Original subtitles

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: \hFor over 60 years, Tokyo has been the world’s largest city.

\h\h\h\hToday, its gigantic metropolitan area is home to

more than 36 million people.

The already overpopulated expanse is still rising.

\h\h\h\hSome observers believe that Japan’s resolutely global

\h\h\hcapital city, embracing the avant-garde, embodies the future

\h\h\h\hof our urbanized, technological societies.

\h\hYet, only 150 years ago, Tokyo was still Edo: a sprawl

\hof wooden dwellings with a population of 1 million,

the seat of power for the Shogun ruler and his samurai knights.

The city’s spectacular \hexpansion accompanied

the rise of modern Japan...

but seems to have obliterated \h\hall memories of the past.

♪ ♪

\hThese rare photographs capture a pivotal moment

\hin Japan’s history... the era when Edo became Tokyo.

\h\hFor over two centuries, Edo, Japan, had flourished,

intentionally isolated, ruled by feudal lords.

\h\h\hForeign contact was limited to two countries,

China and Holland.

\h\h\hSuddenly, in the mid-19th century, the

great colonial empires forced \hJapan to open its seaports

\h\hto international trade and exchanges.

\hThe supporters of Emperor Meiji adopted a new credo:

Japan had to be modeled on the Western nations,

\h\h\hlike Britain, France and the U.S.,

to maintain its independence.

In 1868, the emperor moved his government from Kyoto to Edo,

\h\h\hrenamed "Tokyo," the "eastern capital."

Tokyo’s calling was to both drive and display

\h\hthe development of a modern Japan,

capable of confronting the great Western nations as a peer.

\h\h\hThirty years later, the first motion pictures of Tokyo

were made by Western visitors.

\h\h\h\h\hSamurais slung with swords, who worried the Edo’s

\hfirst foreign visitors, no longer strolled the streets.

The government had revoked their right to carry weapons openly.

\h\hDuring this time the most common means of transportation

was the rickshaw.

These carts were invented in Japan three decades earlier.

Newly built roads and bridges,

\h\h\hone of the first signs of modernization,

\h\hcontributed to their development.

\h\h\hThe first Western mode of transportation

\h\h\hto appear in the city were streetcars.

\h\hHere, they are still horse-drawn.

\h\h\hThe lines would later be electrified.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThese are traditional wooden buildings,

typical of the Edo period,

\hstill lining the sides of the city’s many waterways.

\h\h\hTokyo’s fish market, feeding the whole capital,

operated from these wharves.

\h\h\h\h\h\hForty years had passed since Japan decided

to take a running jump into the modern world,

\h\h\hand many things had already changed:

The official slogan of these \htimes was "Fukoku Kyohei,"

\h\h"Enrich the state, strengthen the army."

When Japan adopted Western techniques

\h\h\h\h\h\hit launched the development of its industry

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand the modernization of its army,

consulting with French, British,

Prussian, and American advisers.

It began to build a colonial empire.

♪ ♪

\hIn 1895, victory over China positioned Japan

\h\h\h\has the new military superpower of the Far East.

\h\hJapan captured the island of Formosa -- today’s Taiwan.

\h\h\h\h\hIn the ensuing ten years, Japan doubled the size

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof its armies and rapidly built more battleships.

In February 1904, Japan declared war on the Russian Empire.

\h\hAfter more than a year of especially grim combat,

Japan triumphed, to everyone’s surprise.

\h\h\hIt was the first time a European power

had lost a war to an Asian country.

The Empire of Japan established a protectorate in Korea

\h\h\h\h\hand gained control over the Liaodong Peninsula

\h\hand half of the island of Sakhalin.

\h\h\hIn 1914, as an ally of the United Kingdom, it easily

captured German possessions \hin China and the Pacific.

By 1919, Japan was invited \hto the negotiating table

\h\h\h\has one of the five great victors --

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe only non-Western nation there.

