At opening, camera pans across homes in a residential neighborhood, at night. They are illuminated from within. Dramatized scene shifts to inside one house, where a Japanese man, wearing a French-style sweater and Beret smokes a pipe, as he plays a mandolin. Japanese men and women, dressed in Western fashions, dance to the music. Closeup of the man playing his instrument. When he concludes, a man and two women sit down on a nearby couch and converse. One woman talks with the musician, who appears to be leaving. Scene shifts to nighttime in the Ginza district of Tokyo, where establishments are lit up with neon signs. The musician, in coat and beret, is walking with a woman, and another couple, all dressed in Western fashions. They encounter two other Japanese couples attired in more traditional Japanese style. They begin to mimic the western-dressed couples. The woman with the musician confronts a man standing in her way. He bows and makes another comment, upon which, he removes his hat and bows again. She insults him, and he apologizes and bows again. She than tells her companion (the musician) to confront the man. He does so, demanding that the man grovel as he demonstrates. At this point the confronted man loses patience and pushes the groveling musician with his foot. He then chastises all those involved in this foolishness, and departs. Move views of neon signs and of the confronted man walking along the sidewalk, away from the scene of the incident. View from moving vehicle, of shops and business establishments along the street. View from a high vantage point looking down upon the street. One of the signs advertises General Motors automobiles, first Buick and then Chevrolet.
Film opens showing narrator, Japanese General Baron Sadao Araki, speaking. He is silhouetted in front of the red ball on a huge Japanese flag. Next, are scenes from Japanese mobilization and invasion of Manchuria. several Japanese troops are seen firing a 37mm gun, from a shallow trench, as a gun crew member spots from behind them using a pair of binoculars. A group of Japanese soldiers observing from a hill. Japanese troops advancing across barren terrain. Closeup of some descending a hill. A military steam locomotive displaying the Japanese flag, on a railroad track in the snow. Glimpse of soldiers atop the train. Japanese troops crossing a rice paddy on trail of brush and grass and slogging down a hill of mud. Troops moving in motor convoys of trucks. A Type 92 Osaka Armored Car driving fast past the camera. A troop train moving slowly out of a station, as crowds waving Japanese flags see the soldiers off. Army nurses in uniform with red cross armbands, march out the gate of a large building. Teachers and students pray for their troops, at a Shinto shrine. A woman using a megaphone rallies support for the war effort. Civilians supporting war effort line up to deliver packages for delivery to the troops. School children in a classroom write letters to the troops. A supply center where all kinds of useful items are being packaged in "comfort bags" for delivery to the troops. A large pile of comfort bags.
A dramatization. Opening scene shows two newsgirls selling papers on a street corner in the Ginza district of Tokyo. One calls out to passersby (unseen). She looks up at a clock tower showing it is almost midnight. The weather is cold and the girls are trying to stay warm. Views of neon signs on business establishments in the area. Scene shifts to men and women dancing to accordian music in a night club. A couple leaving the club obtain their coats and put them on. The woman glances at a watch on her finger. Next scene shows headlights of a moving car and its horn is heard blowing several times. Then lights of several cars are seen. Scene shifts back to the newspaper girls now joined by another girl and a boy. Scene shifts to Manchuria, where a troop of Japanese cavalry are riding in formation on a dusty road. Sounds of machine gun fire are heard in background. Japanese soldiers run past rocks. Two carry a Type 11 37 mm infantry support gun. Others carry boxes of ammunition. Glimpse of soldiers setting up the 37mm gun as another uses a periscopic sight and rangefinder. Several soldiers at another location are firing light machine guns supported by bipods. Closeup of a Japanese soldier silhouetted against the sky. Scene shifts back to the four newspaper children. They all say goodnight and start to leave. One of the girls steps from the corner, and is struck by a taxicab, apparently carrying her parents who've come to take her home. The driver jumps out and carries her to the sidewalk and her parents rush to her side. Next, a collection of dolls is seen in the girl's room, where she is lying on a bed. A doctor speaks with her parents. Later, another woman and a different doctor are seen with the parents at the girl's bedside. The girl begins to speak anxiously. The parents are dismayed and her mother speaks earnestly to her and cradles her head.
