we will have the chaplain benedictionve the come accompanied by the united states navy ceremonial band. >> let us pray. hath bound the restless waves and who binds our hearts and spirits one to another across the years in the miles. as we remember with profound gratitude a devotion to duty and the heroism of so many at and on that greatbor and terrible day 75 years ago. and as we prepare to go on from this historic occasion and sacred place, we ask your

blessing on our nation and all her people. with the humility never to take for granted their selflessness in the face of givetation in danger and us grace to draw inspiration from the heroes of pearl harbor, as we face the challenges and dangers of our own time. liberty,hearts to love and guide our bodies, minds, and souls towards the true and lasting peace that is the fruit of moral strength and righteous courage. greater love has no one than

this, the one laid down his life for his friends. always weys, always, remember pearl harbor. when we cry to thee for those in peril on the sea. amen. >> this december in braille seven marks the 75th anniversary of the japanese attack on pearl harbor -- this december 7 marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. up next on "reel america," "know your enemy, japan." an hour-long u.s. army film directed by frank capra. the film portrays japan as a nation is determined to rule the world through military conquest. the production began in 1942, but there were several delays and revisions, and it was not released until august 1945, too

late to encourage soldiers and the american public to make sacrifices for the war effort. this contains many graphic scenes of war and racially insensitive language some viewers may find disturbing. ♪

♪ >> banzai. banzai. ♪

[chanting] ♪ [indiscernible] ♪

[chanting] narrator: we shall never completely understand the japanese mind, but then they don't understand ours either. otherwise there never would have been a pearl harbor. but we must try to understand japan because we have become locked in the closest of all relationships, war. whether we like it or not, we and the japanese are going to be at very close range for a very

long time. so let's see what kind of people these japanese really are, what they believe in, what they want, and how they get it. and if this tale begins to get a little fantastic, bear with us, we are dealing with a fantastic people. first, let's examine a typical japanese soldier. his average height is five feet three inches. his average weight, 117 pounds. he and his brother soldiers are as much alike as photographic prints off the same negative. his pay is ¥10 or about $2.36 a month. his personal equipment is simple but practical. is bullet is supplied with ammunition. the load he carries weighs about 60 pounds, more than half his weight. his uniform is ill fitting, his appearance un-soldierly, even comic according to western

standards, and though he may lack precision, but he is hard, he is able. he knows his job. his endurance is phenomenal. he would just as soon go over a mountain as around it. he lives off rice, rice and fish, or occasionally rice and meat, but often on rice alone, and he is proud of it. he is prouder still of the fact that to be a soldier is the highest human achievement in japan. he has been trained to be a soldier almost from birth, and he has the belief that japanese are descendents of gods and destined to rule the earth and all who live on it. to this end, treachery, brutality, rape and torture all are justified and used against non-japanese. ♪

narrator: in combat, his single aim is to close with the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting. he believes in the attack itself there is some mystic quality by which greater numbers bearing superior numbers can be vanquished. in his mind, there is usually no question of choice between death and surrender. to him, death in battle is the attainment of an ideal. where his flag leads, he follows in a blind emotional rush. for his flag not only represents its country, it is also the image of his god of gods. his flag is the image of the rising sun. and the rising sun is the symbol of the emperor. to the japanese, their emperor is the most holy of holies.

their visible god. he is also their political leader, the natural and supernatural, religion and politics all done up in a one-man package, entrusted to one man, the powers of the president of the united states, the prime minister of great britain, the premier of soviet russian, and mixed in the pope, the archbishop of canterbury, the head of the russian orthodox church, then top it all with the divine authority of our own son of god, and you will begin to understand what hirohito means to the japanese, why they call him the god emperor. four to the japanese, hirohito is a direct descendent of the sun, and what is so high, so mighty, so brilliant as the sun. accordingly, no one can stand above or look down upon the emperor. when he passes through the streets, all windows above the first floor must be tightly shuttered.

the train to tokyo from anywhere in japan is the up train to tokyo because the emperor lives there. nor can the emperor be imitated in any way. only his automobile may be moon colored. not even his tailor may touch the person of the emperor, for who would lay hands upon the sun? if you are japanese, it would hurt your eyes to look at hirohito, just as it would hurt your eyes to look at the blazing sun. nor would anyone dream of handling his uncovered picture. if you are japanese, it would when hirohito's face appeared on the front cover of an american magazine, the japanese government filed an official protest with the american state department. whatever takes place in japan, it is he, the god emperor, that causes it. from him, all things emanate, and in him all things subsist. he makes the japanese rice grow, he makes japanese soldiers conquer the world.

