Japan's Longest Day
, also known as The Emperor and the General, is a 1967 Japanese war film directed by Kihachi Okamoto. The subject of the majority of the movie is the period between noon on August 14, 1945, when Emperor Hirohito made the decision to surrender to the Allies in World War II and noon on August 15, 1945, when the emperor's recorded message announcing the surrender was broadcast to the Japanese people. Film historian Joseph L. Anderson describes the film as "a meticulous reconstruction of the day Japan surrendered and thus ended the Pacific War. Cast. Several  of Japan's best known actors of the day participated in the film. 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. "Japan's Longest Day" portrays the actual people who were able to remain above the fighting, but did fight with each other, while "The Human Bullet" is a satire of those who did have to fight in  the war. Release. "Japan's Longest Day" was released in Japan on August 12, 1967, close to the anniversary of the surrender. This started a trend of releasing World War II films on the anniversary, which included Okamoto's 1971 film "The Battle of Okinawa". It became the second highest grossing film in Japan in 1967. Shinobu Hashimoto won the Kinema Junpo Award for best screenplay for this movie. The film was re-released theatrically in Japan on November 21, 1982 as part of Toho's 50th anniversary. A remake of "Japan's Longest Day", identically titled in Japanese but  released in English under the title "The Emperor in August", was issued in 2015 by Shochiku, directed by Masato Harada.