- Our Job in Japan
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Our Job in Japan was a United States military training film made in 1945, shortly after World War II. It is the companion to the more famous Your Job In Germany. The film was aimed at American troops about to go to Japan to participate in the 1945-1952 Allied Occupation, and presents the problem of turning the militarist state into a peaceful democracy. The film focused on the Japanese military officials who had used the traditional religion of Shinto, as well as the educational system, to take over power, control the populace, and wage aggressive war.
No personal credits are given by the titles for Our Job in Japan. Theodor S. Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, wrote the film, and Elmo Williams edited it. Both men were working as part of a military film production unit headed by Frank Capra.[1][2]
At the time, the film was considered sympathetic to the Japanese, and its distribution was apparently suppressed by Douglas MacArthur in his capacity as the overall commander of the Allied forces occupying Japan. A detailed discussion of the film has been given by John W. Dower in his book, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II.[3]
Our Job in Japan was the basis for the longer, commercially released film Design for Death (1947).
References
- ^ Williams, Elmo (2006). Elmo Williams: A Hollywood Memoir. McFarland. pp. 68–70. ISBN 0786426217. http://books.google.com/books?id=Fk832KXUp9gC&pg=PA70.
- ^ Morgan, Judith; Morgan, Neil (1995). Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel. Random House. pp. 119–120. ISBN 0679416862.
- ^ Dower, John W. (1999). Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. W. W. Norton. pp. 214–217. ISBN 0393320278. http://books.google.com/books?id=hae0dC_NaiUC&pg=PA214.
See also
External links
- The short film Our Job in Japan (1945) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Complete film at Movieflix
- Complete film at Real Military Flix
- Complete film at Google Video; poor resolution.
Categories:- 1945 films
- American World War II propaganda films
- United States Department of War
- Screenplays by Dr. Seuss
- World War II stubs
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