Japanese Chronicles (1943)

Plot Summary

The film begins with a number indicating that the number of volunteers for the army increased sharply from 1938 to 1940 (by 35 times) after the National Mobilization Law was promulgated in 1938. It shows scenes of the volunteers in a boot camp such as close-order drill, bayonet drill, and guerrilla training. The boot-camp scenes reveal the frantic urgency of the wartime system in the early days of the Pacific War that literally 'mobilized' all human and material resources. After the volunteers are summoned to boot camp in the morning, they all pay their respects toward the Japan's Ise Grand Shrine across the sea. It once again reminds us of the sorrow of losing one’s own country to invaders. Acquired in 1994.

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