♪ ♪

\h\hGinza Dori was the first Tokyo boulevard

\h\hto adopt a Western style of architecture.

It has played a starring role in

\hspreading foreign cultures in Japan, and is still today

a showcase shopping area for international luxury brands.

\hOrange trolleys, now electrically powered,

\h\h\htrundled along the major downtown arteries.

\hThey had supplanted the rickshaw as rapid transit.

\h\h\h\hNew metal bridges, based on European models,

span the Sumida River,

underscoring the productivity \h\hof Japanese steel mills.

\h\hThe fish market is unrecognizable.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe docks and wharves have been widened,

and three-story warehouses, \h\h\hpainted bright white,

have appeared on the waterfront.

The massive modernization \h\h\heffort also spawned

a new business district, \hwhere office buildings

\h\hsprang up to house growing corporations.

\hToday, Marunouchi is the heart of Japanese banking.

Back in 1920, its new red brick façades earned it the nickname

"Little London."

The most emblematic of these structures

\his the famed Tokyo train station, completed in 1914.

The development of railways,

\hwith the help of British engineers,

\h\h\h\hwas at the center of Japan’s modernization effort.

\hBy 1917, a 5,000-mile rail system was already operating.

\hUeno Park is the home of a beloved sculpture

\h\h\h\hillustrating the strong attachment to traditional values

\hthat accompanied Japan’s leap into the modern world.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h"The last samurai," Takamori Saigo,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwas a fervent partisan of Emperor Meiji.

The posh downtown neighborhoods

\hwere not the only ones to show signs of rapid change.

\h\h\h\h\hThe Tokyo of the masses was also evolving.

Asakusa was a shopping area

\h\halready flourishing during the Edo period.

Urban renovation created a new street: Asakusa Rokku,

\h\h\h\ha theater district, which instantly drew crowds.

It was Tokyo’s Broadway.

\h\h\h\hSince 1890, Asakusa boasted modern Tokyo’s first

Western-style spire, the Ryounkaku Tower,

\h\h\h\hwhose name means "Surpassing the Clouds."

Designed by a Scottish engineer,

\h\h\h\h\h\hit was then the capital’s tallest building.

\h\h\h\h\hIt quickly became the city’s most popular attraction.

\h\hSix floors were occupied by stores

\hselling goods imported from all over the world.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe new 360-degree terrace offered

a massive overview of the city.

\h\h\hBarely 55 years after the end of the Edo period,

\hthe first aerial footage of Tokyo was shot in 1923.

The city had been transformed into a huge modern metropolis.

\h\h\h\h\hIts population of 1 million had more than doubled,

to 2.2 million people.

But Tokyo still lagged behind

\hthe great Western cities of its time.

London was the world’s largest, with 7.5 million inhabitants.

\hNew York was booming, with 5 million people.

Paris’s population stood at 3 million.

\h\hBut Tokyo was catching up quickly with its modernization

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwhen its development was abruptly halted

by a horrific disaster.

\h\h\h\h\hOn September 1st, 1923, Tokyo was devastated

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hby an unusually violent natural catastrophe:

the Great Kanto Earthquake.

At 11:58 AM, the first tremor, \hmeasuring 7.9 in magnitude,

wrought havoc downtown, causing the first wave of casualties.

\h\h\hA few minutes later, it was followed by a strong aftershock.

Total chaos was unleashed

\h\h\h\hwhen the ground shook for a third time.

\hOne hundred and thirty of the wooden houses of the lower city

\h\h\h\hwere ablaze in less than half an hour,

\h\h\h\hmainly due to the lunchtime cooking fires.

\hHigh winds from a typhoon that had just hit Tokyo Bay

fanned the flames.

Half of Tokyo was burning.

\h\h\hFor the inhabitants trapped in the firestorm,

it was utter horror.

[alarm bells ringing]

By late afternoon that day, the city was in total panic.

