New "Isoroku Yamamoto" seen from top secret documents December 3, 21:35
NHK's special drama "Rinatsuno Yamamoto Isoroku" (London's Yamamoto Isoroku) will be broadcast at the end of the year.
Shingo Katori, who plays the lead role, is Isoroku Yamamoto, a soldier of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
It was based on the Navy's top secret document, which had been sealed for over 80 years.
("Rinatsuno Yamamoto Isoroku" interview production group)
Do you know "Isoroku Yamamoto"?
"Do you know Isoroku Yamamoto?"
How many people can answer "yes" to this question?
When I asked the people around me at work, few people knew more than "the soldiers of the Navy" or "the people who carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor."
Just 80 years ago, on December 8th, Isoroku Yamamoto, then Admiral of the Navy, came up with the idea of the attack on Pearl Harbor that triggered the Pacific War.
Yamamoto was hailed as a "hero" in Japan because the Japanese side won the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On the other hand, from the experience of staying in the United States before the war and spreading his knowledge, he was also a person who opposed to the end, "We should not war with the United States."
The person who was at the center of the war may be about to be forgotten after 80 years ...
Why did Japan start the war?
How was the Navy involved there?
And who was Isoroku Yamamoto?
We started to cover Isoroku Yamamoto.
Navy's top secret document awakened from 80 years of sleep
The starting point was the newly revealed Navy's top secret document.
A number of documents marked "Top Secret" that only a very limited number of people in the Navy are allowed to view.
The amount of materials with red binding is 57 books, which is more than 10,000 pages.
For over 80 years, even its existence has been asleep without being made public.
It was discovered by Hiromi Tanaka (Professor Emeritus, National Defense Academy), an authority on modern military history who has been indebted to the program many times.
It is said that he took over what was kept under the bereaved family of a Navy executive.
A great discovery that is unprecedented for Mr. Tanaka, who has been researching and researching materials of the Japanese Army for many years.
That call led us to jointly investigate.
Hiromi Tanaka, Professor Emeritus of the National Defense Academy
"It
's
been decades since the war, but the biggest surprise is that there are still such amazing things left."
"A turning point to war" told by top secret documents
The days of wrestling with a huge amount of materials have begun.
Fortunately, there was a director in the interview team who received a special training of "reading the cursive script in the early Showa period" when I was a student, and although it took time, I was able to grasp the whole picture.
Furthermore, with the cooperation of multiple experts such as the Navy, led by Mr. Tanaka, we proceeded to verify what is new, one by one.
The result was behind the scenes of a diplomatic negotiation involving Isoroku Yamamoto seven years before the Pacific War began.
At that time, from the reflection of World War I, the world signed a treaty to limit the number of warships owned by each country.
However, because Japan had fewer warships than the United States and Great Britain, it showed a bullish stance of "willing to abandon the treaty," saying that it was "involved in the prestige of the nation."
Under such circumstances, the preliminary negotiations for the Disarmament Conference were held in London in 1934 (Showa 9).
It was Isoroku Yamamoto who was ordered to represent the Navy before his name was known to the world.
In the material found this time, the words used by Isoroku Yamamoto to proceed with the negotiations were described in detail.
It is the first time that every word is revealed.
Surprisingly, it turned out that Yamamoto was trying to compromise with the United States and Britain, hopefully.
While Yamamoto was the representative of the Japanese Navy, why was he trying to act differently from that policy?
Isoroku Yamamoto's handwritten memo left behind by the bereaved family
Yamamoto is said to have barely revealed his thoughts during his lifetime.
What kind of thought did you have in the negotiations?
We interviewed Isoroku Yamamoto's bereaved family and related parties in order to find out the facts that cannot be revealed by official documents alone.
As a result, we were able to arrive at a valuable resource that gives us a glimpse of that part.
It was owned by Gentaro, the grandson of Isoroku Yamamoto.
Until now, I have never responded to TV media coverage, and the first time we met was to listen to the wish that "I would like to just say hello when starting the coverage of Isoroku Yamamoto." It was because of it.
After that, I kept in touch with him and found out the relics of Isoroku Yamamoto, who was sleeping at home, saying, "I hope it helps."
Gentaro showed me a handwritten memo of about 10 pages.
"Memorandum" is written on the cover.
Isoroku Yamamoto's grandson Gentaro
"This memorandum was probably written on the way back and forth from London. The inside of my chest was written by my grandfather (56), and I feel that I was quite distressed in the negotiations. can do"
In the "memorial note", the numbers were written and beaten.
When negotiating with the United States and the United Kingdom, it seemed to be a calculation of how far we could compromise, the number of warships each country had, and so on.
Speaking of military personnel, there is an image of being absurd, but Isoroku Yamamoto also had the aspect of manipulating formulas precisely and negotiating rationally.
Among the "memories", the one that we paid the most attention to was the memorandum entitled "Mental".
Seven things that Yamamoto Isoroku decided on when he approached disarmament negotiations were listed.
The attitude of emphasizing Japan's claim that "Japan's fundamental claim will not be bent".
At the same time, he also mentioned the importance of cooperating with Britain and the United States, saying that he would "cooperate as much as possible."
And the word "my sense of responsibility" was written at the end of "mind".
The fate of the nation and the sense of responsibility that bears the lives of the people.
