From the Opium War to the Pacific War: Japanese Propaganda Films of World War II Author(s): David Desser

Source: Film History, Vol. 7, No. 1, Asian Cinema (Spring, 1995), pp. 32-48 Published by: Indiana University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815159 . Accessed: 05/10/2011 12:03
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n Aprilof 1942, flushfromitsrecentvictories in the Pacificover the Allied powers (Pearl Harbor, Guam,Wake Island,the Phillipines, Singapore), the Japanese governmentput filmproduction glorifyingthe war effortinto high in of filmmaking support thewar with gear. Though of Chinahad been a constant theJapanesecinema since 1938 (theperiodbetween 1938-41 producJapanese war ing some of the now best-known
films [Five Scouts, 1938; Mud and Soldiers, 1939;

Davi d DesserI

Commander TheStoryof Tank Nishizumi,1940]), new regulations and an unbounded (and unof madefilmsinsupport thewar founded) optimism the dominant theme of much of the Japanese of cinema. One of the most interesting the many filmsmade in the period 1942-45 is surelyAhen Senso (TheOpiumWar, 19431). A work of profoundly anti-British propaganda and a film intendedto demonstrate toJapan'snewlyconquered that Asianterritories theJapanesemaybe takenas their anti-(Western) imperialist saviours, The Opium War is a fascinatingdisplay of contradictionsand ambivalences. The Opium War is notable for many of its features.Forinstance,thefilmis a big-budget specso tacularby any standards,butparticularly given war-time constraints. Its spectacle seems unmatchednot only by any war-time film,but by vir-

tually anyJapanesefilmmade beforethe 1950s. A costumefilm, it is unlikeany jidai-gekiof its era, mostlybecause it is set entirelyin China. Morein over,thereare noJapanese protagonists thefilm - Chineseand British characters makeuptheentire dramatispersonae. However, the entire cast is strictures against given war-time Japanese. Finally, portraying Western values and Western 'decadence', it is particularlyinteresting that The Opium War derives its plot (though uncredited) froma Hollywoodfilm. Historical background As a workof anti-British propaganda, TheOpium Warhas one great advantage:its broad historical was a promioutlineis entirelytrue.Great Britain Asia in the 19th nentimperialist power throughout century,and the opiumtrade, which Chineseoffiof and Studies David Desser is Professor Cinema at the of Communication University Illinois, Speech four He Urbana-Champaign.has published books on aspectsof theJapanese cinema,the latestof co-edited with Linda C. Ehrlich. Address to 2111 for Studies, correspondence Unit Cinema IL S. Urbana, 61801, USA. FLB/707 Mathews,

which is CinematicLandscapes:Observationson the VisualArtsand Cinema of China and Japan,

From the Opium War to the Pacific War: Japanese Propaganda Filmsof World War 11 33 tried cials intermittently to ban, thrivedunderthe of British power. One Chinese histosea impetus rian describes the situationin the followingway: the 'Throughout 18th and 19th centuriesEngland the was unquestionably numberone hegemonist the Western capitalistcountries'2.Overamong oftenwiththe supportof seas British businessmen, the RoyalNavy, coerced China into massiveconof of sumption opium,the profits whichunderwrote thetea trade.TheOpiumWar, as it is now known, was set in motionwhen Lin Zexu(1785-1850; Lin Tse-hsuin the older Wade-Giles rendering)befor came imperial commissioner GuangdongProvin Guangzhou(Canton) sometimein ince, arriving Marchof 1839. Among his firstofficialacts was an attemptto stampout the opiumtraffic.To this end, he gatheredtogetherand destroyed20,000 chestsof opium(1.15 million opiumhe kilograms), had demanded be turnedover to himfromBritish and Americanmerchants.He then requiredthat Britishand American merchantspledge not to bringany opiumto China. Iftheyso pledged, they were freeto continuetrading.Capt. CharlesElliot, of RN (1801-75), British Superintendent Tradein British merchants to Guangzhou,refusedto instruct sign the pledge. He withdrewfrom Guangzhou and requested troops from England3.Elliot engaged Chinesetroopsand navalvessels invarious incidentsfromJuly-September Kowloon.Other in battlesfollowed. In February 1840, the British of government sent a force into China. They dispatched George Elliot(1784-1 863), Admiralof the Cape of Good Hope and a first cousin to Charles Elliot,to head the so-called 'EasternExpeditionary Army' to invade China4. The war came to an end in 1842 withthe British essentially victorious.LinZexu, meanwhile, had long since been relieved of his post, an action which had failedto appease the British. Yano Jinied book by KyotoUniversity Professor chi, Ahen senso to Honkon(TheOpiumWar and Hong Kong)as the basis for his film5.Matsuzaki has original story credit on the film;screenplay creditis given to Oguni Hideo, althoughdirector MakinoMasahiroclaims that Oguni's scriptwas unacceptableand he personallyasked Kurosawa Akirato rewriteit6.Inaddition,the film'splotderivationfroma classic Hollywoodfilm(aboutwhich more later) is nowhere found in the on-screen credits. Thedecision to use a strictly Japanese cast to the roles of Chinese and British characters play was partlya functiqn war-time of considerations, of soldiersand includingthe incarceration British civiliansin China, and the lack of officialfraternization with Chinese civilians imposed by the Japanese occupation authorities.Besides which, the filmwas not shoton locationin any case, and Makinohimselfhad no directexperienceof Canton. Thisshouldnot imply,however, thatthe filmmakers were otherwise willing to cut corners. Makinosays that both time and budget were not negative factors in the makingof this film. Certainly, the casting of female leads Hara Setsuko claimwas 'ubiquitous and Richie (whomAnderson as a war film heroine'7)and TakamineHideko, fromchild star to grownup makingthe transition star, indicate somethingof the film'sprestige, as does the utilization composer HattoriRyoichi, of and special effects wizard TsuburayaEiji, who had justrecentlyscoreda hitwith his workon The Warat Sea fromHawaiito Malaya8. The director

Witha career in featurefilmsspanning 1926-71 MakinoMasahiro,alone amongJapanese filmdirectors, spansthe lengthand breadthof theClassic Japanese cinema. With some 261 films to his creditover the courseof this lengthycareer, he is Production background the directorinJapanese film certainly mostprolific TheOpium War was obviouslyintendedas part historyand one of the most influential.Though and parcel of the on-going justification the Pa- morethan half of thisoutputhas been lost (onlya for cific War, in keeping with the productionof na- small handful of the 133 films he made from tional policy films(kokusaku and a numberof his postwar eiga). The producer, 1926-45 survives) Matsuzaki to Keiji,was inspired makea filmabout filmsseem not to be available, the 90 or so titles British in imperialism Chinawhilehe was travelling one can possibly see today reveal a directorof in Cantonin 1939. He utilizeda recentlypublish- enormous talent who worked in a variety of

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David Desser

Fig. 1. TheOpiumWar.Theopulenceof the mise-en-scene. as the Father Japanese cinema. (Anderson of and Richie him'thefirstmanto deservethe nameof call directorin the Westernsense of the word'l.) He workedas an actor in his father'sfilmsfrom 1912
until 1926 appearing in more than 140 films12.