\h\h\h\h\h\hHundreds of thousands of Tokyoites

\h\h\h\hwere trying to flee to safety, by any means possible.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAll the fire hydrants had been destroyed,

so It took two whole days to get the fires under control.

\hNothing could be done to save the historical center of Tokyo.

It was entirely destroyed.

\hThe evidence of the last three centuries of history

went up in smoke.

The death toll was appalling.

In three days and two nights,

\h\h\h\hover 105,000 lives were wiped out.

Most people were killed by fire.

\h\h\h\hNearly all of the buildings that symbolized

\h\h\hthe 50-year push towards modernization had been leveled.

The city was in ruins.

\hIn 1923, nearly half of the dwellings in Tokyo were gone.

\h\h\h\h\hThe Great Kanto Earthquake caused damage

on such a huge scale

\h\hthat even today, it is a traumatic memory.

Tokyo still lives in fear of an enormous earthquake

\h\h\hthat could, once again, level the city.

One-point-four million of the city’s 2.2 million inhabitants

were homeless.

\h\h\h\hUeno Park became the city’s largest refugee camp,

\h\h\h\hhousing a half million people who had lost everything.

\hTo overcome, it would take fortitude, order and unity.

\h\hAnother mammoth struggle had begun for the Tokyoites,

\h\h\h\h\h\honly 50 years after the city had raced

to win a place in the modern world.

\h\h\h\hWith nearly all of the urban infrastructure destroyed,

everything was in short supply:

water, food, clothing, shelter, and latrines.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe army was a valuable source of manpower,

\herecting temporary dwellings, rebuilding transportation lines,

\h\h\h\h\h\hand clearing away rubble and unsafe structures.

[explosions]

[explosions]

\h\hBut most of the labor was supplied

by the residents of Tokyo.

\h\h\hOver half a million people simply returned to

their property and camped there, in improvised structures...

until they could rebuild homes,

\h\hoften identical to the ones they had lost.

The Tokyo of this time was a vast shantytown.

\hBut these images show the pragmatism

and resilience of its people.

NARRATOR: The death in 1926 of Emperor Taisho

marked the end of an era for Japan.

\h\hIn Tokyo, hundreds of thousands of people

from throughout the country \hlined the mile-long route

of the funeral motorcade, paying their respects in silence.

\hBut the event was also an opportunity

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto symbolically reassert Japan’s determination

to press on towards its goal of renewal,

despite the ordeal.

\h\h\h\hWhen Emperor Taisho’s son Hirohito ascended to the throne,

a new period began for Japan.

He was the first Japanese prince

to have spent six months in Europe.

For seven years, he had already been the regent of an empire

\h\h\hthe world’s third largest naval power and

one of four permanent members \h\hof the League of Nations.

But Tokyo still lagged behind

\hthe great Western cities of its time.

♪ ♪

\h\h\hOnly seven years after the great Kanto earthquake,

\h\h\hTokyo’s reconstruction, carried out largely thanks to

\h\hthe development of credit, was complete.

\hNew avenues, adapted to automobile traffic,

crisscrossed the capital.

The new Tokyo emphatically \h\h\h\hasserted its status

as a big, modern, 20th century city.

\h\h\h\hThe entire time, Ginza and downtown Tokyo

adopted Yankee ways.

\h\h\hIts streets looked more and more like those

of its Western models,

\h\h\h\h\hwith the addition of hundreds of new cabs and cars.

Some of the structures

that have become emblematic \h\h\hof Tokyo had appeared.

They are still visible today,

\h\h\hparticularly the bridges over the Sumida

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat had been destroyed by the earthquake.

\h\h\h\h\hEitai Bridge was rebuilt in steel in 1926.

Kiyosu Bridge was built in 1928.

\h\h\h\h\hIt is a copy of a bridge in Cologne, Germany.

Tokyo’s main train station, \h\hmiraculously preserved,

was restored.

\h\h\hThe Kabuki-za Theater was rebuilt in reinforced concrete,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hsheathed in traditional wooden trim.

