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Hiroshima | |
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Directed by | Koreyoshi Kurahara Roger Spottiswoode |
Written by | John Hopkins Toshiro Ishido |
Produced by | Robin Spry Kazutoshi Wadakura Andrew Adelson Tracey Alexander Michael Campus Tetsuya Ikeda Paul E. Painter |
Starring | see below |
Cinematography | Shohei Ando, Pierre Mignot |
Edited by | John Soh Mark Conte Dominique Fortin Denis Papillon |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Showtime Network |
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Running time | 186 min. (DVD version) |
Languages | English, Japanese |
Hiroshima is a 1995 Japanese-Canadian war drama film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode about the decision-making processes that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the end of World War II. The three-hour film was made for television (Showtime Network) and had no theatrical release. [2]
A combination of dramatization, historical footage, and eyewitness interviews, the film alternates between documentary footage and dramatic recreations. The dramatizations and most of the original footage are presented as sepia-toned images, serving to blur the distinction between them. The languages are English and Japanese, with subtitles, and the actors are largely Canadian and Japanese.
The film opens on 12 April 1945 with the death of Franklin Roosevelt and the succession of Harry Truman to the presidency. In Europe, the Germans are close to surrender, but in the Pacific the bloody battle for Okinawa is still under way. American casualties have almost reached 900,000, with Japanese casualties at 1.1 million; 8 million Asian civilians have died in the war that began with Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria.
The new president knows nothing about the nuclear weapons being developed at Los Alamos, and he must decide on whether to use them and how. When nuclear physicist Leo Szilard delivers a petition signed by 73 scientists urging the president not to deploy the bomb, U.S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes tells him: "You do not spend two billion dollars and then show them [American voters] nothing." Also urging deployment is Maj. Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project. The Interim Committee appointed by Truman recommends unanimously that he use the bomb on "war plants surrounded by worker housing", without warning. General George Marshall lays out plans for the invasion of Kyūshū in November and Honshū in March 1946.
In Japan, Minister of War General Anami Korechika argues that the homeland must be defended. The voice of reason is the new civilian prime minister, Kantarō Suzuki. In Tokyo, Admiral Yonai Mitsumasa assures the cabinet of victory.
On July 16, the Trinity test shows that a plutonium bomb (Fat Man) is feasible and that a nuclear blast is even more powerful than scientists predicted. The uranium bomb (Little Boy, which is untested but is expected to work) leaves Los Alamos for Tinian island in the Pacific. At the Potsdam conference, Joseph Stalin promises to join the war against Japan. Winston Churchill urges Truman to use the bomb to constrain Russian expansion. The Allied leaders deliver an ultimatum to Japan "to give them one last chance."
Truman strikes Kyoto off the target list, leaving Hiroshima as the primary target. The Enola Gay makes the drop on the morning of August 6, 1945. On August 9, the Soviet Union invades Manchuria and the Fat Man plutonium bomb devastates Nagasaki. Hirohito finally intervenes, telling the cabinet that Japan "must endure the unendurable" and surrender. Young army officers urge General Anami to join them in a military coup, but he tells them: "The emperor has spoken; we must obey him." On August 15, the emperor's surrender message is broadcast to Japan, and Anami commits ritual suicide.
Though not widely reviewed, Hiroshima was praised online: "Fascinating, and surprisingly ambivalent, docudrama rehashes familiar terrain with remarkable freshness precisely because of the emphasis on the politicians (rather than on the scientists), the bi-national approach, and an odd mixing of dramatization, newsreel footage, and even a few talking-head interviews with people who were there." [3]
The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chairman of China Chiang Kai-shek issued the document, which outlined the terms of surrender for the Empire of Japan, as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference. The ultimatum stated that, if Japan did not surrender, it would face "prompt and utter destruction."
The Hirohito surrender broadcast was a radio broadcast of surrender given by Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, on 15 August 1945.
Korechika Anami was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II who was War Minister during the surrender of Japan.
