Biruma senki (ビルマ戦記)
1942. DVD (68 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 14
Summary: This film records the Japanese military's efforts to capture the Burma Road,one of the major supply lines to China, from the British beginning in December 1941. The film ends with the fall of Mandalay in May 1942.
Dokyumento Shōwa = Showa
1986. 2 VHSs
Call#: DS888.5 .D65 1986
Summary: The Showa period began in 1926, seven years after the Versailles Treaty. The first part deals with the formation of the League of Nations and Japan’s attitude towards it. The second part looks at the emergence of Japan as an industrial giant and the economic war that occurred with the USA in motor vehicle manufacturing. The third part focuses on the Manchurian Incident which led to the establishment of the state of Manchukuo and the end of China’s Ching Dynasty. The final part deals with Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nations, and the effective isolation of Manchuria from China.
The Essence of being Japanese
Jean Antoine
2004. DVD (48 min.)
Call#: DVD DS885 .E87 1989b
Summary: Covers the events of the 20th century -- the earthquake of 1923, the rise of militarism, the accesion of Emperor Hirohito, the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, the Pacific War, Hiroshima, and the American occupation of Japan -- but the primary focus is on what makes Japan Japanese.
The Essence of being Japanese
Jean Antoine
1989. VHS (48 min.)
Call#: DS885 .E87 1989
Summary: Covers the events of the 20th century -- the earthquake of 1923, the rise of militarism, the accesion of Emperor Hirohito, the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, the Pacific War, Hiroshima, and the American occupation of Japan -- but the primary focus is on what makes Japan Japanese.
Fuji ni chikau (富士に誓ふ)
1943. DVD (58 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 7
Summary: Released in 1943 to promote fighting spirit in Japan, this documentary film features the hard training that young soldiers in the tank corps underwent at the Imperial Army academy.
Gōchin (轟沈)
1944. DVD (62 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 9
Summary: The film features an I-Gō type submarine on patrol for three months in the Indian Ocean in August. The submarine is shown sinking an enemy convoy and undergoing a depth charge attack.
Hirohito Japan in the 20th century
1989. VHS (59 min.)
Call#: DS889.8 .H54 1989
Summary: A portrait of Hirohito, emperor of Japan for sixty years, from 1926-1989.
Hiroku Taiheiyō Sensō zenshi (秘錄・太平洋戦争全史)
1975. 2 DVDs (122 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 1-2
Summary: A documentary film on the Pacific War, mainly using footage shot during the war by Nihon Eigasha and the U.S. military.
Kaigun byōin-sen (海軍病院船)
1943. DVD (53 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 6
Summary: This documentary film focuses on the Japanese Navy's hospital ship, the Hikawa Maru. Admiral Yamamoto is shown visiting the ship.
Kaigun senki (海軍戦記)
1943. DVD Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 17
Summary: This film features the Japanese Imperial Navy in action in 1942. Although some original footage is missing, there are fascinating scenes of the fighting in the Solomons and a night attack on Tulagi Island.
Korehidōru sōkōgeki = Corregidor sokogeki (コレヒドール総攻撃)
1942. DVD (34 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 10
Summary: This documentary film features the Japanese military's attack against U.S. forces on Corregidor, Luzon, May 3-7, 1942.
Marē senki = Malay senki (マレー戦記)
1942. DVD (67 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 13
Summary: This film records Japanese military operations against the British on the Malayan Peninsula and Singapore from December 1941 through February 1942 and captures the meeting between General Yamashita Tomobumi and Lieutenant General Author Earnst Percival, which resulted in British surrender. Also included is British film footage of the fighting confiscated by the Japanese military.
Nankin (南京)
1938. DVD (56 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 4
Summary: This documentary film, discovered in China in 1995, shows the war-devastated state of Nanjing under Japanese military control. The film was shot by Tōhō Bunka Eiga-bu, which later merged with Nihon Eigasha.
Nihon no higeki (日本の悲劇)
1946. DVD (42 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 16
Summary: This film, released in 1946 and confiscated by the Occupation forces after one week, argues that the course of conquest on which Japan embarked in the thirties was driven by the desire of the capitalist class in Japan to gain control of overseas markets. Even while questioning (rightfully so) the authenticity of the so-called Tanaka Memorandum of 1927, which advocated the takeover of Manchuria and Mongolia, it is suggested that the memorandum accurately represents the intentions of the capitalist elite. The film is an early example of the public discussion in Japan of the Emperor's responsibility for the the war.
Rikugun kōkū senki. Biruma hen (陸軍航空戦記. ビルマ篇)
1943. DVD (91 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 8
Summary: This film features the Japanese Imperial Navy's aerial operation against the British Air Force in Burma.
Rikugun Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (陸軍特別攻撃隊)
1945. DVD (40 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 18
Summary: A Japanese Imperial Army documentary, filmed in November and December, 1944, featuring a special air attack [i.e. kamikaze] unit (tokubestu kōgeki butai ("tokkōtai)). The pilots are shown cleansing themselves in a river, playing with a puppy, writing letters to their family, and attending their farewell party before taking off on their suicide mission.