\h\h\hEven today, it is the most famous kabuki theater in Tokyo.

A newly reconstructed Ginza

\h\h\h\h\h\hwas again serving to showcase Tokyo’s modernization.

\h\h\h\h\h\hStyle and fashion became increasingly important.

\h\h\hJapanese women looked to liberated, provocative flappers

for a new image.

\h\h\h\hSome of them relegated the kimono

to the backs of their closets, \h\h\hadopting Western dress.

They were nicknamed "Mogas,"

\h\h\h\han abbreviation for the epithet "Modern Girl,"

translated into Japanese.

Japanese nationalism fed upon the economic difficulties that

had followed in the aftermath of the Great Depression of 1929.

But the rapid Westernization was accompanied by the development

\h\h\h\hof a hostile, warlike trend within Japanese society.

\hYoung officers, accusing legislators of corruption,

called for the expansion \hof the Japanese empire.

\h\h\h\hColonial conquest would help Japan overcome the crisis.

\h\h\h\hIn 1931, Japanese army officers who had been stationed

in southern Manchuria since the war with Russia in 1905

had staged a sham attack.

\hIt was an excuse for a swift invasion of China.

[gunfire]

\hThree Chinese provinces fell into Japanese hands,

almost without a battle.

\h\h\hThe territory was named Manchukuo,

"The Great Manchu State."

\h\hIt immediately seceded from China,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto be ruled by an emperor chosen by the Japanese.

\hMost countries refused to recognize the puppet state.

The League of Nations declared \hit was still part of China.

\h\h\h\h\hAs a result, Japan decided to resign

from the organization in 1933.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHowever, Mussolini’s fascist Italy

did recognize Manchukuo in 1936.

\h\h\hThat same year, there was a coup attempt in Tokyo.

\hIt is remembered in Japan as the February 26 Incident.

Radical young officers took over the government offices

in the center of town and shot \hseveral leading politicians.

\h\h\h\h\h\hThe rebels claimed that their goal

\h\hwas to restore the Emperor’s omnipotence.

\h\hBut Hirohito himself called for the repression of the coup.

Two officers committed suicide.

\h\h\h\hSeventeen others were tried and executed.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hSeventy were sentenced to imprisonment.

\h\hBut the neon lights still sparkled in Ginza, advertising

the country’s enthusiasm \hfor all things Western,

\h\h\h\hdespite the looming shadow of totalitarianism.

Pressure from hawkish elements,

agitating for a war of conquest against China, was growing.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hGovernment propaganda fanned the fires

of Sino-Japanese hostility.

\h\h\h\hThis film was shot in 1937, in a Tokyo kindergarten.

\h\h\hWearing paper gas masks, the children act out an attack

\h\hon a cardboard pagoda -- clearly symbolizing Nanking,

the capital of China.

♪ ♪

Militaristic elements prevailed within Japanese society.

Tensions with China were rising.

\h\h\hThey would soon lead to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

\h\h\h\hThe United Kingdom, France and the United States

warned of reprisals.

\hOthers, however, were discovering the country

as a potential new ally.

♪ ♪

\hIn this film, Nazi Germany heaps praise

\h\h\h\h\hupon Japan’s imperialist ambitions.

"Japan: Engine of the Far East.

\hFor a long time now, these islands have been too small

\hfor their people. Japan must expand."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe year it was screened for the first time,

\h\hGermany recognized the state of Manchukuo

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand cut diplomatic ties with China.

\h\h\h\h\hTrains loaded with Japanese soldiers

\h\h\hleft Tokyo for the Chinese front, cheered on by the crowd.

In early August, the Japanese army took Peking and Tianjin.

Shanghai fell in November,

after three months of deadly bombing.

\h\h\hBetween December 1937 and January 1938,

\h\h\h\hthe Japanese marched on Nanking, where they perpetrated

\h\hone of the most horrible massacres in modern history,

\h\h\hkilling between 40 and 300 thousand people.