genres9. Perhaps a comparison to Hollywood's Michael Curtiz might be in order and so, too, one might imagine how much one's image of Hollywood would be impoverished without knowledge of any of Curtiz's films. Perhaps less obviously an auteur than Mizoguchi Kenji or Ozu Yasujiro, and certainly less flamboyantly talented than Kurosawa, Makino has been described by Japanese critics as an 'artisan'. While authorship may or may not be a legitimate standard of value, the question of Makino's status as an auteur awaits further examination. What is not at issue is Makino's status as a director during the period 193060, when he was instrumentalin establishing stars like Bando Tsumasaburo, Todoroki Yukiko (to whom he was married in 1940 and from whom he was divorced in 1950), Morishige Hisaya, Tsuruta Koji, FujiJunkoand TakakuraKen, and genres like the Samurai film and the yakuza film10. Born in 1908, Makino Masahiro (born Masatada, which he changed to Masahiro in 1927) was the first son of Makino Shozo, thought of in Japan

Between 1929 until1940, he worked for a number of productioncompanies, includinghis own, Makino Talkie, as well Nikkatsu, Tokyo Eion, DaiichiEigashaand thenTohowhere he was enormously successful until 1943, when he went to workfor Shochiku theirKamoStudioas producat tion chief. Hiscareer followed a similartrajectory in the 1950s where he did stintsfor Toho, Toei, Tohoagain, thento Daiei and on to Nikkatsu. He directedwhatwas to be his lastfeaturefilm in 1971, a filmthatwas also the officialretirement filmof popularactress FujiJunko.MakinoMasahirodied in 1993, knowingthat his reputation in Japanwas secure, havingbecome somethingof a cult figure among younger Japanese film goers and fondlyremembered all connectedwiththe by Japanese cinema.

From the Opium War to the Pacific War: Japanese Propaganda Filmsof World War II his Makino'sprolixity throughout career was matched by a war-timeoutputthat was also the Between 1942-45 he dihighest in the industry. rected 12 films(nota lot for Makinohimselfconsideringthat in 1936 he directed30 films!).This compares,forinstance,with6 forNaruseMikio,5 for Mizoguchi, and only 1 for Ozu. Similarly, younger directorswho got their startduring the war, like Kurosawaand KinoshitaKeisuke,had 2 smaller Not similarly outputs, and 4 respectively. all of these films were overtly propagandistic, thoughtheywere all, of course, subjectto military adaptationof censorship.Forinstance,a two-part IzumiKyoka'sOnna keizu (AWoman's Pedigree) in 1942 mightbe takenas a sign of the continuing interestin Kyoka'swork before the war. Mizoguchi's Takino shiraito(1933) and OrizuruOsen (TheDownfallof Osen) in 1934 are perhapsthe best-known examples of film adaptations of Kyoka'swork. It is possible, however, to see an implicitpropaganda value in these films. As Johas works, seph A. Murphy pointedout, 'Kyoka's set in the Meiji period, treat extensively usually questionsof loyalty,sacrificeand dutywithinthe emerging nation-state ...'. Thus, films about to women's sacrificesand subscription state-sanc'nationed roleswere clearlyat one withwar-time tional policy'. Yet few consider Mizoguchi'sfilm adaptationsof Kyokastoriesas propaganda,and 'propaganda' would hardlyexplain the huge resurgence of interestin Kyoka'sworks in the postwar era when, according to Murphy,therewere ten filmversionsof Kyokanovels between 1952 and 196213. however, Makino'sHanako-san, Alternately, made immediately after TheOpium War, was intended for propaganda purposes.Thougha lighthearted film for the most part (it is essentiallya of musical,a genreMakinoworkedin on a number occasions previously), filmdeals with a bride the who mustsend herhusbandoff to war. She does so in uncomplainingly clear agreementwithwar-time needs. Yet this filmof overt propaganda ran into some trouble withJapanesecensorsforthe manner in which the husband'sdeparturewas treated'4. TheOpium War, as we will see below, has little ambiguityin its propagandaaims, buteven in this clearly anti-British, pro-EastAsia Co-Prosperity

35

Sphere film, certain featurescannot entirely be reckonedas 'nationalpolicy'.

The national policy film as cultural context of The Opium War Itis standardby now in English-language bookson theJapanese cinemato discussthe kokusaku eiga, or 'nationalpolicy films'.Good accountsof governmentcensorshipof films and overall government involvementin the motion picture industry may be found in Andersonand Richie, Hirano, and TadaoSato, forinstance,amongothers15. Yet the near-universal of somedespite recognition thing called a nationalpolicy film, disagreement exists as to which filmsqualifyand the degree of within prevalenceof nationalpolicycharacteristics theatricalfilms, especially in the era 1942-45. Sato claims that after 1940, nationalpolicy films were 'almost'exclusively thatwas produced6. all AikoKurasawa findsthatin 1942 and Alternately, 1943 nationalpolicy filmsconstituted per cent 21 and 35 per cent respectivelyof all featurefilms produced in Japan (excludingsamuraifilms). In 1944 and 1945 the percentages increase to 62 The percent and 60 percent respectively17. exclusion of samuraifilmsfromherfiguresis an interesting but unexplainedmove. Ifwe assumethatshe assumesthatall samuraifilmsimplicitly reveal kokutai (nationalessence), then the percentage of kokusaku Two years should be eiga increases18. revealingenough for our purposes. In 1942, Kurasawa shows 52 films produced, of which she claims 1 1 were nationalpolicypictures(hencethe figureof 21 per cent). However,therewere also 35 samuraifilms(or jidai-geki). Thusit is possible to claimthattherewere 46 nationalpolicyfilmsout of a totalfortheyear of 87, makingthe percentage of nationalpolicyfilmsmuchhigher(52 per cent), althoughwe are, alternately,still a bit far from Sato's claim for the ubiquityof national policy films.For 1945, Kurasawashows 9 nationalpolicy filmsreleased inJapanout of a totalof 15. But the Japanese film industry released 26 filmsthat Thustherewouldthen be 20 kokusaku films, year. or 76 per cent. Thisis clearlymuchcloserto Sato's figures.Theobviousconclusionis thatas the war was being lost the quantityof propaganda films

36
entertainincreasedto the exclusionof morestrictly mentfilms19. Butthe questionof samuraifilmsas somehow kokutaiis surelynot so simple. For automatically as the Occupationauthorities, is well knownnow, it was simple:all samuraifilmswere infectedwith 'feudal' ideology and so were banned, while to periodfilmsin generalwere difficult producein the Occupation's early years. Space certainly does notpermit sufficient delvingintothisissue,but perhapsthe example of Kurosawa'sTorano o o Men Who Treadon a Tiger's fumu otokotachi (The Tail, 1945) will suffice to demonstratethe ease withwhichsamuraifilmswere all too available to For a varietyof interpretations. the Japanese milithe war, the filmwas too authorities during tary glib with the presence of the popularcomedian Enoken;for the Occupation authoritiesafter the war, the filmshowed feudal ideology in a generally positivelightand so was banned. And it is not justsamuraifilmsthatseem to fit into mode. Sato, at bestambiguously the kokusaku for instance, claims that The Opium War is not reallya nationalpolicy filmin the followingmanner:'SinceMasatoKoga's TheTigerof Malaya ... and Makino's[TheOpium was an action thriller a historicalspectacle, they are somewhat War] But outsidethe genre of nationalpolicy films'20. if filmsare not nathese two unambiguously pro-war tionalpolicy, thenfew filmswere! of of Regardless the percentagesand ubiquity the question of kokusaku eiga, and the slipperiness of propaganda, the Japanese film industrydid Asia Co-Prosof enterthe terrain pro-war,pro-East in sentiments a major peritySphere,anti-European way. For a full appreciation of Makino's The OpiumWar a briefdiscussionof the varietiesthat the kokusaku eiga took is in order. Itis possibleto see the kokusaku eiga notas a above unifiedgenre (as the ambiguity highlighted would indicate)but as a tendencyacross genres. As Andersonand Richienote: ... nationalpolicypictures sparednota single filmgenre. The light comedy, the filmabout film,the movieabout children,the slice-of-life was used'21. mother everything The adaptation of already familiarformsto the suit war-timeneeds mirrors situationin Holly-

