Taiheiyô no arashi

I BOMBED PEARL HARBOR is one of the very few Japanese films about World War II to be released in English and offers a fascinating window into Japanese attitudes toward the war expressed some 15 years after their defeat. Granted, this was seen on VHS in a cut, English-dubbed print with some re-editing, so we can't be entirely sure about the points of view expressed in the original. Numerous questions arise. For instance, did the original open and close with Franklin D. Roosevelt's radio addresses on the soundtrack as this version does? Or did Japanese audiences hear Emperor Hirohito's speeches on the soundtrack?

The film, as seen in this version, glosses over the causes of the war and the reasons Japan was in it. There are no mentions of the United States or of Americans at all and, of course, no mentions of Japanese occupation of so many Asian countries during the war. The pilots heading out to Pearl Harbor at the beginning are told it's their sacred duty to Japan and the Emperor and that the fate of the Japanese empire rests on them. They cheer a "successful mission" after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, a sequence that takes up the first 19 minutes of the film. Most of the rest of the film is taken up with the Battle of Midway (which took place, as I write this on June 4, on this date 69 years ago). The film is quite explicit in depicting the mistakes made by the Japanese commanders at Midway that allowed the American forces to prevail that day. As the battle progresses to Japan's not-so-inevitable defeat, radio reports heard in Japan tell complete lies about the outcome of the battle. It's evident to an informed viewer that the Japanese military consistently lied to the people and brainwashed its soldiers and pilots so that they could launch lethal attacks without any moral qualms and without any realistic sense of what they could accomplish against American industrial might. This is a pretty profound admission of some form of guilt. Yet it's undercut by the fact that the pilots are treated as noble heroes throughout. There are sentiments of regret voiced at the end of the film acknowledging what a mistake it all was, but they come too little and too late to satisfy me.

I watched the Hollywood film, MIDWAY (1976), right after this, in order to get an American account of the battle. The two versions stick quite closely to the facts and many of the Japanese military figures from I BOMBED PEARL HARBOR are indeed in MIDWAY as well. MIDWAY even used some shots from this film, along with quite a lot of actual color film footage taken by American combat photographers during the battle itself. Toshiro Mifune plays Admiral Yamaguchi in I BOMBED PEARL HARBOR and Admiral Yamamoto in MIDWAY, 16 years later. He's dubbed in both films by familiar voice-over actor, Paul Frees, the absolute wrong voice for Mifune. (In MIDWAY, Frees' attempt at a Japanese accent is completely at odds with the unaccented English spoken by all the Japanese-American actors-James Shigeta, Pat Morita, et al--playing the other Japanese officers.)

Some of the reviews here cite the depiction of the Japanese pilots in this film as "ordinary" and "honorable" men, who showed "humanity" and "courage." I'm sorry, but that's like characterizing Nazi concentration camp guards in a film about the Holocaust as "ordinary" and "honorable" men who were just following orders. When you allow a fascistic militaristic mindset to dominate your thinking and behavior, and when you plunge wholeheartedly into campaigns of murderous aggression against innocent peoples as the Japanese so frequently did (just ask China) and call it your "sacred duty," you can no longer be called "honorable" or "courageous." As a baby boomer who writes extensively about Japanese film, television and pop music, but who grew up in the shadow of the war and whose father trained marines to fight in the Pacific, I have difficulty seeing the Japanese soldiers and pilots who fought us back then as anything but the "bad guys," no matter how many tears they shed over fallen comrades or letters they wrote home to mothers and girlfriends. When I watched this film I found myself cheering whenever the "enemy" appeared. And when "enemy" planes launched their attacks on the Japanese carriers, I applauded loudly. Now I know how American Indians feel when they see a film about Custer's Last Stand.

For a better film about Pearl Harbor, see TORA! TORA! TORA! (1970), a U.S.-Japan co-production, which also shows the Japanese side of events, but does it against the larger context of Japanese imperialist aggression in Asia and a diplomatic comedy of errors. It doesn't soften or gloss over what the Japanese did, nor does it ennoble the Japanese pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor. It's a straightforward rendering of events and it's much more instructive in that regard than this film. Still, I BOMBED PEARL HARBOR does give us some revealing insights into the nostalgic haze through which so many Japanese war veterans chose to remember their efforts.

ADDENDUM (11/7/19): Watching this film a second time eight years later, in anticipation of seeing Roland Emmerich's new version of MIDWAY, I find my views about this film have softened somewhat. I now see it as a straightforward, reasonably honest account of a crucial WWII battle and a begrudging admission of both the tactical errors and larger mistakes the Japanese made. Maybe I was asking for too much in my earlier comments.

