Japan's Longest Day (Japanese: 日本のいちばん長い日, Hepburn: Nippon no ichiban nagai hi) is a 1967 Japanese epic war film directed by Kihachi Okamoto. The subject of the majority of the movie is the period between noon on August 14, 1945, and noon on August 15, 1945, when Emperor Hirohito's decision to surrender to the Allies in World War II was broadcast to the Japanese people, and the attempted coup d'état to prevent that from happening. Film historian Joseph L. Anderson describes the film as "a meticulous reconstruction of the day Japan surrendered and thus ended the Pacific War".
Cast[]
- Seiji Miyaguchi - Foreign Minister Shigenori Tōgō
- Rokkô Toura - Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Shunichi Matsumoto
- Chishû Ryû - Prime Minister Baron Kantarō Suzuki
- Sô Yamamura - Navy Minister Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai
- Toshirô Mifune - War Minister General Korechika Anami
- Yoshio Kosugi - Minister of Public Welfare Keisuke Okada
- Takashi Shimura - Information Bureau Director Hiroshi Shimomura
- Etsushi Takahashi - Lt. Colonel Masutaka Ida, Military Affairs Section
- Takao Inoue - Lt. Colonel Masahiko Takeshita, Military Affairs Section
- Tadao Nakamaru - Lt. Colonel Jiro Shiizaki, Military Affairs Section
- Toshio Kurosawa - Major Kenji Hatanaka, Military Affairs Section
- Akira Kitchôji - General Yoshijirō Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff
- Haruo Yamada - Admiral Soemu Toyoda, Chief of the Naval General Staff
- Ryôsuke Kagawa - Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Tadaatsu Ishiguro
- Ushio Akashi - President of the Privy Council Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma
- Isao Tamagawa - Colonel Okitsugu Arao, Chief of Military Affairs Section
- Hiroshi Nihon'yanagi - Admiral Takijiro Onishi, Vice-Chief of the Naval General Staff
- Tôru Takeuchi - Naval Surgeon Kobayashi
- Takeshi Katô - Cabinet Chief Secretary Hisatsune Sakomizu
- Kyûzô Kawabe - Michio Kihara, Assistant to Sakomizu
- Tatsuyoshi Ehara - Nobumasa Kawamoto, Private Secretary to Shimomura
- Kazuko Iida - Minister for Foreign Affairs Teijirō Toyoda
- Shiro Kida
- Shiyuki Tanaka
- Keisuke Yamada
- Kôji Mitsui - Old Journalist
- Yoshio Tsuchiya - Lieutenant Colonel Hiroshi Fuha, Eastern District Army Staff Officer
- Shôgo Shimada - Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori, CO 1st Imperial Guards Division
- Gorô Morino - Hachiro Ohashi, NHK Chairman
- Yasuhisa Tsutsumi
- Minoru Takada - Vice Admiral Zenshiro Hoshina, Director of the Naval Affairs Bureau
- Daisuke Katô - Kenjiro Yabe, NHK Domestic Bureau Director
- Shigeki Ishida - Daitaro Arakawa, NHK Technical Bureau Director
- Jun Tazaki - Captain Yasuna Kozono, CO 302nd Air Group
- Akihiko Hirata - Commander Sugahara, 302nd Air Group
- Sachio Sakai - Atsugi Air Base Crew Chief
- Nobuo Nakamura - Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Marquis Koichi Kido
- Shin Tatsuoka - Imperial Household Minister Sotaro Ishiwata (as Susumu Tatsuoka)
- Ryûji Kita - General Shigeru Hasunuma, Chief Military Aide to the Emperor
- Akiji Nomura - Major Nakamura
- Yû Fujiki - Colonel Seike, Military Aide to the Emperor
- Kazuo Kitamura - Tomoo Sato, Cabinet General Affairs Section Chief
- Fuyuki Murakami - Minister of Justice Hiromasa Matsuzaka
- Hyô Kitazawa - Minister of Finance Hosaku Hirose
- Masao Imafuku - Marshal Shunroku Hata
- Hideyo Amamoto - Captain Takeo Sasaki
- Shigeru Kôyama - Susumu Kato, Imperial Household General Affairs Section
- Jun Hamamura - Motohike Kakei, Imperial Household General Affairs Section Chief
- Kaku Oze - Lt. General Tadakazu Wakamatsu, Vice-Minister for War
- Makoto Satô - Major Hidemasa Koga, 1st Imperial Guards Division
- Akira Kubo - Major Sadakichi Ishihara, 1st Imperial Guards Division
- Naoya Kusakawa - Shunichi Nagatomo, NHK Engineer
- Masao Akitsuki
- Seiichirô Nomura
- Hiroo Kirino
- Yasuo Araki
- Kenjirô Ishiyama - General Shizuichi Tanaka, C-in-C Eastern District Army
- Keikichi Taki - Colonel Tsukamoto, Tanaka's Adjutant
- Susumu Fujita - Colonel Toyojiro Haga, CO Imperial Guards 2nd Infantry Regiment
- Hiroshi Tanaka - Major Kobayashi
- Yutaka Sada - Keisaku Sano
- Tadayoshi Ueda - Komonta Sano
- Hiroyuki Katsube - Lt. Colonel Michinori Shiraishi, General Mori's Brother-in-Law
- Yûnosuke Itô - Major General Toshio Nonaka, CO 27th Air Brigade
- Hiroshi Hasegawa
- Hirayoshi Aono - Grand Chamberlain Hisanori Fujita
- Kiyoshi Kodama - Chamberlain Yasuhide Toda
- Torahiko Hamada - Chamberlain Yasuya Mitsui
- Tadashi Fukuro - Chamberlain Sukemasa Irie
- Keiju Kobayashi - Chamberlain Yoshihiro Tokugawa
- Ichirô Nakatani - First Lieutenant Kuroda
- Tadasaburo Wakayama - Colonel Kazuo Mizutani, Chief of Staff to General Mori
- Ren Yamamoto - Corporal
- Yutaka Nakayama
- Kanta Mori - Major General Tatsuhiko Takashima, Chief of Staff Eastern District Army
- Tôru Ibuki - Lt. Colonel Toru Itagaki, Eastern District Army Staff Officer
- Seishirô Kuno - Battalion Commander
- Yasuzô Ogawa - Policeman
- Yoshifumi Tajima - Colonel Watanabe, CO Imperial Guards 1st Infantry Regiment
- Yûzô Kayama - Morio Tateno, NHK Broadcaster
- Michiyo Aratama - Yuriko Hara
- Akio Miyabe - Colonel Katsuhiko Inadome, Eastern District Army Staff Officer
- Ginzô Sekiguchi - Chamberlain Okabe
- Yû Sekita - Staff Kamino
- Hisashi Igawa - Kempeitai Lieutenant
- Hiroshi Koizumi - Nobukata Wada, NHK Broadcaster
- Hakuô Matsumoto - Emperor Hirohito (as Kôshirô Matsumoto)
- Tatsuya Nakadai - Himself as the narrator (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
- So Iwatani - Marshal Hajime Sugiyama (uncredited)
- Shigeo Katô
- Junnosuke Suda - Takeji Takahashi (uncredited)