General of the Imperial Japanese Army Baron Sadao Araki narrates the film. Japanese flag is seen behind Baron Sadao Araki. Aerial view of clouds. Smoke emanates from volcanoes in Japan. Ripples being made in a lake or pond. A map of Japan. View of a Japanese waterfall. Trees grow on rocky cliffs by a river. View of the summit of Takachiho in the Kirishima Mountains (霧島山, Kirishima-yama) in Kyushu, Japan. Rice grows in a rice field in Japan. A print of the enthronement of Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor of Japan. View of the Entrance to the Ise Grand Shrine (伊勢神宮, Ise Jingū 1 Ujitachicho, Ise, Mie 516-0023, Japan). People crossing a traditional Japanese bridge. View of the two giant “married couple rocks” (Meoto Iwa 夫婦岩575 Futamichoe, Ise, Mie 519-0602, Japan) that are joined by a Shimenawa rice-straw rope in Futami, Mie, Japan. View of the Kashihara Jingu Shrine (橿原神宮934 Kumecho, Kashihara, Nara 634-8550, Japan) in Nara, Japan. View of the Torii gate at Atsuta Shrine (熱田神宮, Atsuta-jingū 1 Chome-1-1 Jingu, Atsuta Ward, Nagoya, Aichi 456-8585, Japan) in Nagoya, Japan. Torii gate of the Meiji Shrine (明治神宮, Meiji Jingū 1-1 Yoyogikamizonocho, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-8557, Japan) in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. View of the Nijubashi Bridge inside the Tokyo Imperial Palace grounds (1-1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 100-8111, Japan). View of the Kyoto Imperial Palace (3 Kyotogyoen, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, 602-0881, Japan) in preparation for the coronation of Emperor Hirohito. Banzai banners decorate the imperial palace. Japanese archers in traditional garb, carrying their bows. Emperor Hirohito’s procession makes its way to his coronation in Kyoto. Two 18th Century coaches bearing the Imperial Seal of Japan, also known as the Chrysanthemum Flower Seal (菊紋, kikumon) head the procession, accompanied by a mounted honor guard. Also in the procession is the Kashikodokoro (enshrining the Imperial Regalia) being carried by young men from the village of Yase, near Kyoto.
Film opens showing map of Asia and black clouds coming from all around the world to enclose Japan. A street scene with commercial displays of lights and modern architecture. Hollywood movie advertisements, including one for the 1931 Hollywood movie "Confessions of a Co-Ed," starring Phillips Holmes, Sylvia Sidney, and Norman Foster. Japanese newspapers reporting on communist activities. View of a woman's skirt and shoes as she walks along a sidewalk in Western clothing fashions. Similar view of a man. Japanese woman in Western fashions holding a compact and powdering her face. Closeup of the woman's face, with lipstick applied. She winks at the camera. A Japanese man and woman dressed in Western fashions, walking together. They sit together at a cafe table sipping sodas through straws. Behind them on the wsll is posted an advertisement for the 1930 movie, "Girl of the Golden west" starring Ann Harding. Japanese people in western fashions hurrying along a city street past others in more traditional Japanese garb. A Japanese dressed in the latest Western golfing attire, teeing off on a golf course. Two boy caddies stand next to him. Laborers in a glen using pickaxes to contour the ground (possibly for a golf course). View of a large school building with many uniformed school girls performing calisthenics in the schoolyard. Final scene reverts to the opening map and shows the dark clouds being dispelled from Japan.
A Japanese militaristic propaganda film about the material and spiritual strength of Japan. Narration by General of the Imperial Japanese Army Baron Sadao Araki. Map of Asia. Image of an artillery shell followed by animation of large blotch marks covering large sections of Asia. Scenes of Japanese troops marching in countryside and on railway beds. Sign in English 'Soochow'. Troops loaded into open rail cars and a steam engine pulling the train out of a station. Troops resting along a roadway, with civilians walking by among them. Some of the soldiers water and care for the horses. Many signs in Japanese in an urban center. Some depict warfare and conquering of territory. It appears to depict the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria known as the Mukden Incident or the Manchurian Incident, part of the Second Sino-Japanese War. A parade on a city boulevard, with leaflets dropped everywhere blowing on the ground. A dragon costume controlled by many people. Children marching in a group. A regiment of Japanese soldiers marching in formation. An entrance way covered by the angled, draped flags of Japan and Manchukuo.
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