During the 1960's, Toho, the Japanese movie company which made all the Godzilla movies, produced one or two large-scale special effects movies every year. "I Bombed Pearl Harbor" (or Japanese original title "The Great Sea Battles of Hawaii and Midway: Storm Over the Pacific") (1962) is an excellent example of one of these 1960's Toho special effect movies. This non-fiction film, which is based on a memoir of a Japanese World War II torpedo bomber pilot, depicts the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway from the Japanese side. I remember seeing this movie for the first time back in the 1970's. The first thing I realized were the humanity and courage of Japanese pilots, who are frequently portrayed as beastly bad guys in American and British movies. This movie showed me that they were no different from the Allied fighting men. Japanese pilots truly cared about their own comrades. They showed tremendous courage under fire. They deeply lamented the deaths of their comrades.

All of the film's main characters were portrayed superbly by the Japanese cast members. Yosuke Natsuki played the main character, Lt. Kitami, as a young, gutsy aviator officer with an almost fanatical devotion to his country and the emperor. The character took defeat stoically like a real man. After the horrendous defeat at Midway, in which he lost many of his comrades, he did not whine or gripe; he calmly and unemotionally stated: "However horrible this may be, this is war. I have to face it." Late international star, Toshiro Mifune, played Adm. Tamon Yamaguchi, who went down with his flagship the Hiryu. And late Koji Tsuruta, a real-life ex-kamikaze pilot turned actor and singer, played Lt. Tomonari (based on a historical person Lt. Tomonaga who crashed his plane into the bridge of the Yorktown during the Battle of Midway).

Moreover, the special effect, which was supervised by late Eiji Tsuburaya (the special effects director of numerous 1950's and 1960's Japanese special effect movies), was excellent and awe-inspiring. The scene in which the U.S. Dauntless dive-bombers dropped 1000-lb. bombs on the Japanese aircraft careers was awesomely filmed. The site of burning Japanese aircraft careers was a masterpiece of special effect. Some of the special effect scenes are so good that Universal Studio used portions of this film to make its 1976 movie "Midway."

Unlike Universal's "Midway," which was badly edited, the editing of this film was coherent and masterfully done. Even though I did not think that the script was particularly unique (the story was simply told in a straightforward way), the overall quality of the film was excellent. I recommend this movie to all the film buffs so they can see World War II from the other side.

I'll be up front about my experience with Japanese cinema: it ranges from foggy memories of Godzilla flicks on TNT back in the mid-1990s, and more recently, a few Japanese war films. I don't know who many of the actors are, and cannot find much information on the web (or elsewhere) about this genre. I recognize names, not faces. More importantly, many of the Japanese films from the 60s and 70s emerged in the US totally butchered or altered into completely different movies. "I Bombed Pearl Harbor" holds up quite well in spite of dubbing, re-scoring and editing.

This film has got to be one of the best productions about World War II in the Pacific theater, solely because it offers an honest, unflinching look at the Japanese point of view. It's free of annoying clichés, strong performance and features a number of well-shot action scenes, filmed entirely in miniature.

This is a movie about the men in front lines doing their job. The Japanese pilots are the main characters, here, shown to be just as patriotic and honorable as the American GIs audiences are used to seeing. They're not saints, nor are they demons – they are ordinary young men, full of ambition and ready to take on the world. But the horrors of war will change this attitude. We see the course of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the Midway campaign through the eyes of Koji (Yosuke Natsuki), a navigator. The film is faithful to historical facts, and even though it's made from the Japanese point of view, it remains honest without stretching the truth.

There are numerous battle sequences throughout the film. Japanese special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya directed these sequences, and he handles every frame beautifully. Although it's obvious that the planes are models and the ships are floating in tanks, we see no obvious guide wires and the proportions are very close to perfect. The scenes on the ground and aboard ship have a very realistic look and feel to them, unlike many Hollywood films from the same time period. Scenes on the bridge of an aircraft carrier and in the hangers look much more authentic than those in 1976's "Midway", which was evidently lensed on cheap soundstages.

The performances are above average. As Koji, the young Natsuki makes a big impression. We first meet him when he's fresh out of training, ready to fly off and bomb Pearl Harbor for the glory of the emperor and his homeland. Things change rapidly: in the middle of his wedding, he is ordered to report back to his carrier, which is to leave for the Midway invasion. There, many of his friends get shot down. His best friend, Matsura (Makoto Sato) almost doesn't make it. By the end of the movie, very few of the original cast are remaining. Of the ensemble, Toshiro Mifune ("Hell in the Pacific") makes a very great Admiral Yamaguchi; his last few scenes are touching and emotion-laden.

There are a few strikes against this film as it stands now. The first is the miserable dubbing. Some of the dialog comes out with conviction, while other lines sound as though they're being read from cue cards with no emotion or inflection. The North American home video release is taken from a rather battered print, full of holes, speckles, scratches and splices. There are missing snippets of dialog and even some missing frames. The only good thing to say is that this print is letterboxed 1.85:1, a necessity for the combat sequences. A fully restored copy of the original version, which runs 118 minutes (as opposed to a re-scored, edited 98 minute American version) would make this viewing even better.

