Japan's Longest Day (1967)

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This star-studded and relatively lavishly produced fact-based war drama, set in 1945 Japan during WW II, chronicles the attempts of Japan's War Minister, (played by Toshiro Mifune), to prevent Emperor Hirohito from publicly broadcasting the declaration of surrender. The War Minister rallies those… More This star-studded and relatively lavishly produced fact-based war drama, set in 1945 Japan during WW II, chronicles the attempts of Japan's War Minister, (played by Toshiro Mifune), to prevent Emperor Hirohito from publicly broadcasting the declaration of surrender. The War Minister rallies those officers around him who also want to keep the war going. The conspirators murder the leader of the Imperial Guards and storm the palace. Fortunately they are stopped by the palace guard. On learning of this failure, the War Minister commits suicide. At least one Western reviewer of this 1967 film (for Variety) still bore very harsh memories of the war and attributed all sorts of face-saving propagandistic intent by the Japanese to this relatively innocuous movie. He was particularly distressed that the aura of sanctity surrounding the Emperor remained intact and was even enhanced by this film; even so, he praised it as expertly acted and entertaining in its own right, despite being an apparently "official" film. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Kihachi Okamoto
Written By: Shinobu Hashimoto
Genres: Documentary, Drama, Art House & International

In Theaters: Mar 26, 1968 Wide
On DVD: Sep 5, 2006
Studio: AnimEigo

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Walter M

"Japan's Longest Day" is a very suspenseful and detailed movie that recreates the events leading up to Japan's surrender in World War II, starting with the Potsdam Declaration. Japan's response is wait and see, but is misinterpreted as a flat refusal, leading… More
"Japan's Longest Day" is a very suspenseful and detailed movie that recreates the events leading up to Japan's surrender in World War II, starting with the Potsdam Declaration. Japan's response is wait and see, but is misinterpreted as a flat refusal, leading to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Faced with already immense losses in life and property(recalled at the end of the movie), total annihilation and an American invasion, the government and military, with emotions ranging from resignation to revolt, debate about the conditions before going to an imperial council which accedes. At first, it is hard to keep track of all of the players but eventually the plot narrows to a simple focus of one day from August 14, 1945 at noon, to the following day at noon, as a recording is made of the emperor's voice to be played to the public, announcing the surrender while the allies are contacted through intermediaries. On this day, small acts of courage make all the difference. Still, there are some who wish for one decisive battle on Japanese soil(Don't pay attention to the one guy who thinks 20 million kamikazes will carry the day since he's obviously off his meds.). A general counters such thinking by pointing out that it takes more courage to live than to die. A once impossible future full of unknowns, not only consisting of a Japanese military defeat, but also occupation, is now on the horizon for everybody involved. Relax, it all does turn out well for Japan, except for the war criminals.

Cast

            Toshiro Mifune as War Minister Anami

            Sô Yamamura as Navy Minister

            Chishu Ryu as Prime Minister

            Seiji Miyaguchi as Foreign Minister

            Rokko Toura
            
            Yoshio Kosugi
            
            Takashi Shimura as Information Chief

            Tadao Nakamaru
            
            Toshio Kurosawa as Maj. Hatanaka

            Ushio Akashi
            
            Takeshi Katô
            
            Koji Mitsui
            
            Yoshio Tsuchiya
            
            Shogo Shimada as Imperial Commander Mori

            Daisuke Katô as Yabe of NHK

            Jun Tazaki as Col. Kosono

            Akihiko Hirata
            
            Nobuo Nakamura as Lord Kido

            Eisei Amamoto
            
            Makoto Satô
            
            Kenjiro Ishiyama as Gen. Tanaka

            Susumu Fujita as Col. Haga

            Yunosuke Ito as Maj. Gen. Nonaka

            Keiju Kobayashi as Chamberlain Tokugawa

            Ichirô Nakaya
            
            Koshiro Matsumoto as Emperor Hirohito

            Michiyo Aratama as Yuriko Hara

            Yuzo Kayama as Tateno of NHK

            Etsushi Takahashi
            
See full cast