But a stalemate soon ensued.

\h\h\h\h\hDespite its military superiority, the Japanese Army

proved incapable of controlling

the immense lands it had conquered.

\hThen the ashes of the first Japanese soldiers

\hto die on Chinese soil began to return to Tokyo.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In 1938, the National Mobilization Law was decreed.

Each act in the daily life of a Tokyoite became an extension

\h\h\h\hof the war effort, as shown in this propaganda film.

\hJAPANESE AUDIO (translated): Japan lacks natural resources, \h\h\h\hso we have to secure

the resources needed to make the nation strong.

Waste recycling is a source of materials.

Please carry tin cans and other scrap metal

to the collection points.

\h\hThey will be transformed into a valuable raw material.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: That year, the inhabitants of Tokyo formed long lines

\h\h\h\h\h\hto dispose of their metals, in order to participate

in Japan’s victory and the prosperity it would bring.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hSendoff ceremonies for the soldiers

\hbegan to increase at a frenetic pace.

\h\hWomen wore somber robes over their colorful kimonos.

\h\h\h\h\h\hSoon, the new air defense law imposed blackouts.

\h\hUltimately, the war would deprive Tokyoites of the event

\hthat was supposed to symbolize their success

in the eyes of the world:

JAPANESE AUDIO (translated): \h\h\h\h\hWith great regret, \hthe government announces

\h\h\h\h\hits decision to cancel the Olympic Games.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: \hFunding was re-allocated to the war effort in China.

\h\hIn 1940, instead of the scheduled Olympics,

the people of Tokyo were treated to a gigantic military parade.

Officially, the occasion was

the 2,600th anniversary \hof Japan’s founding.

\h\hPropaganda now embraced the theme of the superiority

\h\h\hof the Japanese race, entitling it to rule Asia.

\hThat same year, Japan signed the Berlin Pact

with the Axis powers: Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

\h\hFrom the end of 1940 to July 1941,

\h\h\hJapanese troops gradually encroached on French Indochina.

\hUS president Roosevelt demanded Japan withdraw,

\h\hand slapped an embargo on oil exports to Japan --

\h\hwhich had no oil deposits of its own.

\h\hOn the morning of December 8th, 1941, the people of Tokyo

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hheard how the Imperial General Headquarters

\h\hhad chosen to respond to the American embargo.

\hJAPANESE RADIO (translated): In this official announcement, \hthe imperial army and navy,

early this morning, on December 8th, entered into combat.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: \h\h\hThe Japanese Air Force and Navy launched a surprise attack

\h\h\h\hon the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific...

an act that forced the United \h\hStates into World War II.

\h\h\h\hBack in Japan, the nation mobilized.

\hJapanese air-raid defense doctrine required civilians

to serve as firefighters...

medical rescuers...

\h\h\hand to prepare for chemical weapon attacks.

\hAir-raid shelters were dug into the sidewalks of Ginza,

\h\h\h\h\hwhere months earlier style-conscious Japanese women

strutted their Western finery.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\hWithin six months, the superiority

of US military strength became \hevident to Japan’s generals.

But ordinary citizens were kept in the dark

about the war’s realities.

In 1943, while popular fervor

\h\hwas being stoked by patriotic ceremonies...

\h\h...the country was pounded by a series of painful defeats

in the Pacific islands.

Due to heavy combat losses,

\h\h\hall the country’s youth are now pressed into service.

This film, from October 1943,

\h\h\his entitled "Student Mobilization," focusing on

\h\h\h\h\h\ha ceremony for young soldiers heading off to battle.

JAPANESE AUDIO (translated): We do not expect to return alive.

We simply hope to honor our debt to the Emperor

for his infinite kindness.

[crowd singing]

\hJAPANESE AUDIO (translated): Long live the Emperor! Banzai!

[crowd echoes the cry]

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: \hThe Americans had recaptured the Pacific islands one by one.