DavidDesser
wood of the era, as did thecreationof a new form: the Combatfilm. It is also important recognize to of thatas the intensity the war increasedso did not of onlythe quantity the nationalpolicyfilms(as we saw above) but also the intensity the films.It is of useful,I believe, to see the nationalpolicy filmin two diachronicsegments: 1938-41 and 194245. Foronce Japan launchedits war against the Alliedpowers, especiallythe UnitedStates,everyand thinginJapan,cinematically otherwise,would change.

film Thecombat beforePearl lotrbolObviously,storiesof soldiersat the fightingfront to were crucialboth to a government attempting exhortitscitizenryin supportof the war and to an to governindustry attempting please a militaristic ment. Beforethe World War IICombat film, the even more than its HollyJapanese film industry, wood counterpart, littleexperiencewitha war had filmform.Some pseudo-documentaries about the War constitutedthe entire backRusso-Japanese groundof the Combatfilmuntil1932, when fighta of ing in Chinainspired handful filmsbased on a act of heroicsacrificeby threesolwell-publicized diers. Inadditionto filmsof the 'threehumanbullets'as they came to be known,moviecompanies used the storyof Lt.CommanderKuga, a soldier who had been takenprisonerby the Chinesewho committedsuicide when he was repatriated,as pro-warpropaganda and the basis for the noSet Films in China(preNational 1943)23 Policy
I I I . I I I I I I I I I III

Title Gonin no sekkohei Toyo heiwa no michi Shanghai rikusentai Chokoretoto heitai Tatekauheitai Tsuchito heitai no Byakuran uta Moyoruozora Shina no yoru Nishizumisenshacho-den Daichi ni inoru Nessa no chikai Tatakaino machi Shogun to sambo to hei

Studio Nikkatsu Towa Shoji Toho Toho Toho Nikkatsu Toho Toho Toho Shochiku Toho Toho Toho Nikkatsu

Year 1938 1938 1939 1939 1939 1939 1939 1940 1940 1940 1941 1941 1942 194224

From the Opium War to the Pacific War: Japanese Propaganda Films of World War II

37

and Fig.2. RiKo-ran HasegawaKazuoin Song of the WhiteOrchid,the firstof manyChinese melodramas. decree of the shame of being toriousmilitaristic the enemy22. capturedby Beginningin 1938, somethingwhich can be is called a CombatFilm a regularfeatureof theatriin cal filmmaking Japan. Thisreflectsthe realityof the situationin that, startingin 1937, Japan was for all intents and purposes engaged in a fulltherefledged war withChina. Itis not surprising, that all of the Combat films made between fore, 1938 and 1941 are set on the China front.The preceding chart gives a good idea of just how manyfilmsutilizedthe war in China for dramatic and propagandistic purposes. Not all of the films on the chart above are Combatfilms.A small handfulof them do strictly notfocuson fightingmenor combatper se. Instead they focus on the relationship between the Japanese and Chinese, typicallya Japanese man and a Chinesewoman,whose romanceor near-romance attemptsto symbolizeJapan's best intentions towardChina. Thissmallgroup of filmshas in garneredsome notoriety the West. TheCombatfilmson thischartare, withsome exceptions, the best known and most respected like Japanesewar filmsin theWest. Films Goninno sekkohei (FiveScouts)and Tsuchito heitai (Mud and Soldiers),bothdirectedby TasakaTomotaka, have won praise by almostall Westernwritersfor their lack of 'hate-the-enemy'propaganda and theiroverallhumanism. The Chinese melodrama ShimizuAkira accounts for the large numberof films set in China on the basis of 'The Chinese Continent as Japan's Dreamland'. Japan, he claims, saw China as a kindof 'promisedland to rebuildand shape according to their designs'25. Thisconception impliesa sort of Japanese desire for lebensraum,which, on the surface may have some seeming explanatory power. However, Japan'scolonialempireof Taiwan(ceded toJapan following the Sino-Japanesewar in 1895) and Korea, which was annexed in 1910, never in-

38
fromJapan. And spired significant immigration while Manchukuo, Japan's puppet state in Manchuria, did experience some Japanese immigration, it was barelycomparableto earlierJapanese to migration Hawaiiand to the US mainland(especially California).Instead,the explanationfor the fascinationwith China is to be found elsewhere (and is beyond the scope of this study).In brief, however,it maybe foundintheconceptof 'Shina', the word the Japanese began to use for China in the late 19thand early 20th century. Thetraditional termforChinainJapanbefore Meiji(and in use again afterWorldWar II)is Chugoku, the word and the charactersto read and write it adapted from China itself. ButJapanese and historians, politicalscientists otherintellectuals concernedwithdevelopingand defininga certain sense of Japanese identity(Nihonjinron) rejected thistraditional view of China as the 'middlekingInstead maintaining implicit of the dom' (chugoku). for Chinaand forthe influenceof Chinese respect culture uponJapan,thesewritersinsteadchose the word for China and changed the kanji European (Chinesecharacters)used to write it to reflectthe of reality China'sdisgracedstatein thecontemporworld order. It is thereforepossible to underary stand the wars with China as Japan's attemptsto align itselfwith the Occident and to removeitself fromthe Orient26. Regardlessof the origins or explanationsof Japan'sfascinationwithChina, the fact is thatnational policy ideals found their way into melodramas with an 'interracial'love story at their heart. ForJohn Dower, a sensitiveand observant criticof bothJapanese and Americanwar propaganda: 'TheChinese were the favouriteredeemable and the enemy of the Japanese filmmakers, mostfascinatingmovieson thisthemeusedthe allegory of interracial love between a Japanese manand [a] Chinesewoman'27. of The most famous (indeed notorious) these filmsstarredLiHsianglan(theChinese characters a pronouncedin Japanese as Ri Ko-ran), woman alleged to be Chinese, who was, though born in Manchuria,of Japanese parentage and whose real name was YamaguchiYoshiko(and who is also knownin the USas ShirleyYamaguchi).

David Desser no Byakuran uta (Song of the White Orchid) was thefirstof thesefilmsin whichthe beauteousRi Ko-ranstarred opposite Toho's dashing leading man Hasegawa Kazuo. They made two more movieswith similarthemes, Shina no yoru(China Night) and Nessa no chikai (Vow in the Desert). Withsettingsin Manchuria, Shanghaiand Peking respectively, the Japanese conception of Shina was pretty well covered28.

