombs.

The Tokyo War Crimes are also discussed. The issue of whether or not to try the Emperor is discussed.

After the Bombs (special feature)

There is no narration during this section.

The Last Bomb

An American propaganda film about the bombing of Japan.

The film explains how the B-29's flew out of Guam and other island bases in order to bomb Japan.

The film then starts to go into how a typical bombing mission is carried out, from the initial planning onwards. It's extremely interesting. It's not something you see in this kind of detail on programs about the war, and it's a very, very complete explanation of just what was involved in a typical attack on Japan, in this case specifically on Tokyo.

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