Seisen 3-nen (聖戰三年)
1939. DVD (44 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 19
Summary: Two films depicting the Japanese Imperial Army's campaigns in various parts of China from 1937 to 1940. Also included is the signing of the peace treaty between Japan and Wang Jingwei's Nanking government formed in Nanjing, March 1940 as well as scenes from a military parade for Chiang Kai-Shek filmed by the Chinese.
Senjika no sukurīn (戦時下のスクリーン)
1929-1943. 2 DVDs (240min) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS888.4 .S46 2005
Summary: Includes 25 short films produced between 1929-1943.
Sensen nimankiro (戦線二萬粁)
1942. DVD (35 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 20
Summary: By early1942, Japanese forces had advanced as far the Soviet-Manchukuo border in the north, to Sumatra and Australia in the south. This film visits many places along the front lines, including the Soviet-Manchukuo border, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Fujian Sheng in China, Thailand, Borneo and other areas of Southeast Asia.
Shanhai (上海)
1938. DVD (77 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 3
Summary: A documentary film which portrays the anti-Japanese sentiment in devastated Shanghai settlements after the second Shanghai Incident, August 1937. The film was shot by Tōhō Eiga Bunka Eigabu, which later merged with Nihon Eigasha.
Shina Jihen Kaigun sakusen kiroku (支那事変海軍作戦記錄)
1939. DVD (66 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 5
Summary: In 1939 Kaigunshō produced a multi-part documentary film on the Sino-Japanese conflict from July 1937 to November 1938, which includes the Japanese Imperial Navy's attacks on Shanghai, Qingdao and Hankou. This DVD includes parts 1,3, 5, and 7 of that longer film.
Shōwa Nippon (昭和ニッポン)
2004-2005. 24 DVDs. Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS888.2 .S493 2004
Sora no shinpei (空の神兵)
1942. DVD (55 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 12
Summary: This film shows Japanese airborne troops undergoing hard training, culminating with general maneuvers.
Taiyō = The sun (太陽)
Aleksandr Sokurov
2007. DVD (110 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD PN1997.2 .S652 2005
Summary: As Japan nears defeat at the end of World War II, Emperor Hirohito starts his day in a bunker underneath the Imperial Palace in Toyko. A servant reads to him a list of activities for the day, including a meeting with his ministers, marine biology research, and writing his son. Hirohito muses about the impact on such schedules when the Americans arrive but is told that as long as there is a solitary Japanese person living, the Americans will not reach The Emperor. Hirohito replies that he at times feels like he himself will be the last Japanese person left alive. The servant reminds him that he is a deity, not a person, but Hirohito points out that he has a body just like any other man. He later reflects on the causes of the war when dictating observations about a hermit crab, and then about the peace to come when composing a letter to his son. Soon enough General Douglas MacArthur's personal car is sent to bring him through the ruins of Tokyo for a meeting with the supreme commander of the victorious occupying forces. Underlying all the conversation that follows is the question of Hirohito's future, either as Emperor or a war criminal. The two very different men strangely bond after sharing dinner and Havana cigars, and Hirohito leaves, renounces his divine nature, and is re-united with his family in the palace to face a new life to help re-build his war-ravaged country as a constitutional monarch. -- IMDB.
Tatakau heitai (戦ふ兵隊)
1939. DVD (66 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 11
Summary: This film, discovered in 1975, depicts the Japanese troops advancing into Hankou, China, during the Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1937-1945.
Teikoku Kaigun shōri no kiroku (帝国海軍勝利の記錄)
1942. DVD (45 min.) Region code 2
Call#: DVD DS838.7 .S46 2004 vol. 15
Summary: A re-edited version of news films depicting the Japanese Imperial Navy in action. These films were originally screened as "Nihon nyūsu" programs in movie theaters during the war.
Warai no daigaku University of laughs = University of laughs (笑いの大学)
Mamoru Hoshi
2004. 2 DVDs (121 min) Region code 2
Call#: PL856.I645 W3724 2004
Summary: In Shōwa 15 (1940), while the Sino-Japan War is raging, the Government imposes strict censorship on stage performances, one of the few entertainments available to commoners. All plays that are deemed out of step with the war effort are being censored. Tsubaki Hajime, a comedy script writer for the theater group "Warai no Daigaku (University of Laughs) meets Sakisaka Mutsuo, a government censor who has never understood what a laugh is and has been especially merciless about censoring satirical scripts. Of course, Sakisaka demands that Tsubaki alter his scripts, but as the two men work with and against each other, the scripts keep getting funnier and funnier.
Yukiyukite, shingun (ゆきゆきて、神軍)
Kazuo Hara
1987. VHS (122 min.)
Call#: DS890.O46 Y89 1987
Summary: "This documentary was five years in the making, and revolves around 62-year-old Okuzaki Kenzo, a survivor of the battlefields of New Guinea in World War II who gained notoriety by slingshooting steel pinballs at Emperor Showa to protest against what he considered to be the ruler's war crimes. Setting out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives, he finds the truth of the past to be elusive, achieving a breakthrough only when he confronts ex-Sergeant Yamada, who grudgingly admits the occurrence and instructional source of certain atrocities." -- IMDB
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