National policyon the homefront

One can speak of othergenreswhicharose to fulfil nationalpolicy requirements, as the spy film, such whichbegan in the late 1930s and continueduntil 1943 or so. Thespy filminaugurates tradition the within Japanese propaganda to condemn the enemy, as comparedto the Combatfilmsin which the enemy was rarelyseen and even more rarely characterized.Spy filmsstatethe enemy'sevil deto signs and attempt use xenophobictendenciesto cast suspicionuponstrangers. Andersonand Richie also note another imcharacteristic spy films,a characteristic for portant takenup by TheOpiumWar: to [Spyfilms]rarelymade any attempt use forin the non-Japaneseroles, the parts eigners usuallybeing filledby Japanese actors.There was also very littleattemptmade to preserve the language distinction.The foreignersall spokeJapanese,even to each other.Thesame dramaticconventionexists in Americanpictures,too, of course, thougha heavy foreign accent usuallytriesto disguise the English.In Japan, however, this was unnecessary.The audience was merely told that these wellknownJapanese actorswere playing foreign spies and, as a consequence,itsdisbeliefwas obedientlysuspended...29 What mightbe called the 'anti-Western CostumePicture' which TheOpiumWarwouldfit) (into was anothergenre to which nationalpolicy gave rise. Films like KurumaTengu Yokohama ni arawaru (Kuruma TenguAppears in Yokohama, 1942), Kaizokukifuttobu(The Pirates' Flag is BlastedAway, 1943), Kokusaimitsuyudan (InternationalSmugglingGang, 1944), Umiyukaba(If

From the Opium War to the Pacific War: Japanese Propaganda Films of World War II

39

Note the pistolin his left Kuruma Appearsin Yokohoma. jidai-geki: Tengu Fig.3. Theanti-Western hand. We Go to Sea, 1943), Ikarino umi (TheAngry
Sea, 1944), all castigated Britain and the US for national slights, real or imagined. These films arose mostly, as the years of release indicate, after Pearl Harbor, when all-outwar with Britainand the US made hate-the-enemy more palatable as the enemy was both declared and foreign. A more serious, and more prestigious, use of the Costume Picture (jidai-geki, or period drama) focused on Japan's feudal past. These films, presumably, are the samurai films eliminated from Aiko Kurasawa's consideration as discussed above. But it would be a serious gap to eliminate these films from discussion of the kokusaku eiga as both the government and the industry placed a good deal of stock in the propaganda value of these films. Many of these works have been discussed by Darrell Davis in an important forthcoming study of the use of the jidai-geki in Japan in the years before Pearl Harbor30. Films like Mizoguchi's Zangiku monogatari (Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, 1939) and Genroku Chushingura (Loyal Forty-

Seven Roninof the GenrokuEra, 1941-42), as

well as a film by Makino Masahiro, lemitsu to Hikoza (Shogun lemitsu and His Mentor Hikozaemon, 1941), attempted to instill national pride by

suchtradition a valorization Japanese tradition, of

valorized not only by the themes of the films (filial piety, self-sacrifice, subscription to feudal hierarchy, etc.), but by the appropriation of classical aesthetics in the films' style. The contemporary home front was also an important component of the kokusaku eiga, though much more so, as I will indicate below, in the second period of the national policy films, 1942-45.

Drone, 1939 However,filmslikeBakuon (Airplane - a rather fromthe director charminglightcomedy of Five Scouts-) and Ohinata mura(OhinataVilof lage, 1940) painted idyllic portraits rurallife worked to highlightthe which at least implicitly Japan. Otherfilms,likeWaga ai joysof traditional no ki (A Recordof My Love,1941) begin to show some of the hardshipsof war-time Japan with the of exhortation sacrificeforthe greatergood31.

40 40
AfterPearl Harbor:Thestakes of national policy
Theperiod 1942-45 saw an increaseboth in the of number home-front of dramasand inthe number Combatfilms.Inthe latter,though,the focus is on Combatall over the Pacifictheatre,with the films made in 1942 especially, used to celebrate and commemorate Japan's stunningvictoriesthroughoutAsia. In the shomin-geki genre (storiesof ordinary setlife lower-middle-class in urbanor small-town nationalpolicy becomes almostubiquitous, tings), even if it is subtleby Americanstandards.Ozu's Was A Father,1942) is surely Chichiariki(There the mostfamousof these films.OthersincludeShinsetsu(New Snowaka SacredSnow, 1942), Otoko ni iki (Spirit Man, 1943) and Himetaru of kakugo (HiddenResolve, 1943). Thesacrificeof personal desire and the need to endure the hardshipsof constraints important are themesin these war-time films. sentimental The more flamboyantly genre of was foundeven more the haha-mono film) (Mother appropriateto embody the spiritof selflessness and sacrifice. Hahako-gusa(Mother-and-Child Grass, aka A Mother's Calling, 1942) is typicalof of the genre in itsextremeportrayal a womanwho herselffullyand completelyto her children; gives that the childrenin questionare her stepchildren Kinoshita Keisuke's makesthe issueeven clearer32. is famous for its implicitly Rikugun (Army,1944) who tearfully, stance in itsuse of a mother anti-war not joyously,sends herson off to war. The shomin-geki genre experienced its most so extensiveretrofitting, to speak, in what Anderson and Richiecall the 'increaseindustrial production cycle' of filmsbeginning in 1943. (Japanese have usedtheterm'industrial' critics and historians filmand see no examples of the genre [sangyo] until194033.) Neppu (HotWind), Ichibanutsukushiku(TheMost Beautiful, Kurosawa,1944) and Unsinkable Fuchinkan WarshipSunk, gekichin(An anotherfilmby Makino,are said by Ander1944), to son and Richie be typicalexamplesof thegenre. itwas fairlyextensiveinthisshortperiod However, of timewhenJapanwas clearlylosingthewar and was desperatelytryingall it could the government to spuron the populace.

DavidDesser David Desser

Thefollowingchartgivesa betterindication of how extensivethiscycle was in a shortspan. just Increased of films production factory
Title Neppu Kessen Fuchinkan gekichin Ichibanutsukushiku Chi no tsume moji Inochino minato Sentaroganbaru Genkiryu Studio* Toho Shochiku Shochiku Toho Daiei Toho Shochiku Shochiku Year 1943 1944 1944 1944 1944 1944 1944 1944

*In 1942, the government'sCabinet Information Board [NaikakuJohokyoku]mandatedthe mergerof all Japan's filmstudios.Theeventualresultwas three productioncompanies for fictionfeaturefilms:Toho, Shochikuand Daiei, the latternewly formedout of Nikkatsuand two muchsmaller companies. At the same time, distribution was centralized into one company, Eihai (Eiga Haikyusha)34.

of wave of Finally, course,therecame another Combatfilmswith a focus, first,on the manyvictories of the Japanese army, and justtwo years later,on the increasingdesperationof Japan. The most notable of the victory-celebration films are Hawaii-Marei kaisen (TheWar at Sea from oki Hawaii to Malaya, 1942, which featuredsome startlingstate-of-the-art special effects), ShingaAttack Singapore, 1943) on porusokogeki(All-out and Ano hata o ute (Fireon that Flag!, 1944), abouttheJapanese conquestof the Phillipines. As ShimizuAkirapointsout, afterthis therewere no more featurefilmscelebratingthe war resultsbewar to cause, 'unfortunately, results be proudof no longer existed'35.Most of the films made subto sequently attempt inspiretheJapaneseto fightto the death and in some sense are almost fantasy films. For instance, the only historyfilm (rekishi kamikazewa fuku(The eiga) of 1944 was Kakute DivineWind Blows). In what was clearly an allegory for the then-ragingwar, the film told the of storyof the repulsion the Mongolinvasionof the 13thcenturyby kamikaze,the divinewinds. As is well known, kamikazebecame the termfor suicidal attackson the partof Japanesesoldiers,sailors and, especially, aviators. It is no surprisethat as thewar beginsto turn againstJapan,filmsbegin to emphasize air trainingand combat, e.g. Kessen the no ozora e (Toward Decisivebattlein the Sky,

