The Pacific War and the International Military Tribunal

**The Pacific War and the International Military Tribunal** (大東亜戦争と国際裁判, *Daitoa senso to kokusai saiban*) is a 1959 Japanese historical drama film directed by Kiyoshi Komori. It depicts the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (**IMTFE**) and the infamous Tokyo Trial of 1946-48.

## The Pacific War and the International Military Tribunal

### Produced by

Minoru Yamanashi
Mitsugi Okura (executive producer)
Motohiko Ito (planner)
Mihiro Takenaka (story developer)

### Starring

Minoru Takada
Ichiro Ryuzaki
Kanjūrō Arashi
Takamaru Sasaki

## Plot

In December 7, 1941, despite numerous negotiations, Japan sent an ultimatum of the severance with the United States to the Japanese Embassy in Washington. Two ambassadors, Kichisaburō Nomura and Saburō Kurusu, had left the embassy with the documents just as the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a spectacular opening battle victory. However, after the defeat at Midway and Guadalcanal, Japan continued to lose its resources, and on August 15, 1945, two atomic bombs was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, following the announcement of the Potsdam Declaration in July 1945. General Douglas MacArthur had arrived at the Atsugi Airfield on August 30th and the instrument of surrender was signed onboard the USS Missouri on September 2nd. Former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was subsequently arrested as a war criminal, and ex-politician Fumimaro Konoe committed suicide after taking a potassium cyanide poison.

The detection of war criminals proceeded mercilessly, and the prosecutors from various countries entered Tokyo one after and another. Meanwhile, a Japanese defense counsel was formed to defend the accused who became war criminal. There are 28 A-Class defendants. Then, on May 3, the curtain on the International Military Tribunal was about to begin. Judges were seated in the order such as India, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, China, the Soviet Union, France, New Zealand, and the Philippines. Sir William Webb read the opening declaration.

In the quiet defendant's seat, nationalist Shūmei Ōkawa was restless, in which he hit Tojo's head with his hand and as two MP officers dragged him out of the court, he shouted "Inder! Kommen Sie!" (Come, Indian!) in German after seeing two Indian officials entering the court. The trial went into arrangement following the reading of the indictment, but all the defendants pleaded not guilty and were already upset. Attorney Kiyose Ichiro submitted a motion to the jurisdiction of the rising international trial, but Chief Prosecutor Joseph B. Keenan violently confronted, saying, "This trial is a righteous execution of justice for world peace and security."The trial entered the defendant's defense in February 22 following the prosecution's proof of Japan's aggression over the next decade.

Kiyose then explained that the war had to exercise self-defense for the survival of Japan, and revealed the world situation on the eve of the war and the truth of the Japan-US peace talks as evidence. However, on November 12, 1948, the fateful day had came, and each defendants were sentenced, such as hanging of seven people, including Tojo himself. The petition filed with the US Supreme Court was also dismissed, and on December 23, the defendants, who had the last words with Mr. Hanayama, climbed onto the gallows.

## Cast

* Minoru Takada as Fumimaro Konoe
* Ichiro Ryuzaki as Isoroku Yamamoto
* Kanjūrō Arashi as Hideki Tojo
* Hiroshi Hayashi as Shigenori Tōgō
* Ryuji Wakamiya as Koshirō Oikawa
* Kyôji Kokonoe as Shigetarō Shimada
* Takeo Matsushita as Hajime Sugiyama
* Toshio Hosokawa as Saburō Kurusu
* Toshiaki Konoe as Kichisaburō Nomura
* Masao Takamatsu as Sadatomo Okada
* Kôtarô Bandô as Mitsumasa Yonai
* Jūshirō Kobayashi as Tomoyuki Yamashita
* Gen Funabashi as Seiichi Itō
* Okuno Takematsu as Shigeru Yoshida
* Masanori Takeda as Kantarō Suzuki
* Joji Oka as Korechika Anami
* Sadao Horiuchi as Mamoru Shigemitsu
* Nagamasa Yamada as Yoshijirō Umezu
* Masao Shimizu as Kōki Hirota
* Takamaru Sasaki as Kiyose Ichiro
* Yoichi Numata as Kaoru Hayashi
* Ureo Egawa as Takeo Shimadzu
* Sanae Takasugi as Katsuko Tojo
* Kinuko Obata as Kimie Tojo
* Shigeru Amachi as Captain Mitsuru Okada
* Tetsurō Tamba as Lieutenant Kiyoshi Shimada
* Midori Kuriyama as Makie Tōjō
* Katsuko Wakasugi as Chiyoko Konoe
* Keinosuke Wada as Fumitaka Konoe
* Kimie Tokudaiji as Shizuko Hirota
* Hyo Kitazawa as Shūmei Ōkawa
* Fumiko Miyata as Hirota's eldest daughter
* Noriko Kitazawa as Hirota's younger daughter
* Miyuki Takakura as Iva Toguri D'Aquino
* Andrew Hughes as General Douglas MacArthur
* Osman Yusef as Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright
* Gary Kenneth Richie as Major Paul Kraus
* Asuka Minoru as Translator
* Hiroshi Ayukawa as Tojo family escort Hatakeyama
* Eiji Wakasugi as Kamikaze Base Commander
* Masaru Kodaka as Lieutenant Yamada
* Charles Hollock as Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Alexander
* William Abraham Hughes as William Webb (Australia)
* Pan Henry as Mei Ju-ao (Republic of China)
* Sabel Jameel as Ivan Michyevich Zaryanov (Soviet Union)
* Chanter Mohamed Thebury as Radhabinod Pal (India)
* Louis Darrell Burton Manjón as Colonel Delfin Jaranilla (Philippines)
* Samuel Powell as Erima Harvey Northcroft (New Zealand)
* Jay Garrett as Edward Stuart McDougall (Canada)
* Michaël Girault as Henri Bernard (France)
* Klaas-Jan Rakhorst as Professor Bert Röling (Netherlands)
* Vincent Clarke as Lord Patrick (United Kingdom)
* Evan Cunningham as John P. Higgins (United States)
* Lewis Campbell as Myron C. Cramer (United States)
* Ed Philip McDamot as Joseph B. Keenan
* Timothy Johnston as Alan Mansfield
* Sean Frazer as Henry Nolan
* Sun Chun as Hsiang Che-chun
* Wil Kalenkamp as W.G. Frederick Borgerhoff-Mulder
* Jeremiah Mayer as Ronald Henry Quilliam
* Jaiden Dallin Abdul Baylosis as Pedro Lopez
* Jeffery Franks as Arthur Strettell Comyns Carr
* Gubanov Vyacheslav as Sergey Aleksandrovich Golunsky
* Flynn Carlson as Ben Bruce Blakeney
* Billy Lawson as Brigadier General Bonner Fellers
* Chen Heng as Puyi
* Narrator: Eiji Okada

## Staffs

* Producer: Minoru Yamanashi
* Executive Producer: Mitsugi Ōkura
* Planner: Motohiko Ito
* Story Developer: Mihiro Takenaka
* Director: Kiyoshi Komori
* Screenwriter: Kennosuke Tateoka
* Cinematographer: Kagai Okado
* Music Composer: Hideo Ozawa
* Production Designer: Seiichi Toriizuka
* Lighting Technician: Jiro Sekikawa
* Photographer: Kihachiro Nakai

## See also

* Emperor & Empress Meiji and the Sino-Japanese War (天皇・皇后と日清戦争, 1958)
* Emperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War (明治天皇と日露大戦争, 1957)
* The Battle of Port Arthur (二百三高地, 1980)
* Battle of the Japan Sea (日本海大海戦, 1969)