Now their bombers were within range of Japan.

\hStarting in November 1944, air raids on Tokyo became a reality.

The night of March 9th to 10th, 1945,

\h\h\h\hwas one of the most horrific in Tokyo’s history.

\h\h\hIn a matter of hours, 334 B-29s dropped 1,700 tons

\hof incendiary bombs, an early version of napalm.

\hThey leveled more than half of Tokyo’s old city,

\h\h\hkilling over 100,000 people in a single night.

\h\h\hIn the daylight, the toll was shocking.

\hJust 22 years after its first destruction, the heart of Tokyo

\h\hwas again reduced to ashes, and its population annihilated.

\h\h\hThe city was bombed periodically for months.

\h\h\h\h\h\hIn all, over 115,000 people perished in the attacks.

\h\h\hYet Japan still refused to surrender.

\hOn August 6th, 1945, the Americans dropped

the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

On the morning of August 9th,

\hthe Soviets began to invade Manchuria.

\hThe same day, another atomic bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki.

\hOn August 15th, 1945, all over Tokyo, amid the ruins,

people listened to the Emperor’s announcement

\h\hover the radio that Japan had surrendered.

JAPANESE RADIO (translated): \h\h\h\h\h\h\hBy enduring the \hunendurable and suffering

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwhat is insufferable, we have resolved

\hto pave the way for a grand peace

\h\h\h\hfor all the generations to come.

\h\hNARRATOR: For Tokyo, a terrible cycle was ending,

and its people were overwhelmed by feelings of humiliation.

\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd once again, they would be rebuilding their city.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: August 30th, 1945, only 24 days after Hiroshima,

General Douglas MacArthur,

\h\hSupreme Commander for the Allied Powers in the Pacific,

arrived in Japan to serve as the military governor.

Based in Tokyo, MacArthur was to

\h\h\h\hdemilitarize and democratize the country.

The United States was now determined

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto wipe out communism in the region.

\h\h\h\h\h\hWith the Soviet Union presenting a threat,

\hJapan would become a valuable ally in US strategy and policy.

\h\h\h\h\h[♪ United States national anthem playing ♪]

MacArthur tried to spur the country’s reconstruction --

\h\h\hand the redevelopment of its national economy --

based on the capitalist model.

But he faced a daunting task.

Japan was in a state of wretched poverty.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTemporary housing was constructed

to shelter Tokyo’s inhabitants.

There were aching needs everywhere.

For a gigantic population of weak and destitute survivors,

\h\h\h\hsanitation and health care treatments

were necessary to prevent epidemics.

\h\h\h\h\hMeanwhile, in exchange for a promise

that the imperial family would never be prosecuted

\h\h\hfor war crimes, the Emperor signed a "Humanity Declaration."

\hOn January 1st, 1946, in his greeting to the public,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe officially denied he was a living god

\hand gave up all political powers.

♪ ♪

The occupation of Japan,

and close cooperation between US and Japanese authorities,

continued for seven years.

\h\h\h\h\hThe whole time, Ginza and downtown Tokyo

adopted Yankee ways.

But for years, there were stark contrasts

\h\h\hbetween the luxury of the Americans’ neighborhoods

and the reality of the rest of Tokyo.

American authorities imposed \hsevere austerity measures

to restore the Japanese economy.

\h\h\h\hFood rations for the population were insufficient,

\h\hand a parallel economy developed.

Tokyo citizens often had to resort to the black market.

\hDespite the hardships they experienced, most residents

of Tokyo felt the dark years of the war were behind them.

\h\h\h\hIn November 1946, a crowd of over 100,000 people

\h\h\hgathered in front of the Imperial Palace

to celebrate the proclamation of the new Japanese constitution,

\h\h\hin the presence of the Emperor and Empress.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hDemocracy -- including freedom of the press,

\h\h\hwomen’s suffrage and the renunciation of war --

\h\hwere at the heart of this constitution,

\hinfluenced by the American occupiers.