in his name, they bring to other people justice, enlightenment, truth, whole prosperity, and peace. ♪ >> the year 1940 was the holy year in japan. the nation celebrated the 2600th anniversary of its founding by the first god emperor, jimmu. [chanting] narrator: if you are japanese,

you believe that jimmu was the grandson of prince ninigi, who was the son of the sun goddess, ameterasu, as she said to her princes, go down and rule over luxuriant reed plains. so he descended from heaven to the land of reed plains. he took the daughter of the mountain deity. she bore him a son. the son married a daughter, the goddess of the sea, and they also had a son. exactly 2600 years ago, jimmu proclaimed himself emperor over all the islands, saying let us extend our capital until it covers the eight corners of the world under one roof. in this way, the japanese empire was created. hirohito is the 120th descendent

of the sun goddess, and since the beginning, the emperors of gods have mingled their flesh with mortal flesh, it follows all japanese are cousins in divinity. the soldier and the wrestler, the wrestler and the priest. the woman in the rice fields. the factory worker, the geisha girl, the businessman, the diplomat, the fisherman off california, all are members of one family whose blood is superior to the blood of any other race on earth because it is mixed with the liquid sunshine of the gods, and what's more, they believe it. and being of divine origin, all their acts fall into a divine path called the way of the gods or shinto, which brings us to the national religion of japan,

shintoism. ♪ narrator: now shintoism will not be easy to understand, but since it is the heart, brain, and soul of the nation and dictates all japanese actions for the living and for the dead, it is important that we try to understand it. according to shinto, the population of japan is one side heaven, the emperor, 9 million minor gods, 75 million living people, and billions upon

billions of ghosts, the spirits of all japanese who have died in the past. these spirits stand watch over all japan, follow their soldiers into battle and serenely float around in every japanese house, where guests are frequently introduced to them. they are so near, the living merely have to clap their hands to call their attention. they are fed choice food and incense is burned for them. each living japanese is merely a link in this endless chain of ghosts. he is identical with them except for the unimportant fact that he breathes and can be seen. each living japanese knows he is constantly surrounded by these spirits who guard him and watch over him to see that he obeys the emperor and follows the way of the gods. to watch over special japanese activities, there is a host of minor gods. the volcano is a god.

the lightning. there is a god of the silkworm, of god of the night wind. these pearl divers have a god. and annually, they hold a ceremony for him. these farmers have a rice god to whom they offer prayers for a good harvest. these scarecrows are all gods of one kind or another. there are over 100,000 shinto shrines in which these local gods and spirits are worshiped. for the living japanese, shinto decrees that all their actions must imitate the way of the gods who handled chopsticks thusly, arrange flowers thusly, drink tea thusly, worship the emperor thusly, enter a room thusly,

greet an acquaintance thusly. now on the surface, shinto seems to be a nice, quite religion for a nice, quaint people, and in the olden days it used to be just that. but today, there is a diabolical joker in shintoism. since about 1870, the state has forced into the teachings of shinto a fanatical doctrine, a doctrine that has brought death to untold millions of asiatics and now thousands upon thousands of americans. ♪ narrator: this doctrine is based on the divine command that jimmu, the first god emperor, was supposed to have given his people 2600 years ago.

let us extend the capital and cover the eight corners of the world under one roof. to cover the eight corners of the world under a japanese roof, the japs have a special name for his divine command. it has become the national ambition of japan. >> from the viewpoint of hakkoichiu, the emperor of japan is all the races of the world. there are no seven seas, only ocean not to be recognized from the great japanese sea. narrator: in 1930, the modern american college-educated minister matsuoka said, to save humanity will with the great empire, spirit in which jimmu founded the empire, japan should take over the world. narrator: if you are japanese,

you believe you have been commanded by heaven to conquer all other races and peoples and put them under japanese rule. if you are japanese, you believe the place of honor among the spirits is reserved for those who die in battle, for they become warrior gods and are enshrined in a sacred temple, yasukuni shrine. the names of soldiers killed in battle are written on little tablets and placed in the inner recesses of this most holy yasukuni shrine. that is the greatest honor that man can achieve in japan, to die in battle and be enshrined in yasukuni, for even the emperor comes to bow to him. that is why soldiers when saying goodbye to each other often say, see you in yasukuni. that is why mothers and wives accept the ashes of their dead soldiers without grief or sorrow.

