Tragedy of Japan

Tragedy of Japan
Still photo from "Tragedy of Japan"
Japanese	日本の悲劇
Directed by	Fumio Kamei
Release date	1946 (1946)

Tragedy of Japan (日本の悲劇, Nihon no higeki) is a 1946 Japanese Documentary by director Fumio Kamei. It offers a leftist, critical analysis of Imperial Japan before, and during WW2.^[1]

The film describes Imperial Japan through a critical lens. Political repression in Japan, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the assassination of the Japanese prime minister Inukai Tsuyoshi by fascists in 1933, the Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany, and Japan, the Second Sino-Japanese war, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are discussed in the film. The film also puts the emperor responsible for the many war-victims.^[2] Japan's capitalist class, who sought to acquire foreign markets, is also blamed for the war. The persecution of Communists in Japan is also highlighted.^[3] The film contains footage of the funeral of Takiji Kobayashi, the communist writer who was tortured and killed by the Japanese authorities before the outbreak of WW2.^[4]

The United States occupied Japan following the end of WW2.^[5] Kamei's film, which was released during the occupation, was subject to an exhibition ban by the Occupation's GHQ for pursuing the Emperor's war responsibility.^[6] At the time it has been illegal to criticize the Emperor. The film was put away and given the designation 'communist'.^[2]

• "Nippon no Higeki aka A Japanese Tragedy (Fumio Kamei, 1946)". Nippon Eigasha. 1946.
• "KAMEI FUMIO RETROSPECTIVE 1908-1987" (PDF). University of Michigan.

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