HOME MOVIES: OCCUPIED JAPAN

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1960s

Format: 16mm

Description: One of a series of extraordinary home movies shot in Occupied Japan immediately after WWII, this film shows a visit to the Kegon Waterfall, scenery at Lake Chūzenji, and the Grand Courtship Toshugo Nikko Festival festival. The man who filmed these was a Harvard graduate ('43) and U.S. Army Intelligence Officer named Robert Ryan. Ryan may have very well worked for the OSS, although it's not clear. He definitely worked as an instructor at the U.S. Army's AFFE Intelligence School, and toured Vietnam in the early 1960s to conduct strategic vulnerability surveys. These films dates to the period July 1947-May 1951, when Ryan served in the Department of Defense in the Geographic Branch, Theater Intelligence Division, Far East Command. During this time he served in Occupied Japan and in the Korean theater. (The date of this film is approximately 1949 -- but could be as late as 1951.) The film begins with b&w images of a tour guide waving a flag to a group of tourists. They are visiting a temple complex, probably the Toshogu Shrine, a magnificent memorial in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. This is a memorial to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868. At (:48), a sign in English and Japanese at the Kegon Waterfall. This feature is located at Lake Chūzenji in Nikkō National Park near the city of Nikkō. The falls is seen at (1:37) and following. At (2:05) small boats are seen, most likely on Lake Chūzenji. At (2:56) a luxury automobile with three Anglo occupants slogs through deep mud on a dirt road. At (2:50), POV shots from a boat on the lake. At (4:56), another waterfall is shown, possibly the lower area of the Kegon Gorge. At (6:02), additional shots of Kegon Waterfall. At (6:32), b&w footage of what appear to be American cars on a dirt road. At (7:06) they cross a bridge in the countryside. At (7:32), a festival is shown. This is probably the Grand Courtship Toshugo Nikko Festival, held on 17 & 18 May every year in honour of the Tokugawa clan, under whose 260-year rule Japan’s culture flourished. At (7:42) a dragon moves through the festival, followed by a procession of Samurai (8:04).

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