the silent victorious return, it is called, for the dead are warrior gods who live on beside them to be cherished and cared for, to be given food and drink and a lighted cigarette to smoke. that is why jap soldiers would rather be killed than surrender, for to be killed means they become warrior gods. two surrender means everlasting shame and dishonor to them and their family and all of their ancestors. if you are japanese, you believe these things implicitly. >> banzai, banzai, banzai. narrator: but if you are not japanese, what then is the real

japan? the japan of the geographer, the anthropologist, and the historian? the japan of which the japanese themselves know little or nothing. the name japan comes from two chinese words, ji and pen, the literal translation of which is the land where the sun comes from. the chinese called it that because japan laid to the east. geographers say japan is a chain of volcanic islands 1200 miles long and an average of 120 miles wide, a total land mass being a little larger than the state of california. rocky and mountainous, only 16% of japan is suitable for farming. every human being in japan lives within sight of mountains, many of them from 6000 to 12,000 feet high. there are some 50 active volcanoes scattered through japan. an average of four times a day, japan has earthquakes, severe shocks occurring once every two

and a half years, a disaster once every 25 years. ♪ narrator: there are some 45 cities with a population of over 100,000. only three of which are beyond the range of naval guns. tokyo is the capital with a population of 7,900,000, it is the third-largest city in the world. and what of the people of japan and their so-called divine origin? anthropologists say the original inhabitants were a hairy, barbarian people called ainus. later on, fierce mongolian tribes moved in and begin conquering the ainus. still later, other tribes from many sources arrived. a diffusion of all these tribes and races resulted in the japanese today, not of one pure blood, but of a well mixed plasma cocktail of ainu, mongol,

and more. of the history of japan, historians say somewhere around the beginning of the christian era, the elevated a chief or in this case high priest, in this case the emperor, who claimed to have an inside track with the gods. this is evolved into shintoism, and the emperor sun myth became the dominant power. the early emperors had little political power because the islands were divided, ruled over by powerful barons or daimyos. these daimyos had large, well-paid private warriors called samurai. the samurai were the important and privileged class, real aristocrats who lived off the fat of the land without working. as a badge of rank, they wore two swords, a short sword for committing hara-kiri been captured or disgraced, and a

large two-handed sword they fought with. with this sort, it was their privilege to lop off the heads, arms, ears of the peasants either for practice or amusement. the samurai developed a code of rules for themselves called bushido, the code of the warrior. bushido extolled absolute loyalty to one superior and reckless bravery in battle. but most important, bushido not only sanctioned doubledealing and treachery, but looked upon it as an art to be cultivated, it encouraged ambush, jump a man from behind when he is unarmed, when he is alone and you have a gained. -- gang. that is bushido, the art of treachery and the double crossing national code of japan. harakiri was also a privilege of the samurai. when condemned to death, they were allowed to kill themselves rather than be beheaded.

the executioner's axe was for the common people. as a result, hara-kiri became an elaborate ceremony, a bond that showed bravery and indifference to pain. a man's son or his best friend stood by with a big sword to chop his head off in case he lost his nerve. the daimyos and their paid samurai engaged in unending bloody civil war with each other for the right to become the shogun. ♪ narrator: being the shogun meant being top dog among all the daimyos, a dictator of dictators, ruling the island as the emperor was kept in the background. >> in the year 1592, the powerful shogun thought they and japan were strong enough to make

their first bid to cover the world with the japanese rule, and they picked china as the first victim. ♪ >> hidiyoshi invaded korea, but chinese from other provinces came to the aid of the koreans. the japs were stuck, and when hidiyoshi died suddenly, the invasion was called off. they did a good job of plunder. they brought back 30,000 pickled ears and noses of chinese and koreans killed in battle. these they buried in what is now known as the ear mound in the city of kyoto. something new came to these bloodthirsty people, something new and strange. in the year 1521, magellan had sailed around the world to the philippines. in his wake came spanish and portuguese missionaries who eventually visited the japanese islands.

the strange new thing they brought was christianity, the revolutionary doctrine of peace on earth and the equality and brotherhood of man. here was something that dignified the lowly japanese serfs as human beings. soon there were some 200 churches and over 200,000 converts. ♪ >> the warlords became practical. they thought they were teaching tolerance, peace, and even equality, so they acted. ♪

narrator: 137 churches were destroyed in nagasaki, all christian converts in tokyo were burned at the stake. throw out the west. throw out its poisonous doctrine of peace. and with that, japan closed its doors. no one could leave japan. no one could enter. foreign sailors shipwrecked on their shores were tortured and beheaded. for 200 years, japan remained completely isolated, and in those 200 years, the world advanced more than it had in the previous 1000 years. voltaire, washington, jefferson, franklin, pasteur. the americans started a revolution for the belief that all men were created equal. the french fought for liberty, equality, and fraternity. the power of steam was discovered, and the steamboat and steam engine began to narrow the oceans and continents.

