[Home Movies of Japan: New Year’s Day; Repatriation of Japanese Soldiers; Hiroshima and More / circa 1948 – 1949]

Maker Mitsuoka, Norio

Dateca. 1948-1949

Mediumfilm, metal

DimensionsFilm Format: 8.00 mm

ClassificationsMoving Images

Credit LineGift of Norio Mitsuoka

Object number95.54.3

DescriptionA mix of color and black & white home movie footage filmed in Japan by Norio Mitsuoka, circa 1948 to 1949. Footage includes scenes from a New Year’s Day gathering at the park, a cemetery, double exposures of the ocean, lake and city landscapes, repatriation of Japanese soldiers, and landscape shots of Hiroshima.

Timecode list:
0:31 – Color footage of a giant Japanese flag is posted in front of a building on a busy street. People walking in a courtyard. A view of a city from across the river.
1:02 – A statue of a samurai on horseback sits in the middle of a park in Japan. Women wear kimonos and men wear coats as they walk around the park and take pictures.
1:29 – Two Caucasian men in military uniform, one holding a rifle
1:58 – Japanese child in kimono
2:05 – Two Japanese girls in kimono, posing for a picture taken by a Caucasian woman
2:16 – A Japanese man in police uniform standing in a police box by a busy bridge, the police box labeled “Iwaidacho Police Box”
3:42 – Two Japanese girls in kimono, holding hands
3:45 – Two Japanese women in kimono, one in red and one in green and white, pose for pictures taken by the same Caucasian woman and a Caucasian man in a green coat and hat
3:52 – Four Japanese women in kimono, posing for pictures taken by three men in military uniform and a woman in a red coat
4:06 – Four Japanese women in kimono, one wearing a coat, walk down a city street adjacent to a river
4:17 – Black and white footage of a cemetery
4:25 – Three young men are raking up dead leaves in a field
5:12 – Color, double exposure footage of the ocean and city landscapes
5:25 – Protestors on the street layered with fishermen on a boat
5:47 – Vintage Japanese embroidery of samurai, superimposed over footage of the beach
6:55 – Old Japanese fortunes and embroidery superimposed on city landscapes
7:18 – Wood carvings of faces superimposed on shots of buildings and nature
7:24 – Double exposure footage of young men at a park, and a man catching an eel in the creek
7:37 – Japanese Buddha statue superimposed on young Japanese adults and children gathered around a lake
8:37 – Double exposure footage of the beach, people rowing in boats, construction of a house, a young man in military uniform taking off his boots by the river
9:26 – At a lake, an engine-powered boat pulls into a dock. A Japanese man in uniform joins a group of other Japanese young adults.
9:41 – The boat passes by a big cargo ship, named the Eitoku Maru, from Tokyo
9:53 – The boat passes by two other big ships, possibly a cruise ship (?)
10:14 – Residential homes and a small island passes them in the lake
10:20 – A sunken ship in the middle of the lake, possibly a battleship
10:32 – A giant ship is half beached on land, draining out water
10:36 – Young men and women in white uniforms and small red crosses on their caps (nurses?) go fishing in the lake on their boat
10:50 – A young Japanese man in a white uniform waves at a ship (Meiyu Maru) with a red and white flag. The passengers on the Meiyu Maru wave at the camera.
11:19 – A large group of young Japanese men in military uniform line up on the ship. They await a small boat that comes to pick them up. Groups of men line up to board the boat, and they wave goodbye to the other men who remain on the bigger ship (Esan Maru).
14:18 – The group of men on the smaller boat get taken to a dock where young Japanese nurses wave them over with white handkerchiefs.
16:56 – A few of the nurses lead the men off the dock
15:53 – The men in uniform file into a large field.
18:58 – The men, now shirtless, line up and get vaccines from nurses and fumigated by workers standing on benches
19:24 – Large group of men in uniform gather outside a building, and via a line, make their way out of the field, holding their bags
19:47 – Black and white footage of a city street, where an older Japanese woman and a group of older men (all around middle aged) meet each other and mingle
22:12 – Black and white landscape shots of Hiroshima, including the Hiroshima Peace Memorial

8mm film on 7" diameter metal spool, full. In a light brown met meal case and spool. White tape on metal cover with blue ink inscription. 1" white paper lable above the tape with notation "4 of 5" with red printed numbers on top.