of Fromthe OpiumWar to the PacificWar:Japanese PropagandaFilms WorldWar II 41

Theentertainment value of TheOpiumWar is and many scenes go well beyond considerable, the needs of nationalpolicy in theirspectacleand enjoyment.Thereare for instance,two song and two dance numbers, thoughone song and the two dances come in the same sequence, a party Rin throwsfor the Britishright before he burnstheir opium. The recreation of 19th century Canton (mostlythroughspecial effects) is stunning,as a WarFilms1942-1944 cast of thousands seems to live within the high walls of a fortifiedChinese town. Some humour Studio Year Title characters comes at theexpense of theBritish who, 1942 oki Nikkatsu Hawaii-marei kaisen while they mostlyspeak Japanese, do have the 1942 Toho Boro no kesshitai occasional Englishword. Rin'sbodyguard,Chin 1943 Toho Kessen no ozora e 1943 Aiki minamie tobu Shochiku Nan Den, seems to derive a lot of ironicfun from 1943 Shochiku Kaigun use CharlesElliot's of theword 'Mister'. 1943 Daiei Shingaporusokogeki An important 1943 sub-plotof the film,which proMarei no tora (?) 1944 Toho vides mostof the melodramatic excitementof The Ano hata o ute 1944 Toho Katohayabusa sentotai Opium War (aside from the spectacularuse of 1944 Toho Raigekitaishutsudo miniatures the warshipsand the recreationof for Toho 1944 Tanoshikikana jinsei 1944 Shochiku Canton)concernstwo sistersAiran(HaraSetsuko) Rikugun and Reiran (Takamine Hideko).Introduced early in thefilm,the sistersarrivein Cantonto get opiumfor Thefilm medicinal purposes to help cure Reiran'sblindAhen Senso confinesitselfto justa few days in the ness. Unfortunately, duringthe confiscationof the conflict between Rin Soku Jo (LinZexu) and opiumby Rinand his bodyguards,the two sisters CharlesElliot. first15 minof the filmfocus on get separated.Airanis injuredin the ensuingriot The Charlesand George Elliot.Herewe see theircyni- and is rescuedby Boku.Theyfall in love, although cismand inhumanity theyliterally theopium Reiran's as tour whereabouts continueto preyuponAiran. dens of Cantonand witness, uncaring,the misery As it happens, Reiranis held prisonerby Chinese and degradationthat opiumcauses. Earlyin the opiumdealers, angryat Rin'sshutting down of the filmit is establishedthatthe opiumtrade is central opiumtrade.Theyforce Reiran sing at theircafe to to shoringup the economyof the British so (sheperforms wistful a Empire, song inthestyleof Japanese that Charles Elliot'ssupportof the trade is thus enka)and plan to use heras a decoy to sneak into shown as crueland inhuman.RinSokuJo arrives the Jusankobuildingand steal the opium. Before on the scene and he and his heroic bodyguards, thiscan happen, Chin uncoverstheirplot, arrests BokuShe Ei and Chin Nan Den, forcefully round themall, including and Reiran, sendsthemoffto be the opiumin Cantonand then isolatethe head- executed.AiranspotsReiran the carton theway in up of the British TradeCo. (Jusanko the 13 to the executionsite and enlistsBokuin her rescue quarters companies unitedto monopolizeforeign trade in in the nickof time. Chinaunderthe protection the British of TradeCo.) Ifthissub-plot two sisters,one of themblind, of where thousands of chests of opium are being caught in a turmoil politicsand violence, and of stored. At the film'sclimax, Rinburnsthe opium. one of whom is to be unjustly executed but is resThe Elliots,aboard George's warship,then bom- cued at the last minute,sounds familiar,perhaps bard the city of Canton in revenge. In the final DW Griffith's Orphansof the Stormhas leapt to Rinmakesa speech (in a long shot, oddly mind.Though derivation this fromGriffith's classic image, the British theirhypocrisy (knowninJapanas Asahi no koji)is uncredited for on enough) castigating and crueltyand promisingthatone day they will the film itself, it is listed as a source in Makino's and in standardJapanese filmreferpay fortheirperfidy. filmography e Southin His 1943), and Aikiminami tobu(Flying Butactual combatwas de-emphasPlane, 1943). ized in these filmsat the expense of trainingand patriotic indoctrination.The utilizationof kamikaze tacticsby the air force startingin late 1944 in did not, unsuprisingly, lead to filmmaking supof the plan36. port

42

David Desser

respect, TheOpiumWarresembles Hollywood's 'Orientalism'where architecture and costume substitute a genuineview of for a culture. Perhapsin relying on Orphans of the Storm, Makino gets no closer to 19th century China than Griffith to 18th century got France. Of particularnote here is one entertainment numberperformedat Rin's party.A corpsde balletperforms'TheDance of the Sugarplum Fairy' from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite! Not only culturally a bit far afield from China, more particularly is an this anachronism. The NutcrackerSuitewas writtenin 1892. In this clear and obvious invocationof a Western source, the politics of The Opium War seem hopelesslyambiguous! The use of Western classical music(froma Russian composerat that!)and the reliance on a classic Hollywood film for a national policy pictureseems a huge paradox, an inleft: (Takemine Fig.4. Thetwo sistersin TheOpiumWar.From Reiran credible contradiction of and Airan(HaraSetsuko). Hideko) war-time strictureswhich, among other things, forences37. It also helps explain perhaps, the refer- bade images of Westernizationand Western inences in the dialogue to 'storms' in which the sisters fluences.KyokoHiranopointsout thatthe 'censors are caught. Rin says to Chin at one point, that he commonly deleted scenes that they considered feels sorry for Airan and Boku, 'two flowers that 'Anglo-American'38. Thoughshe goes on to note have just bloomed, but which are doomed to be the ambiguity thisdecree and the seeming arbiof scattered by the storm'. And later Rinsays quite the with which it was enforced, surelya film trariness same thing to Charles Elliot. When Elliot remarks overtly, although uncredited, derived from an that Airan is like a flower, Rin says, 'Yes, we Americansource would qualify as Anglo-Ameriwouldn't like it beaten by a storm, would we'? can influence.Itis possible, of course, thatthecensors would have had no knowledge of the film's Though an attempt by the Japanese to align themselves with the Chinese, very little of tradi- source in Griffith's Orphansof the Storm.Stylistitional Chinese culture appears in the film. In this cally, Makino'suse of fast-paced editingand cross-

From the Opium War to the Pacific War: Japanese Propaganda Films of World War II

43

Fig. 5. Reiran (TakamineHideko), an orphan of the storm, at the execution site in The Opium War. cutting in the last-minute-rescueis certainly within the Griffithian montage mode, but this was long a practice within mainstream Japanese cinema. The valorization of the long-take and the tableaux as highlighted in the jidai-geki in the 'Monumental style' was an option available to Japanese filmmakers, not a requirement, even for war-time propaganda. Indeed, samurai films of the 1930s starringthe likes of Okochi Denjiro and Bando Tsumasaburo are marvels of fast-paced montage and jump-cutediting. This is to say that Hollywood style and practice were already a part of Japanese filmmaking patterns and would not, in and of themselves, be considered unduly foreign. Even more interestingly, the utilization of a Hollywood film in a propaganda piece reveals something of Japanese like and respect for America. As is clear from many of the 'hate-theenemy' films, Britain, more than the US, was the favoured target. This may say something of Japan's fear and respect for the US military. The attack on Pearl Harbor was, after all, a pre-emptive attempt to remove the US from the Pacific War in the hopes that America would sue for peace with

to Japanon termsfavourable theJapanese, notthe beginning of an all-outwar with America,which leader knewwas virtually everyJapanese military unwinnable. But it may also say something of Japan's inherentlikingof America, especially as exemplifiedby the Hollywoodfilm. Inthe case of Makino'scareer, criticshave pointedto numerous influencesof Hollywoodcinema: Chaplin, Frank Capra, even the hard-boileddetective stories of in Dashiel Hammett the adaptationsof 'TheThin Man'series39. case forwhat is 'Japanese'and The what is 'foreign'becomesthusmorecomplexwhen a directorlikeMakinomakesa Hollywoodclassic intoan anti-Allied propagandafilm. One more pointabout the filmitselfcomes to with plenty mind.Thougha big-budgetproduction of star power, one striking featureof TheOpium War is an absence - the absence of Hasegawa Kazuo in the leading role. Toho's biggest male star,Hasegawa had appeared in 7 of the previous 8 filmsdirectedby Makinoand he had appeared in all of Toho'sChinese Melodramasopposite Ri Ko-Ran. the Though reasonsforthismaybe entirely innocent, Hasegawa's absence seems all too re-