In order to encourage the spread of these democratic values --

\h\hwhich were totally new to the Japanese --

education received special attention.

Supervised by the United States,

\h\h\h\h\hcurricula and textbooks were revised.

The classes in nationalist \h\h\hmorale were abolished

\h\h\h\h\hand replaced by civic education courses.

Students were both learning

\h\hthe egalitarian ideals of democracy

and developing pride in being citizens of the only country

\h\h\hwith pacifism written into its very constitution.

\hThe country was also disposing of its past.

\hWithout shedding any tears, the people of Tokyo watched as

the statue of Japan’s military \h\hhero Hirose was destroyed.

\hOnce again, the people of Tokyo had gone to work

\hto rebuild their capital, but times were still hard.

\h\hThen, suddenly, everything changed.

[heavy artillery fire]

NARRATOR: In 1950, the United States went to war in Korea,

using Japan as an operations base and equipment supplier.

\h\hThe burgeoning demand was an ideal opportunity

for Japanese industry.

\h\h\hOn April 16th, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur

left the country, and a crowd \hof Tokyoites waved goodbye.

\hSince dawn, 200,000 people have been lining the streets.

♪ ♪

Five months later, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty

\h\h\hand the Mutual Security Treaty with the United States.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe enemies of yesteryear had become allies,

\h\hand the new, pacifist Japan would be protected

\h\hby the American "nuclear umbrella."

On April 28th, 1952, Japan’s \hindependence was restored.

\h\hOnly ten years after its destruction, Tokyo is now the

beating heart of the country’s \h\h\heconomic reconstruction.

\h\hDuring the war, the country’s youth

\h\h\hleft for the front lines from Ueno Station.

A decade later, Ueno is where they now converge

from everywhere in the country, bringing their determination

\h\hand eagerness to jobs in the capital.

By 1955, Tokyo’s population \hreaches over 8.5 million,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hmaking it the world’s most populous city.

\hOnly three years after the departure

of the US occupation forces,

\hJapan has embarked on a phase of rapid expansion

\hwith no parallel in modern history.

The Ginza shopping district \hhas risen from its ashes,

and is glamorous again.

\h\hTokyo is subject to wave after wave of fashion trends,

\h\h\h\h\hthe product of an American monopoly on ideas.

Its Western-style shops attract fashionable young ladies

for a pleasant stroll.

In 1964, the choice of Tokyo

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto host the Olympic Games is pivotal.

[all cheering]

\h\h\hThese are the first games to be held in Asia.

\h\h\h\hTo ensure their success, Tokyo launches

\ha vast infrastructure modernization program.

♪ ♪

The metamorphosis aims at two goals:

to reinforce the country’s growth

\h\h\hand impress upon the world the image of

a peaceful, prosperous Japan, at the cutting edge of modernity.

\h\hOne great badge of technological progress

is the Shinkansen bullet train.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hOne hundred percent "made in Japan,"

\h\hit’s a high-speed link shooting from city to city

at over 150 miles per hour.

\hWhen the Japanese capital stood before

\h\h\hthe TV cameras of the world, it looked stunning.

It joined the ranks of the most modern cities of the world.

\h\h\hThe opening ceremonies unfolded beneath blue skies,

at the National Olympic Stadium.

This Olympiad was the first

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto be telecast internationally via satellite.

\hIt attracted some 600 million viewers.

\h\h\hBetween 1954 and 1973, the country went through a dazzling

\h\h\h\heconomic growth spurt, unparalleled in world history.

\hThe spectacular boom was stimulated by two factors:

massive public investment

\h\hand massive orders from the United States military,

mired in the Vietnam War.

\h\h\h\h\h\hTokyoites saw the city’s first skyscrapers rise.

\h\hIn two decades, Japan’s rural population plummeted,

\h\h\has "salary-men" flocked to the city.

