Opening scene shows Japanese boys performing gymnastic exercises on a high bar at a beach. As they finish a large group of boys runs from the water's edge behind them. The boys run into an outdoor classroom in the shade of trees, where a teacher is instructing uniformed students how to write Japanese kanji characters. The second of two Kanji characters that spell Nippon (Japan) is shown on the blackboard with numeric guides to the sequence of strokes in which it should be written. Scene shifts to the interior of a classroom filled with boys in checkered uniforms. The teacher in this classroom is using the blackboard to teach writing of the same kanji character. As the teacher uses chalk to write the character, the students copy his motions with their hands in the air, as if writing it themselves. Closeup of the boys at their desks using brushes to form the character on paper. One boy uses a still camera to photograph the character he has written. A student is seen wearing earphones and smiling while listening. An old woman, also wearing earphones, appears to enjoy what she hears as she works preparing food in her kitchen. On a river bank, overlooking the water, a group of boys and a group of girls sit on wooden benches with their respective teachers in the shade of a large tree. Closeup of children's feet resting on a beach of many smooth rounded stones, under the wooden bench. Next, boys are seen splashing one and other in the water,
Japanese patrons, including five young women in traditional dress, line up to purchase tickets at a theater in Japan. A businessman and a woman walk past on the sidewalk. Scene shifts to a Japanese film with actors in traditional dress perform stylized combat with swords. Next, women in traditional dress perform onstage in a ritualistic dance employing fans. In sharp contrast, women in modern military costumes onstage perform precision dance moves in a follies style and a man dances with chorus girls in western style jazz stage show. Scene ends with theater curtain descending as the dancers are still performing.
Japan roughly twenty years after World War II. The front page of a Japanese newspaper. A Japanese banner. A large outdoor gathering of Japanese people kneeling. They rise all together at the beginning of some event. A family of three, father, mother and daughter, seated on the floor in a house. The man reads from a scroll, perhaps something written by his daughter. A Japanese newspaper showing a map of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding regions. Pedestrians move along a street. A man drops a rolled piece of artwork and another pedestrian picks it up. He hands it to the man who dropped it and expresses pleasure at recognizing him from the past. The two of them go to the artist's studio. Oil paintings in the studio, some on a wall and some rest against tables. The visitor admires the paintings as his host, the artist, bends over small Hibachi. The two men squat on the floor over a Hibachi. One of them looks through a magazine of art work from around the world. Two men talk. View of studio shows tubes of oil paints, paintings and sketches of warships, painting of Japanese Naval war ensign, and paintings and books on a shelf. Models of warships in a bookcase. The two men converse, as one smokes. Papers pinned on a wall include a painting of a warship; a warship recognition chart; a picture of a submarine and a picture of a Cruiser warship. The two men lie on the floor and reminisce. Articles on furniture in the room include: radio; a bust; model airplane; model of a naval warship.The two men settle down to sleep, on the floor, still reminiscing.
A film of the Army-Navy Screen Magazine about the military cadets trained at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy or Rikugun Shikan GakkÅ in Ichigaya, Tokyo, Japan during World War II. Japanese cadets get up and come out of a building in uniforms. Japanese cadets scrub their bare backs. The cadets practice jumping during their training. Two cadets jump from a wall. The cadets practice jumps, and Jiu-Jitsu. The cadets exercising. The exteriors of the training building. Teachers teach trigonometry, chemistry, and different languages. The cadets work in a laboratory. A student reads a Japanese history book. Western professors teach German, English, and Russian at the Japanese military school.
Contrasts innocent play of children in America with military play and training in Axis countries during World War 2. View of children playing games and on jungle gym in United States. Scene changes to Germany, with German boys climbing over and around artillery pieces under watchful eye of a uniformed German official. Next shows children in Japan staging military training and a charge across a mock battlefield. Next scene shows boys in Italy in uniform engaged in a mock battle charge and putting on gas masks between advances. Also seen during the clip: The Japanese flag is raised, as well as the Nazi flag and an Italian flag. Slogan of the Japanese Army: ' To die for Emperor is to live forever'. Back in the United States, a woman collects funds to help Japanese children affected by an earthquake. Children pass by the collection bin and place money in the jar.
Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo declares war during World War II. Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo declares war on United States and Britain. Japanese officers seated. Prime Minister Tojo records the declaration for the radio. A Japanese officer reads out the declaration.
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