44
vealing of the ambivalenceof Japanese attitudes towardChina. Itis as if the studiodid notwant its mostvirileand mostpopularleading manto lessen himselfby portrayinga Chinese protagonist.By casting Japanese stars in Chinese roles, the Japanese attempted to demonstrate their panAsianism,but by holding back theirbiggest star, in theyholdtheirpan-Asianism abeyance, as well. the same token,theirwillingnessto portray By a British characters(thoughit is strictly necessity given the obvious lack of Britishactors in the revealstheiramsimilarly Japanese filmindustry!) bivalence toward China. Likethe Britishbefore them,whom they literally embody in this film,the aggressors in Japanese would also be imperialist an China. TheOpium War is thusa mini-drama, allegory, of Japan's ambivalentattitudetowards with itself as a modernnation. An identification and China,withwhomitsharesa commonculture, an identification withwhom it shares with Britain, a common ambition, are worked out in this Japanesefilmwith no Japanese characters.

David Desser Asia's saviour.ThusTheOpiumWarwould seem to have great propaganda value in China and the throughout restof Asia. While it is truethatthe film was shown throughout occupied Asia (Aiko Kurasawapoints out that an Indonesianversion was released in December 1943 and shown its Java, for instance40), propaganda throughout value in Chinawould have been nil. Thevictimof furious Japanese aggression, especially since 1937, China was all too aware of the natureof A historical Japanese imperialism. Japanese-made account of LinZexu's attemptto stop the importationof opiumintoChina 100 years earlierwould have little for credibility a nationwhichhad experienced Japanese aggression for 50 years, had endured 'The Rape of Nanking' and had seen numerous its female citizens impressedintoserof vice as 'comfort women'to theJapanese army41. Thepan-Asian audience,exceptingChina,for The Opium War, was in keeping with a proof grammeof filmic indoctrination local populations launchedin 1942. As the Japanese empire exponentially(if temporarily) expanded, filmwas viewed as a way to reach nativeaudiences with Japan's message regardingthe GreaterEastAsia Sphere (Daitowakyoeiken).To this Co-Prosperity in end Japan launchedcinematicco-productions of theconqueredterritories ithad done in (as many China earlier) and released selected Japanese filmsto overseas audiences. Thefilmsin the initial propaganda effort were to concern themselves withexplainingthe purposeof the war (whichthe Japanese called Daitowa senso, the Great East AsianWar), the idea of the GreaterEastAsia CoSphere and the ideology of pan-AsianProperity ism42. hit TheOpiumWarwas a box-office inJapan; the records do not indicate how well it was rebecomceived overseas by audiencesincreasingly and aware of Japan'saggressive imperialism ing colonialism. Implications of the study I hope I have demonstrated above that 'national found its way into a large percentage of policy' Japanese filmsand that many of the films, espefilm,and ciallythose in thespy genre, the historical some of the Combatfilmsmade after 1942, relied

Propagandautilizationand audience for TheOpium War

Clearly intended to demonstratethe evils of the British and Empire by extension,the need forsomeone to step in to halt Europeanaggression, The Opium War also implicitlystates the case for Japan as China'ssaviour.Thusthe filmwould obas viously functionon the home-front a kind of We Fight'.Inthis respectthe filmfunctions 'Why to similarly manyUS propaganda filmswhich justhe war effortson the basis of the enemy'sagtify gression and the need for self-defence. The example of China was long a concern for Japan with which,ever since the forcedconfrontation the BlackShips in 1853 and West by AdmiralPerry's the subsequent Meiji Restoration (1868), had feared and protecteditselfagainst the kindsof Euand colonialist ropean and Americanimperialist advances which had renderedChina a secondrate world power. ThusTheOpium War implicity calls for action against Europeanaggression on the basis of self-defenceratherthan, necessarily, call an altruistic to defend China. In addition, by aligning itselfagainst Britain and with China,theJapanese could be seen to be

Fromthe OpiumWar to the PacificWar:Japanese PropagandaFilmsof WorldWar II 45

more stronglyon 'hate-the-enemy' tactics than is or admittedin mostfilmschogenerallyrecognized larship.Tadao Sato, not alone among Japanese critics,believes that nationalpolicy filmsinJapan fromAmerican war filmson may be distinguished hosthe basis of the relativelackof hate-the-enemy He points to 'American propaganda war tility. films where stereotypedJapanese soldiers were Orientals withhideous,bardepictedas slant-eyed baric grins'and contraststhese with nationalpolicy filmswhere 'the enemy is shown at a great distance ... [and so] could hardlyinciteemotional responses'43.John Dower, who has noted the presence of racism and prejudice within other modes of Japanese propaganda and other rhetoric,is also struck the lack of intensehateby the-enemy propagandain war films: in 'Thereis simply no "enemy"counterpart films comparable to the atrocious Japanese and subhuman"Jap" beloved of Hollywood. Even when the Japanese undertookto produce explicit "hate-the-enemy" films, they did this in the form of historical generally dramas depicting the onerous behaviourof in earliergenerationsof Westernimperialists Asia'44 and And, to takejustone moreexample,Anderson Richienote thatwhile the spy filmsdid encourage ill-will directedat the USand GreatBritain, so and came nearer to the propaganda efforts being made in America, 'here, too, however, the film that Japanesewartime somewhatdifferedfrom of Americaand England.TheJapanese filmswere mostlyhistorical,and thus the immediacyof diselementof the Amerilike,whichwas the strongest can anti-Japanese movie,was missing'45. If'hate-the-enemy' moreprevalentthan the is above sentiments mightimply,thereis stillno doubt that the characterof these 'hate-the-enemy' portand rayals in Japanese cinema is far less virulent than manyof the justifiably notoriousinshocking stancesin Hollywoodfilms.Thisfact, in the present observacontext,shouldlead us to one interesting tion, at least, among others. And that is that the war waged in the Japanese cinema is almost wholly at odds with the war waged by the and Japanese military; the same holdstruefor the obverse, Hollywood.Thisis to say, that the panAsianism,for instance,expressed in filmslike The OpiumWar is belied by the extremeexploitation and violence directedagainst otherAsians. Similarly, the often virulentracismseen in American World War IICombatfilmsis belied not only by Americanconductin WorldWar II(humane treatmentof POWs,for instance)butalso by American societyitself.As JohnDowernotes: 'Whereracismis concerned,the United States is the mostparadoxicalof nations:a country scarredby prejudice racialconflict,butat and the same timemorehospitablethanany other to racialand ethnic country people of different backgrounds'46. Westernscholarshave perhapsbeen guiltyof a kindof reversediscrimination showinga (justiin fiable and important) willingnessto condemnHolracist propaganda while praising lywood's and Japanese cinema for its lack of race-baiting while at the same timefailingto include prejudice, a considerationof the actual war waged by the respective combatants. A full appreciation for mustnot only take Japanese war-time filmmaking into consideration the full range of Japanese cinemaof the period,butalso thewar in support of whichthe filmswere made47. A further area of investigation would revolve aroundthe questionof nationalpolicy itself;or to put it anotherway, the questionof what it means forfilmsto instantiate The Japanesetradition. questionof Japan'sidentity a modernnationand the as Japanese concern for racial or national identity have been partof publicdiscourse (Nihonjinron) formanygenerationsand remains area of interan est and concerntoday. As we saw brieflyabove, the ambiguousissue of the samuraifilmmakesan case study in 'nationalpolicy'. Is any interesting versionof Chushingura Loyal Ronin) 47 which (The sticksreasonablyclose to the originalstoryor Chikamatsu'sclassic play a propaganda film? Has IchikawaKon,therefore,with his new (1994) allstarversionof the storycreated a war-mongering work? Thequestionof the nationalpolicyfilmswould also interestingly conjoin the on-going publicdiscoursesurrounding Japan'sconductin WorldWar II.Everything fromwhat to call the war to what, if any, publicapology and war damages shouldbe