As it stands now, "I Bombed Pearl Harbor" is a clearly-told, engaging and well-shot war film offering some outstanding miniature work and unique look at World War II. This is definitely worth watching.

During the 1960's, Toho, the Japanese movie company which made all the Godzilla movies, produced one or two large-scale special effects movies every year. "I Bombed Pearl Harbor" (or Japanese original title "The Great Sea Battles of Hawaii and Midway: Storm Over the Pacific") (1962) is an excellent example of one of these 1960's Toho special effect movies. This non-fiction film, which is based on a memoir of a Japanese World War II torpedo bomber pilot, depicts the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway from the Japanese side. I remember seeing this movie for the first time back in the 1970's. The first thing I realized were the humanity and courage of Japanese pilots, who are frequently portrayed as beastly bad guys in American and British movies. This movie showed me that they were no different from the Allied fighting men. Japanese pilots truly cared about their own comrades. They showed tremendous courage under fire. They deeply lamented the deaths of their comrades.

All of the film's main characters were portrayed superbly by the Japanese cast members. Yosuke Natsuki played the main character, Lt. Kitami, as a young, gutsy aviator officer with an almost fanatical devotion to his country and the emperor. The character took defeat stoically like a real man. After the horrendous defeat at Midway, in which he lost many of his comrades, he did not whine or gripe; he calmly and unemotionally stated: "However horrible this may be, this is war. I have to face it." Late international star, Toshiro Mifune, played Adm. Tamon Yamaguchi, who went down with his flagship the Hiryu. And late Koji Tsuruta, a real-life ex-kamikaze pilot turned actor and singer, played Lt. Tomonari (based on a historical person Lt. Tomonaga who crashed his plane into the bridge of the Yorktown during the Battle of Midway).

Moreover, the special effect, which was supervised by late Eiji Tsuburaya (the special effects director of numerous 1950's and 1960's Japanese special effect movies), was excellent and awe-inspiring. The scene in which the U.S. Dauntless dive-bombers dropped 1000-lb. bombs on the Japanese aircraft careers was awesomely filmed. The site of burning Japanese aircraft careers was a masterpiece of special effect. Some of the special effect scenes are so good that the Universal Studio used portions of this film to make its 1976 movie "Midway."

Unlike Universal's "Midway," which was badly edited, the editing of this film was coherent and masterfully done. Even though I did not think that the script was particularly unique (the story was simply told in a straightforward way), the overall quality of the film was excellent. I recommend this movie to all the film buffs so they can see World War II from the other side.

Toho's first major color war film is without a doubt one of the most impressive of their many 60's offerings. The only one I can think of this easily trumps this is their later BATTLE OF THE SEA OF JAPAN (1969) which is about the Russo-Japanese War. This is a world war 2 film and probably the quintessential film covering the two largest, most pivotal events of the Pacific theater - Pearl Harbor and Midway. These battles would be covered in several later American films but never with the gusto of this production.

This presentation of the Pacific Theater is a little different than us Westerners are used to. There's something shockingly surreal about seeing the main characters elatedly cheering the destruction of the Arizona, or referring to December 7th, 1941 as "a wonderful day". Unlike German or Italian war films to come over the years after the war, this film by a former Axis member is not a guilt-ridden depressing condemnation of the past. Instead, the Japanese (many of the cast and crew members were veterans of the conflict) seem to be quite proud of their effort, camaraderie, and achievements. The attack on Pearl Harbor is shown as a more-or-less unavoidable battle and a great victory. Little attention is paid to the fact that the Americans are totally oblivious to the fact they're at war before the bombs drop. The Americans are actually rarely mentioned by name, only as "the enemy" and never seen besides their planes, ships, and ground installations.

Little can be said about this movie without mentioning the brilliant effects work by Eiji Tsuburaya and Teruyoshi Nakano. Tsuburaya had made some of Japan's most impressive propaganda films during the war which recreated the Pearl Harbor attack, and here he gets to do the same but in color and with more money and a larger water tank. The 1/16th scale models look brilliant and the explosions and fires realistic enough for MIDWAY to steal 16 years later.

Dramatically the film comes off as a little stiff, though Natsuki gives an earnest performance as a young pilot. Mifune plays Yamagouchi with his usual gravitas, and many recognizable Toho stock performers pop up in small roles throughout. The film also suffers from its no-frills straight-forward retelling approach (much like the earlier film THE MYSTERIANS) which means there's not really any subplots or plot twists. Just action, effects, and historical reenactments to provide entertainment. It also suffers a lot of the same failings as other Toho films of the time with the tendency to reuse effects shots (sometimes twice in a row), lots of jump cuts (such as an explosion goes off, then another, but the camera does not move despite a lot of time being cut out between the two explosions), and a few dodgy miniatures.

The real star is the battle scenes; not just the brief Pearl Harbor recreation, but the drawn out Midway battle that takes up the whole second half of the film. Excellent music, cinematography, and wholly believable process shots. Overall a thoroughly impressive war film which is unfairly hard to find.