is a 1967 Japanese

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Kihachi Okamoto was a Cinema of Japan, Japanese film director who worked in several different film genre, genres. Career Born in Yonago, Tottori, Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and entered World War II, an exp ...

. The subject of the majority of the movie is the period between noon on August 14, 1945, and noon on August 15, 1945, when

Emperor Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

's decision to surrender to the Allies in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was broadcast to the Japanese people, and the attempted coup d'état to prevent that from happening. Film historian Joseph L. Anderson describes the film as "a meticulous reconstruction of the day Japan surrendered and thus ended the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

Cast

Production

According to Okamoto,

Masaki Kobayashi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, best known for the epic trilogy '' The Human Condition'' (1959–1961), the samurai films '' Harakiri'' (1962) and '' Samurai Rebellion'' (1967), and the horror anthology '' Kwaidan'' (1964). ''Sen ...

was originally supposed to direct ''Japan's Longest Day'' but didn't want to, so co-producer

Sanezumi Fujimoto was a Japanese film producer. He served as the head of production for Toho Studios. He was co-producer of Akira Kurosawa's ''The Hidden Fortress''. He also produced many other films, including Yasujirō Ozu's ''The End of Summer'', Kihachi Okamo ...

suggested that Okamoto direct it. Okamoto believes that this film and his subsequent film '' The Human Bullet'' (1968) are expressions of his anti-war feelings. ''Japan's Longest Day'' portrays the actual people who were able to remain above the fighting, but did fight with each other, while ''The Human Bullet'' is a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

of those who did have to fight in the war. The film featured dozens of

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

's contracted male actors as well as independent and borrowed stars like

Chishū Ryū was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting 65 years, appeared in over 160 films and about 70 television productions. Early life Ryū was born in Tamamizu Village, Tamana, Kumamoto, Tamana County, a rural area of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu ...

Yūnosuke Itō was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than ninety films from 1947 to 1979. Career Itō made his film debut at Toho in 1946, and although mostly a prominent supporting actor—playing memorable figures such as the novelist in Akira Ku ...

, and

Kōji Mitsui was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 150 films from 1925 to 1975, including 29 of ''Kinema Junpo''’s annual Top-10 winners and three of its 10 best Japanese films of all time. In 2000 the magazine named him one of the 60 most impor ...

. Toho's

Michiyo Aratama was a Japanese film and stage actress. Biography After graduating from the Takarazuka Music and Dance School, Aratama joined the Takarazuka Revue in 1945. She gave her film debut in 1951, but it was not before 1955 that she left the Takarazuk ...

was the lone female in the cast.

Release

''Japan's Longest Day'' was released in Japan on August 12, 1967, close to the anniversary of the surrender. This started a trend of releasing World War II films on the anniversary, which included Okamoto's 1971 film ''

The Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. The initial invasion of Okinawa on 1 April ...

''. It became the second highest grossing film in Japan in 1967.

Shinobu Hashimoto Shinobu Hashimoto (, ''Hashimoto Shinobu''; 18 April 1918 – 19 July 2018) was a Japanese screenwriter, director and producer. A frequent collaborator of Akira Kurosawa, he wrote the scripts for critically acclaimed films such as ''Rashomon'' an ...

won the Kinema Junpo Award for best screenplay. The film was re-released theatrically in Japan on November 21, 1982 as part of

's 50th anniversary. A remake of ''Japan's Longest Day'', identically titled in Japanese but released in English under the title ''

The Emperor in August is a 2015 Japanese historical drama film directed by Masato Harada. It was released on August 8, 2015. A remake of ''Japan's Longest Day'' (1967), the film depicts the chain of command of Imperial Japan's government, military, and War Council u ...

'', was issued in 2015 by

Shochiku is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed '' kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establis ...

, directed by

Masato Harada is a Japanese film director, film critic, and occasional actor; he is best known to foreign audiences as Omura in '' The Last Samurai'' and as Mr Mita in '' Fearless''. In both his acting roles he portrayed the villain who wants Japan to western ...

References

Works cited

External links

* {{Kihachi Okamoto 1967 films Films directed by Kihachi Okamoto Japanese epic films Films with screenplays by Shinobu Hashimoto 1960s Japanese-language films World War II films based on actual events Pacific War films Toho films Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka Films produced by Sanezumi Fujimoto Films scored by Masaru Sato Cultural depictions of Hirohito 1960s Japanese films