46 46
and the paidtocivilians, including especially comfort women,seemsupforgrabsin today's Japan. the of to 4. Clearly conception thewarhassomething do with self-definition. theimageofthe But Japan's waralso has something do withhowJapanis to others.And herethe national imagedby policy 5. can a films helpclarify certain ambivalence is that harboured theUS.The to by Occupation's attempt rid of much itspre-war of cinema part was of Japan a larger to purge of much itspreof policy Japan war values,beliefsand ideals.An intense suspicionthatitwasJapan's traditional culture led that that themto wage warand to conduct warin the that to manner theydid led to an attempt remake This tradition beis that Japan. suspicion Japanese or and hindperceived real cultural differences, thatthesedifferences dangerous US inteare to aliveandwellin contemporary remains dis- 6. rests, course. Butif every invocationof a national tradition perceived a threat, threat be is a to as a in eliminated, whatsensecanwe discuss vibrant national whoselosswouldimpoverish 7. incinema cinema?f ternational
8.

David Desser
42 (ChapelHill:University North of Carolina Press, 1975). is Ibid.,50. HuShengclaimsGeorge Elliot Charles Elliot's In half-brother. the film,George is Charles's not brother, hisoldercousin. younger Matsuzaki had been a student KyotoUniversity at where he had also (thenKyotoImperial University) withProfessor come intocontact Yukitoki, Takigawa the inspirationfor Kurosawa'sfamous postwar 'democratization' Waga seishunni kuinashi film, for (No Regrets OurYouth, 1946). Infact,as Kyoko Hiranoexplains, it was Matsuzaki who was the for film. Kyoko writer that See primary andscript story Mr. Goes to Tokyo:Japanese Cinema Hirano, Smith Under the AmericanOccupation. 1945-1952 DC: Institution Press, (Washington, TheSmithsonian sort when is 1992), 184-1 86. This of irony typical the examining Japanesecinema'sshiftfromkokutai to democracy. information the film's on as Background production, well as on director Makino Masahiro takenfrom is Cineaste (Shineasuto, Japanese,Tokyo,1985), 3 in Masahiro. special issueon Makino Anderson Donald and Richie. JosephL. TheJapanese Film: and Industry. Art edition.(Princeton, Expanded NJ:Princeton Press,1982), 130. University more thanjust cult a Tsuburaya issomething Eiji figure hereand inJapan.Hispostwar effectsworkon films likeGojira(Godzilla, 1956), Kingof theMonsters, Mosura (Mothra, 1961) and the Urutoraman (Ultratelevision seriesmakeshima formidable man) figure in postwarJapanese history. film The 1985 catalogueof the NationalFilm Center (in Japanese)lists only 19 of Makino'sfilmsin their collection,12 of themin the period 1937-1945. ManyfilmsMakinomade afterthe war (though by no meansall) are availableon videotape,butare not in the Film Centercollection. the Similarly, Film Center out added catalogueis itself of datewithfilms I rather tothecollection regularly (thoughdo notknow if any of Makino's films have been added since the 1985 catalogue).PiaCineClub 1990 edition in as Japanese)lists98 films Makino extant.Itdoes by seem to be thecase, however,thatthe almost100 in of his films made beforeJiraiva 1937 no longer collections. The exist,or iftheydo are heldin private OpiumWar, however,is in the collectionof the Film National Center,isavailableinJapan video, on of of and is held in the collection the Library Conof gress. (Thecopy held in the Library Congress, added to itscollection whenthefilmwas seized by the Occupation, maynotbe complete.DavidBordme well informs thatthe versionhe screenedthere was 90 min;the NationalFilm CenterCatalogue

Notes
the The author gratefully acknowledges advice,support, Prof. Hisaandaid of thefollowing individuals: Kakeba kazuof Kansai Senji; Osaka;Mr.Taniuchi University, Mr.Norikuni Ms. and Chiharu; Ms. Masahide; Mukudai of Kathleen Shigeta.All stillscourtesy the Kawakita Film The Film Memorial Institute Council). (Japan Library for thanks Hayashi Ms. author Kanaka her particularly help.
1. Ahen Senso was made in 1942 and released in lists of filmography thefilm January 1943. Makino's as 1942. the HuSheng, From OpiumWarto theMay Fourth V. Movement 1 Trans.DunJ. Li.(Beijing: Foreign Press,1991), 29. Languages of and Ibid.,43. Theaccount British imperialism the originsof the opiumwar in Hu Sheng's book is similarin tone to war-eraJapanese interestingly imrhetoric, anti-imperialist though,again, Britain's shameful inthe and, perialist policiesweregenerally inexcusable. case of opium,completely However, seemsa moresympathetic than CharlesElliot figure far he is paintedby HuShengand certainly moreso in thanhis filmic portrait TheOpiumWar!See, for WardFay, The Peter instance, OpiumWar, 1840-

9.

2.