Mokusatsu (黙殺) is a Japanese word meaning "ignore", "take no notice of" or "treat with silent contempt". It is composed of two kanji: 黙 and 殺. It is frequently cited to argue that problems encountered by Japanese in the sphere of international politics arise from misunderstandings or mistranslations of their language.
The Supreme War Council was established during the development of representative government in Meiji period Japan to further strengthen the authority of the state. Its first leader was Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922), a Chōshū native who has been credited with the founding of the modern Imperial Japanese Army and was the first constitutional Prime Minister of Japan. The Supreme War Council developed a German-style general staff system with a chief of staff who had direct access to the Emperor and who could operate independently of the army minister and civilian officials. The Supreme War Council was the de facto inner cabinet of Japan prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Lt. Col. Masataka Ida was a young Lieutenant Colonel in the Military Affairs Section of the Japanese Ministry of War, at the end of World War II. He had been stationed on Formosa (Taiwan), but was ordered back to Tokyo early in 1945. Along with Major Kenji Hatanaka and a few others, he was one of the chief conspirators in the Kyūjō incident to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki; they wished to see the institution of martial law under War Minister Korechika Anami. The plan changed, however, into a plot, engineered by Major Kenji Hatanaka, to seize the Imperial Palace and prevent the broadcast of the Emperor's surrender speech. Lt. Col. Ida took part in this plot only briefly, trying to talk Hatanaka out of it by the end. Not many know about his attempted 'coup', which, although it failed, came dangerously close to lengthening the war, and altering the face of modern history.
The Franck Report of June 1945 was a document signed by several prominent nuclear physicists recommending that the United States not use the atomic bomb as a weapon to prompt the surrender of Japan in World War II.
The nuclear weapons debate refers to the controversies surrounding the threat, use and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Even before the first nuclear weapons had been developed, scientists involved with the Manhattan Project were divided over the use of the weapon. The only time nuclear weapons have been used in warfare was during the final stages of World War II when USAAF B-29 Superfortress bombers dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945. The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender and the U.S.'s ethical justification for them have been the subject of scholarly and popular debate for decades.
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had become incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the United Kingdom and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, Japan's leaders were privately making entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. While maintaining a sufficient level of diplomatic engagement with the Japanese to give them the impression they might be willing to mediate, the Soviets were covertly preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the United States and the United Kingdom at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences.
Events in the year 1945 in Japan.
1945 is an alternate history novel by Michigan economics professor Robert Conroy, an author of alternate history novels, such as 1901 and 1862. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook form by Ballantine Books in May 2007. In the novel's point of divergence, the Kyūjō coup overthrew Japanese Emperor Hirohito and so World War II resumed until 1946.
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. Japan surrendered to the Allies on 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria. The Japanese government signed the instrument of surrender on 2 September, effectively ending the war.
Day One is a made-for-TV docudrama film about The Manhattan Project, the research and development of the atomic bomb during World War II. It is based on the book by Peter Wyden. The film was written by David W. Rintels and directed by Joseph Sargent. It starred Brian Dennehy as General Leslie Groves, David Strathairn as Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Michael Tucker as Dr. Leo Szilard. It premiered in the United States on March 5, 1989 on the CBS network. It won the 1989 Emmy award for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special. The movie received critical acclaim for its historical accuracy despite being a drama.
Substantial debate exists over the ethical, legal, and military aspects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 August and 9 August 1945 at the close of World War II (1939–45).
The Kyūjō incident was an attempted military coup d'état in the Empire of Japan at the end of the Second World War. It happened on the night of 14–15 August 1945, just before the announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allies. The coup was attempted by the Staff Office of the Ministry of War of Japan and many from the Imperial Guard to stop the move to surrender.
Shun'ichi Kase was a Japanese diplomat both during and after World War II.
Lieutenant Colonel Inaba Masao was a Japanese officer during World War II of the Military Affairs Bureau.
Japan's Longest Day is a 1967 Japanese epic war film directed by Kihachi Okamoto. 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's decision to surrender to the Allies in World War II 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 following events occurred in August 1945:
The Emperor in August is a 2015 Japanese historical drama film directed by Masato Harada. It was released on August 8, 2015.