JAPAN IN TIME OF EMERGENCY Part 1

Description

A Japanese militaristic propaganda film on the material and spiritual strength of Japan. Exhibit 148(A) in the Japanese war crimes trials. Narrated by Gen. Sadao Araki. Reel 1 includes scenes of the Japanese landscape, factories, trains, faces and feet of people walking. Reel 2 shows outline maps of Asia, Chinese and Japanese flags, and cherry blossoms at the Yasukuni Shrine. Inner Mongolian cowboys herd cattle, an old man smokes a pipe, Chinese troops are "disarmed" by "foreigners," Chinese refugees swarm around, and Japanese and U.S. battleships fire during maneuvers. Includes Chinese village scenes of peasants working, boys playing, men sawing wood, a barber shaving, water carriers, a peddler, and a fish monger. Animated maps show arrows attacking Japan from Russia, England, France, and the U.S. The arrows disappear and Japan becomes radiant. Reel 3 shows Japanese rural scenes, a water mill, a mt. stream, an electric railway and power station, trains arriving in Tokyo, office bldgs., schools, and hospitals. People in western and Japanese dress walk along Ginza St. (Tokyo). Shows western goods in shop windows, autos, electric lamps, and views of a western type "cafe". Men and women drink together and dance. A Japanese man wearing a beret and smoking a pipe plays a type of guitar; he and a girl walk along neon lit Ginza St. A fight ensues between the western Japanese and a traditional minded man. Reel 4 shows neon lit Ginza St. and people walking there. Japanese troops fight in Manchuria. Shows a troop train, an armored car corps, and cavalry. Crowds wave as a troop train leaves a station, Army nurses march, people worships and make contributions for the soldiers, elementary school children write letters, "comfort" bags are packed, and girls sell papers on a street. A couple dances, leaves a night club, and runs over one of the girls with their auto. Reel 5, the mother and a Dr. care for the hurt girl.Shows a volcano, landscape, a waterfall, a wheat field, the peak of Takachiko Mt., the enthronement of Emp. Jimmu (still), the sacred Imperial rope at the Futamigaura, the Imperial Palace's double bridge, Shinto monks and the procession at Emp. Hirohito's coronation, and the shrines of Ise, Kachihara, Suta, and Meiji. Reel 6, black clouds from Russia and the Philippines engulf Asia, a "westernized" Japanese woman puts on make-up, a man and woman drink in a drug store, men golf, peasants till a field, and girls exercise in front of a school and walk along a street in western dress. Shows "westernized" street scenes and shops, a U.S. movie poster, papers re Japanese communist activities, a map and flag of Japan, and Unknown Soldiers Monument (Russo-Japanese War) at Port Arthur, maps of China covered with blood, Japanese troops at Tsingtao in WW I and in Siberia in 1919, Chinese soldiers retreating by train after the Japanese occupation of Tsinan, and anti-Japanese posters in Chinese shop windows. Maps the establishment of Manchukuo and shows its flag. Manchurians celebrate the formation of Manchukuo; students and soldiers parade. Reel 7, an Army band plays. Hirohito reviews a parade; battleships fire a salute as he reviews naval units off Kobe. Japanese troops distribute candy and cigarettes to welcoming Manchurians, parade, and give Banzai yells. Japanese soldiers maneuver over open fields, an officer discusses damages caused by the soldiers with the owning peasant, and the soldiers repair the damage. Reel 8 shows stills of Emp. Jimmu, an old history book, dramatized scenes of the civil war, and a poster on conscription (draft). Young men take physical exams, flex their muscles, and gather around barracks. Emp. Hirohito observes drills and a parade; crowds cheer. Gen. Oyama enters Mukden during the Russo-Japanese War, Adm. Togo stands on the battleship Mikasa, Boy Scouts hold a ceremony in Osaka and march, firemenparticipate in a practice drill, people contribute money to the Army. girls knit, citizens of Osaka contribute planes to the Army, and General Araki receives a list of contributions. Show anti-aircraft maneuvers in Osaka, and girls firing rifles. Men rivet the framework of a building and ride motorcycles, bicycles, and autos. Goods are loaded aboard a ship. Shows busy street and railway scenes, telephone girls working, a typist, a printing press, and steel mill and other factory operations. Reel 9: shows the statue of a Russo-Japanese War officer. Japanese troops advance on the Shanghai front; 3 Ahuman bombs@ blast a hole in the Chinese lines. Shows a tomb dedicated to the 3, Japanese crowds, and anti-aircraft guns. A Shinto priest blesses planes, Gen. Araki receives a list, pilots perform a rite, and planes take off. Illustrates Japanese air strength compared with that of other countries. Japanese soldiers fire artillery and rifles. Shows tanks, machine gun units, cavalry, and armored cars. Reel 10: shows Japanese troops on maneuvers, tanks, artillery, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, airplanes, and a wireless operator. Soldiers cross a stream in rubber rafts, and construct and use a pontoon foot bridge. Reel 11: mountain climbers climb and shout Banzai from a peak. Japanese delegate Matsuoka addresses the League of Nations regarding the Manchurian Incident, detrains in Tokyo, and enters the Imperial Palace grounds. A cloud and chain leaving Geneva encircles Japan and Manchuria. Shows Japanese countryside with Mt. Fuji in the background. Reel 12: shows trains, factories, pigeons, newspaper presses, a bicyclist, textile mills, peasants tilling fields, a Shinto temple, and a sunrise. Solders, workers, and Scouts parade. Masses of people face the Imperial Palace and cry Banzai.

Collection

National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records

Series

Motion Picture Films Used as Exhibits and Evidence at World War II War Crimes Trials