Fromthe OpiumWar to the PacificWar:Japanese PropagandaFilms WorldWar 11 47 of

liststhe running time at 115 min, and the video version uponwhichI relyis 110 mins). 10. Anderson and Richie creditMakinoas one of the two primary creatorsof the 'golden age' of the The is whomtheyfavor periodfilm. other ItoDaisuke, as the superior director well have (andwho might been). See 64-66. Makinowas no less influential in postwar cinemaas thecreator the enormously 20. of successful seriesof yakuzafilms from1952Jirocho 54. See KeikoMcDonald,'TheYakuzaFilm: An 21. Introduction'Refraning in JapaneseCinema.Arthur 22. Nolletti, and David Desser,eds. (Bloomington, Jr. IN: Indiana Press,19921, 173. University Anderson Richie, and 31. Someof thedifficulties establishing certainty of with some specific facts and figuresin earlyJapanese cinema may be revealedby the fact that in the special issueof Cineastedevotedto Makino,one critic or 23. directed says theson appearedin 147 films another,laterin the same producedby his father; as issue,gives the number 165 . See 92 and 102. for 1942 as 97 (not87) and thetotalfor 1945 as 22 (not26), thoughnot broken down intogendai and jidai. (Personal communication EmaMifrom Museum Culture. Emapointsout of Mr. chio, Kyoto can derivefromsuch thingsas the discrepancies issue of Japanese co-productions colonized or in territories.) conquered Sato, 102. Anderson Richie,135. and For pseudo-documentaries Russo-Japanese the of the War see Hiroshi 'SomeCharacteristics of Komatsu, WorldWar I in Reframing JapaneseCinemaBefore of Japanese Cinema,238-239. Fora discussion the 'human bullet' filmsand the 'KugaSeries'see Shimizu 'WarandCinemainJapan' Media in Akira, Wars: Then& Now. The YamagataInternational Film '91, 11. Documentary Festival Thereare, of course, nationalpolicy filmsset in Chinawhichwere made after 1942, TheOpium Warbeingone of them, Tatakai machi no obviously. (1943) and Otoko(1944) are two mentioned by Kurasawa havingbeen showninJava. See pp. as 74-75. However, Chinaclearlylostitsmystique as a favoredsetting after1942. to Staff Shogun samboto hei(General, and Soldiers, directedby TaguchiSatoshi)is the only war film made in the Pacific War periodto have maintained much respect from the Japanese critical establishment. While films Ozu's There a Father like was and Kurosawa's are SugataSanshiro acclaimedin times, along with the earlier Five contemporary national Scouts,no otherof the overtlymilitaristic policyfilmsmade from1942-45 has transcended its roots in war-time as production far as critical is Kinema recognition concerned.See for instance, Nihoneiga Best200. Jumpo's Media Wars,21. Shimizu, For detailedand challenging a discussion 'Shina' of see StefanTanaka, Pasts Japan'sOrient: Rendering intoHistory of Press, (Berkeley: University California 1993). JohnDower,'Japanese CinemaGoes to War' in his Japan in War and Peace: Selected Essays(New York:New Press, 1993), 46. The referenceto 'favorite redeemableenemy'comes fromDower's that are conceptualization there fivetypesof enemies in films. apparent national polity First: Second: amorphous, depersonalized. can be won over. Third: redeemable; cultural, 'Westernization'.Fourth: emotions, human human weaknessinsideeachJapanese. Fifth: itself. war 28. For shortdiscussionsof these filmssee Shimizu,

11. 12.

13. JosephA. Murphy, 'Approaching JapaneseMelodrama'East-West FilmJournal no. 2 (July 7, 1993): 25. 14. Fora discussion Makino's of troubles Japanese with censors over Hanako-san Hirano,Mr. Smith see Goes to Tokyo,19-22. Andersonand Richie, 126 and passim; Hirano, 15-24; TadaoSato, Currents JapaneseCinema, in trans.GregoryBarrett. Kodansha,1982), (Tokyo: 100-104. Sato, 101. Aiko Kurasawa, 'Films Propaganda as Media on Java underthe Japanese, 1942-45' in Japanese Cultural Policies SoutheastAsia in World War during K. St. 2, Grant Goodman,ed. (New York: Martin's 25. Press, 1991 ), 49. 1 81 have no idea why she 26. excludesjidai-geki, exceptto notethatfew, ifanyof themplayedoverseas.Itis theJapanese films shown inJava in specificwhich concernher and not the of ubiquity national policyfilmsproducedinJapan itself. 27. I Thefigures amusing derived are from Sekainoeiga sakka 31: Nihon eigashi [FilmDirectors the of of World, 31: History Japanese Cinema](Tokyo: Kinema Jumpo,1976), 70. Thenumbers provided in this source jibe with the numbers utilizedby Kurasawa. The chartprovidedby Kinema Jumpo divides filmsinto gendai and jidai and also by individual thereis somedisagreegenres.However, mentaboutthe exact number filmsproducedby of sourcegives thetotalnumber films of Japan.Another 24.

15.

16. 17.

19.

48
21-22; Anderson and Richie, 154-155 (where they also mention Tatakaino machi (see above note 20); Sato, 201, and Kurasawa, 76. 29. 30. Anderson and Richie, 133. Darrell William Davis, Picturing Japaneseness: Monumental Style and National Identityin Prewar Japanese Film. Ph.D. diss. Universityof WisconsinMadison, 1990. Revised version forthcomingfrom Press. Cambridge University Anderson and Richieclaim this storyof a nursewho marriesa disabled soldier was used as propaganda for a national drive to get women to marryand care for disabled soldiers, See 136. Filmsabout military nursesregularlyappear, thoughtheirnumberis fairly small. Others include Aikoku no hana (Flower of (Classroom Patriotism, 1942) and Onna no kvoshitsu of Women Students, 1943), in which one of a group of seven women studying medicine is Chinese. ForAnderson and Richie, thisTasaka-directedfilmis a national policy picturein a lightervein. See 140. See also Sato, 141. See Nihon eigashi, 70-71. ShimizuAkira points out that the actual topics of the industrialfilms were assigned to specific studios: 'Ironand steel were assigned to Toho ... aluminium to Daiei ... Shochiku took care of coal'. (Media Wars, 45). 42.

David Desser
Japanese soldiers shocked their own commanders and the military leadership inJapan. Butone attempt to deal with such potentialexplosions of violence and rage in future campaigns was the no-less inexcusable use of the euphemisticallynamed 'comfortwomen', the enforced prostitutionof Chinese and Korean women to service Japanese troops on the frontlines. WhileJapanese films,fictionand documentaryboth, have dealt with the issue of Japanese women prostitutesduring the war, the mainstreamcinema has thus far avoided the comfortwomen issue entirely. See Kurasawa,61 . The questionof what termis used to name the war is interestinglyrelated to the issue of 'Shina'. lan Burumapoints out that today it is typicallyliberalJapanese who call World War IIthe PacificWar. 'People who stickto the idea thatJapan was fighting a war to liberate Asia from Bolshevism and white colonialism call it the Great East Asian War'. The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan (New York: FarrarStraus Giroux, 1994), 47-48. For discussion of co-productions see also Anderson and Richie, 148-158. Sato, 101-102. Dower, 'Japanese Cinema Goes to War', 40. For Dower's groundbreaking work on both American and Japanese war propaganda which considers media in addition to cinema see his War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (New York:Pantheon, 1986). Anderson and Richie, 134. John Dower, 'Fear and Prejudice in US-JapanRelations, inJapan in War and Peace, 327. While I do not wish in any way to excuse Hollywood's (or America's) racial injustices, justas I do not wish to be seen as unnecessarily highlighting Japan's war conduct, the issue of racial prejudice in the AmericanWorld War IICombat filmis a bit more complicated than any criticof whom Iam aware has yet discussed. The fact that Hollywood made more filmsfocusing on the Pacific theatrethan the Atlantic duringthe war (morethan a 2:1 ratioas far as I can tell) is significant in terms of Jewish studio heads attempting to justifyand explain the war to a previously isolationist and increasingly anti-Semitic of America. Fearful being seen as propagandists for the war in Europe (until 1939 Hollywood ignored events in Germany and even untilPearlHarborpaid little attention to the Nazis), the studios could use PearlHarbor, with itssupposed Japanese treachery, and the natureof a raciallyforeign enemy, to support America's war effortswholeheartedly.

31.

32.

43. 44.

33. 34.

35.
36.

Ibid.,39.
of Thisquick run-through nationalpolicy and the way it worked its way into many established genres is by no means intended to be completely thorough. I have, for instance, deliberately avoided discussion of two important film genres of the period: the war documentary(bunka eiga, or culfeature-length ture film) and the newsreel (nyusu). For a good introductionto these genres during the war see Shimizu, Media Wars, 20-21; 27-31. See Cineaste, 214 or Pia Cine Club, 36-37. Hirano, 21. See specifically the essay by KuritaSatsuki in Cineaste, 90-95. Kurasawa, 'Filmsas Propaganda Media on Java', 74. I do not wish this paper to appear to be an attack on Japanese actions in World War II, but neither should scholars ignore the historical record. The aftermath of the battles for Nanking left at least 200,000 Chinese civilians dead. The brutalityof

45. 46. 47.

37. 38. 39 40. 41.