Japan's Longest Day

Japan's Longest Day (1967)

日本のいちばん長い日

The dramatic true story of the end of WWII.

A dramatisation of the 24-hour period in which the Japanese government was deadlocked over the decision to accept or reject the Allies' demand for an unconditional surrender following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Date of release
1967-08-03
TMDB
7.3 / 10 (34)
Runtime
2h 37m
Genres
Drama, History, War
Director
Kihachi Okamoto

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Japan's Longest Day

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.

Production

According to Okamoto, Masaki Kobayashi was originally supposed to direct Japan's Longest Day but didn't want to, so co-producer Sanezumi Fujimoto 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.

The film featured dozens of Toho's contracted male actors as well as independent and borrowed stars like Chishū Ryū, Yūnosuke Itō, and Kōji Mitsui. Toho's Michiyo Aratama was the lone female in the cast.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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