It was a word that made me feel that the fate of Japan would change drastically depending on how the negotiations proceeded.
A "mindset" that secretly describes one's own beliefs in one's heart while taking on the task of being a member of the organization.
It is said that the bereaved family felt the feelings transmitted there, carefully bound them, and kept them at hand for many years.
It was a life-sized feeling of Isoroku Yamamoto that researchers also touched for the first time.
Hiromi Tanaka, Professor Emeritus of the National Defense Academy
"First-class historical materials that show that Japan is taking action after thinking to the point of improving Japan's international position. I think I have to
However, contrary to Isoroku Yamamoto's thoughts, the disarmament negotiations broke down without filling the gap between Japan and Britain and the United States until the end.
Two years later, Japan will officially withdraw from the disarmament regime and further deepen its international isolation.
How in your heart ... The moment when Isoroku Yamamoto became a "hero"
What happened to Isoroku Yamamoto, who returned from London?
A video that serves as a clue was left in the hometown of Isoroku Yamamoto.
1 hour and 45 minutes by Joetsu Shinkansen from Tokyo.
We landed in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture.
The Yamamoto Isoroku Memorial Museum is near the station.
Mr. Takaaki Ishibashi, who is a member of the exhibition committee at the memorial hall.
He is so familiar with Isoroku Yamamoto that no one in the area knows it.
I had a video of Isoroku Yamamoto taken over 80 years ago.
An image that seems to be a newsreel at that time.
What was reflected was Isoroku Yamamoto immediately after returning from England.
This time, we searched around the NHK archives materials and other places, but it turned out that it was a video that would not exist except in the hands of Mr. Hoshi.
The video is only a few minutes in total.
After the first image of Isoroku Yamamoto with a sad expression on the train, when the screen changes, it looks like Tokyo Station.
The figure of Isoroku Yamamoto who arrived there was projected.
A crowd praising hurray.
In front of it, there was a figure of Yamamoto walking slowly while salute.
It was the moment when Isoroku Yamamoto became a "hero who confronted Britain and the United States proudly."
To attack Pearl Harbor
Yamamoto thought that "war with the United States should be avoided" and could not fulfill that desire while hoping for international cooperation.
How did you see people rejoicing in their eyes, saying, "The prestige of the nation was protected by breaking up with Britain and the United States?"
Which is more important, the prestige and pride of the nation, or the life of the people protected by international cooperation?
The word "sense of responsibility" written at the end of the "mind" discovered this time is approaching.
It is said that Isoroku Yamamoto went on the career path after the disarmament conference and opposed the Tripartite Pact of Japan, Germany and Italy as the Under Secretary of the Navy until the end.
However, the Tripartite Alliance was signed in 1940, supported by the public opinion of "British and American Comb".
Japan completely understands Britain and the United States.
And in 1941, the war between Japan and the United States began.
By commanding the Pearl Harbor attack operation, Isoroku Yamamoto is even called "a devil comparable to Hitler" from the United States.
It was one year and four months after the start of the war that the entire plane I was on was shot down by the US military.
With the disarmament negotiations in London as a turning point, Isoroku Yamamoto's life and the future of Japan went dark.
The Pacific War killed 3.1 million Japanese people alone.
I hope it will give us an opportunity to think about what we can do to avoid repeating it again.
A new "Isoroku Yamamoto statue"
Why did the disarmament negotiations with the United States and Britain broke down, how did Isoroku Yamamoto behave, and what kind of anguish did he have?
This time, the whole picture of disarmament negotiations revealed from the Navy's top secret document.
A special drama based on the interview will be broadcast at the end of the year.
The lead is Shingo Katori, who will appear in the NHK drama for the first time in 17 years since the Taiga drama "Shinsengumi!".
Taking on the challenge of creating a thorough role, such as cutting his head, he played the new "Isoroku Yamamoto", which continued to struggle within the organization of the Navy, in a heavy play that was not seen in comedy and variety shows so far. Thank you.
Why did Japan go to war?
Please look forward to the secret story of the beginning of the war based on the true story that has been sealed for more than 80 years.
Seikei international program unit executive director
Chiyo Migita
1988 it joined
many years, about the war and military coverage
NHK Special "testimony of the Japanese Navy 400 hours" and
"full picture February 26 Incident", etc.
Metropolitan Area Bureau Director
Takeo Omori
Joined in 2016
Sapporo Bureau, coverage of war and literature at the Metropolitan Area Bureau
NHK Special "The Tragedy of 7 Days After the End of the Kabata Ground War"
"Yukio Mishima 50th Year" Youth Theory "" etc.
Hajime Umemoto,
Director of the Metropolitan Area Bureau
, majored in modern history at the university in
2016.
Continues to cover the theme of war with the Osaka Bureau and the Metropolitan Area Bureau.
NHK Special "Dreadful Record Impal" etc.
80 years of the Pacific War, special drama "Rinatsuno Yamamoto Isoroku"
December 30 (Thursday) [Comprehensive] 10: 00-11: 13
An unknown story of Admiral Yamamoto, who commanded the operation to attack Pearl Harbor.
Before being called a "hero" by the people, the new "Isoroku Yamamoto" continued to struggle within the organization of the Navy.
Past NHK Special and other related programs of the 80th year of the Pacific War can be found on the banner below.
Pacific War 80 Year Playlist