\h\h\h\hTo house all of these new residents, new towns sprouted up

\h\h\hfaster than weeds on Tokyo’s western periphery.

\h\h\h\h\hIn 30 years, these satellite cities

\h\hgrew by almost 20 million people.

The tide of commuters traveling to central Tokyo every morning

\h\h\h\h\h\hand riding home every night to the suburbs

\hrequired exponential growth in the rail transport system.

\hToday, Tokyo’s public transportation network

is by far the world’s largest.

\h\h\h\hDaily ridership in the greater Tokyo area is

double the figure for all of the major US cities combined.

Frenzied consumerism, which stimulated economic growth,

became a patriotic attitude.

\hThe oil crisis of 1973 crippled Japan,

\h\h\h\hwhich had always lacked energy resources.

In Tokyo, the fear that consumer goods would be in short supply

led to a rush on supermarkets.

\h\h\h\h\hThe country reacted by developing energy-efficient cars

\h\h\h\h\hand miniaturizing their industrial products.

It also undertook

\h\h\h\h\h\h\ha vast atomic energy generation program.

\h\h\hTo supply Tokyo with light and power,

the second reactor at Fukushima Daiichi went online in 1974.

\hJapan’s rise reached its apex in the 1980s,

known as the period of the "economic bubble."

\h\hThe automobile and electronics industries

\h\h\hwere generating astronomical profits,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hincreased exponentially by investment

in real estate and finance.

\h\h\h\hIn 1989, the Tokyo stock exchange

became the world’s largest.

The following year, Japan’s GDP

\h\hwas second only to that of the US.

Tokyo had fulfilled its mission:

\h\h\hfinally surpassing its European and American models

as a modern megalopolis, and inspiring Westerners

with its futuristic globalism.

1991 was the year the bubble burst.

\hJapan was in the midst of an economic recession,

\h\hand plagued with rising unemployment.

\h\h\h\hOne by one, values and promises that were the bedrock

\h\h\h\hof the rise of modern, postwar Japan

\h\hwere undermined by dramatic events.

\h\hThe myth of the country’s domestic harmony and security

\h\hwas shattered when, in 1995, 12 people died

and 5,500 were injured

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin a sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway.

\hIt was perpetrated by well-educated Japanese.

During the winter holidays in 2008,

\h\h\hthe first postwar soup kitchens appeared,

\h\h\hgiving support for the jobless residents of Tokyo.

Since the adoption of democracy, citizens have thought of

\hthemselves as members of one vast egalitarian middle class.

\h\h\h\hBut suddenly drastic social inequalities appeared.

\h\h\hFinally, the Tohoku earthquake of March 2011,

\h\hfollowed by the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster,

\h\h\h\h\h\haroused sharp doubts in the population:

\h\h\hCould they still trust the authorities?

\h\h\h\hFor the first time since the 1970s,

\h\h\h\hdemonstrations were staged in Tokyo.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hCrowds marched to protest the government decision

\h\hto reopen Japan’s nuclear power plants.

In 2012, the Tokyo Skytree,

the second-tallest tower in the world, was inaugurated.

\h\h\h\hAnd in 2013, Tokyo was chosen to host the 2020 Games.

\h\h\hBut the popular mood was much less enthusiastic

than it was in 1964.

\hTokyo has risen from annihilation

\h\h\hand given birth to a unique form of modernism.

\h\hBut today, some of its citizens question

\h\h\h\h\hthe wisdom of the constant rush to the future.

The whole country must confront

the problem of an aging population.

\hIdeas that had been set aside for over a century,

for the sake of a collective effort,

\h\h\hhave again become central preoccupations:

the relationship to nature,

the quality of life,

\h\h\h\h\h\hindividual fulfillment, harmony...

\h\h\h\h\h\hAnswers to those questions cannot be derived

from any Western model.

\hAnd Tokyo, born of Japan’s leap into the modern world,

is now wondering how to redefine "being modern" for its future.