Busy streets in Tokyo, Japan. Japanese people shop, cross streets, and ride bicycles. Aerial view of Tokyo after World War 2. View of the Japanese National Diet Building (Nagatachō 1-chome 7–1, Chiyoda, Tokyo) in Chiyoda district. Japanese Prime Minister of Japan Yoshida Shigeru addresses the parliament. Japanese men, women and ministers attend the National Diet. A new bill is passed. Hand flips through the pages of the new bill written in Japanese. Contrasts the progress of women with that of men in Japan. A Japanese man and woman. Japanese children playing in playground. A woman holds her child. A salaryman father laughs with wife and two children at home. Japanese man wipes sweat off his head with a napkin. An old farmer working. People crossing a street. Japanese men and women crowd a busy street. View of Japanese women work as traffic police officer, as telephone operators, as caretaker of family,voting and as an architect.
Okinawa Island after its return to Japan. A Japanese couple fish in the sunset. Japanese man fishes with a fish net. American man pays in Japanese Yen to a cashier. The cashier hands a package to the man. Japanese flag in flagpole. American man talks to a Japanese police officer. Sign in Japanese writing in background. American family stand outside Japanese shop. American man plays golf. A Japanese salaryman walking on the street. American and Japanese men play baseball. American crowd watches the baseball game. American Air Force enlisted woman and a Japanese woman come out of a car.
Modernization of Japan through World War II. Japanese civilians seen. Japanese civilians bow down to the Superiors. Many scenes of Japanese military and cilvilian persons as they bow to others. Japanese girls sold by their fathers working in factories. Women work in the rice fields. Men wearing local hats seen. Japanese peasants working hard. Japanese people use telephones in office and living in traditional Japanese homes. Simply furnished Japanese homes without chairs, windows and beds seen. Japanese family wearing kimonos, eating food. Japanese men in kokumin-fuku worker uniforms working in a factory producing war materiel and armament for the war effort in World War II.
Surrender of Japanese Imperial forces leads to end of World War II. V-J Day (Victory over Japan) celebrations in August 1945. Americans celebrate as newspaper headlines announce V-J Day. Close up view of man holding Boston Post with headline "War Is Over." Teeming crowds in New York City's Times Square celebrating the news. Crowd of citizens, soldiers, and sailors in uniform surrounds a newspaper with headline "U.S. Announces Jap Surrender." Happy crowds of people waving, jumping, and smiling in jubilation. People show V signs. U.S. warships underway at sea. U.S. soldiers aboard ship. Japanese troops parading in Japan. Japanese aircraft lined up in flight line ready for take off to defend the Japanese mainland. Japanese amphibian tanks lined up ready for use against a possible allied invasion. Aerial view of actual atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima as seen from second B-29 aircraft accompanying the Enola Gay on the bombing run on August 6, 1945. Ruins of twisted metal and debris in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and civilians walking among the devastation. Japanese civilians along road. Japanese Generals deplaning and meeting U.S. General MacArthur on an airfield. Troops of 11th Airborne Division land in Japan. Marines reach Japanese shores at Yokosuka Naval Base in Landing crafts. American soldier raises American flag in Japan. American troops aboard Japanese battleship Nagato after Japanese surrender. View of the Nagato (later used as a target ship during Operation Crossroads).
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii during World War II. Animated map shows Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Nippon, Pacific Ocean and the USA. An arrow points out from Nippon to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Two Japanese aircraft carriers, the Kaga and the Zuikaku underway at sea as seen from the carrier Akagi. Waves of water dash over a deck. Japanese crew on the deck. Japanese Naval officers look through binoculars. An officer briefs Japanese pilots. A chart drawn on a blackboard. Japanese aircraft in flight. The pilots being briefed . The pilots run towards their aircraft and get ready for a take off. A signal flag is waved. The first Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service B5N (Kate) bomber takes off. A formation of nine A6M Zeros in flight. The mast of a ship. Japanese aircraft in flight. Three Kates in flight. Ford Island and airfield seen below. Aircraft dropping bombs. Honolulu smoking due to the bombardment. 3 PBY (Patrol Bomber Consolidated Aircraft) Catalinas. Bomb bursts near airplanes on the field. Pearl Harbor smokes. Animation shows war losses suffered by the U.S. A formation of A6M Zeros in flight. A Japanese war ship underway in the Pacific Ocean. Three Japanese warships underway. (Note: The attack began about 8AM December 7th, Honolulu time, which was 3AM, December 8th, Tokyo time.)
U.S. infantry and M4 Sherman tanks move against heavily fortified Japanese positions on Okinawa during World War 2. American soldiers use flame throwers to dislodge Japanese defenders. Two soldiers run as an explosion occurs behind them. U.S. artillery firing from under camouflage netting. Glimpse of soldier walking past a burning building. Okinawan women and children seek refuge behind the U.S.Tenth Army lines. A soldier carries a naked baby to safety. View of Okinawan refugees (Ryukyuan people), mostly women and children and some old people, seated together where they are to be cared for by the Army's Civil Affairs Command. Wounded American soldiers being placed aboard a U.S. Air Transport Command C-47 aircraft number 42-72383. Change of scene to the battlefield where a U.S. Army soldiers throw a hand grenades that explode on a Japanese caves. A Japanese soldier is shot as he stumbles out of his cave. Another Japanese soldier is take prisoner. U.S. soldier fires his rifle and a Japanese soldier falls to the ground. Scenes shift to the sea off of Okinawa, where a Benson-Livermore class destroyer is seen under a sky full of black flak clouds. Closeup of the destroyer. A Japanese aircraft is shot down as it flies toward a U.S. New Orleans class heavy cruiser. It crashes into the sea near another U.S. capital ship. An attacking Japanese plane is shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashes into the sea. More flak filled skies and bombs exploding along with machine gun fire raking the waters. Anti-aircraft tracer bullets firing from ships. A Japanese plane hit, is burning, and then explodes in the air. A Douglas dauntless aircraft lands on an aircraft carrier. Another aircraft doesn't make it to the carrier, and ditches in the water nearby. The pilot is seen standing on the plane's right wing, awaiting pick up. A Navy F4U Corsair plane approaches its carrier to land but loses control and crashes into the carrier's island. Firefighters direct streams of water on it's burning wreckage.