the telegraph was invented. china was opened up to the trade of the world, but during all this time, japan was closed, no news reached her shores. she remained a nation blacked out from the rest of the world, still living in the middle ages. then in 1853, just 92 years ago, commodore perry's american fleet of four ships sailed into yokohama bearing a message from president fillmore in the interest of trade. the japanese warlords woke with a shock from their 200 years of self-imposed isolation. they realized that the harry white barbarian had machines and weapons that made him powerful. if the sons of heaven were to rule the earth, their spears and swords would be of little avail. also, they realized how weak and divided they really were compared to western nations. hastily the feuding barons stopped fighting among themselves and joined together, but they needed a central figure

around whom they could rally. available was the god emperor who up until now had been more or less of a stooge. so in 1868, the warlords did away with the position of shogun and elevated emperor meiji to supreme dictatorship over all speak for him and to guide his speak for him and to guide his policies, a position they have hung on to ever since. now for a strong military, paid warriors, the samurai, were too few for a national army, so they introduced another revolutionary idea in the japanese mind. the sons of peasants were suddenly permitted the great privilege of bearing arms, and it was a great privilege, for being a soldier almost meant being a noble. and to sell this program, the warlords soon used religion.

they revived shintoism and forced emperor worship and thoughts of conquest to be preached by all shinto priests. thus japan rid herself of all the old samurai, and the bushido code was passed on. the warlords now flung open their doors to the west. posts and telegraphs were introduced, railroads, the european calendar, photography. european dress, a frenzy of modernization seized upon the land, with swiftness such as the world has never seen, the japanese invited other nations to help them build up their military power, always with the thought treat with the foreigner, learn his weapons, and then use them to destroy him. the old bushido double-cross.

the english having the best navy in the world were invited to build up and claim the japanese navy. the french, supposed to have the best army in the world, were invited to train the japanese army. but when they saw the french defeated by the germans in the franco-prussian war, the japanese switched to german advisors for their army. ♪ narrator: from the english and the americans, they borrowed the outward forms of democracy, ministers and their representative body that died. but this was all a cruel joke. when the army and navy cabinet ministers, still above the feudal barons, are above any law-making body. they have direct access to the emperor and can entirely bypass the civil government. in fact, whatever japan took from the west or the chinese, the warlords never took the moral or ethical principles that went with them. all modern knowledge that has come to the japanese people, all

culture, all ideas, all thinking has been filtered to the people from the top down. any new idea is first tried out by the ruling classes, changed to suit their purpose. then, with the emperor's blessing, handed down to the people as divine law. in our western civilization, practically all the ideas, the forces that have changed our thinking, have come from the bottom up. evolution, or revolution, starts with the people. with the japs, evolution is handed down to the people. japan was westernized by decree, not by popular desire. in spite of westernization, everyone in japan still rules over his inferior and in turn, bows down to his superiors, just as they did in the middle ages. women have the least standing of all. they must obey the males in all things. even today, there isn't any moral right or wrong in japan. merely, are you or are you not obedient to your superiors?

for instance, today a father still has the power to sell his daughter when she is 11 or 12 to a factory or a mill. she will eat, sleep and go to school in the factory. but all her earnings will go to her father. or, if she is a little older and he needs money, the father can sell her outright to a geisha house or a house of prostitution. and modernization has done even less than the standard of living. individual welfare still doesn't count. discomfort is supposed to be a divine virtue. that's why the people of japan all work as long as they can and as soon as they can and as hard as they can, for they too consider themselves as soldiers with a divine mission. these women beat the earth in humble rhythm just as they did 1000 years ago. these women work day after day, month after month, in the rice fields. human machines producing rice and soldiers.

over their heads fly the latest planes to the wars. a diesel train thunders past. but these farmers work and live and eat like they did in the 17th century. ♪ a diesel train thunders past. narrator: the income for the whole family, as high as $150 a year, and as low as $16 a year. the jap peasant works harder, eats less, and pays more taxes than any peasant on earth, but he seldom complains, for he is carrying out the divine will of the emperor. the white-collar japanese in the daytime use telephones and adding machines, but when he goes home, he puts on a kimono and lives as his ancestors did in the middle ages.

japanese houses have no foundations. there are no walls as we know them, no windows, no paints, no varnish, no curtains, no chairs, and no beds. to sleep, they spread a couple of quotes on the floor with no sheets and lay their heads on hard, round pillows. their food lacks albumin, fats and sugar. the standard of living is the same as it was hundreds of years ago, one of the lowest on earth. for japan became industrialized not to raise the standard of living but to prepare for conquest. this man in the factory doesn't work a six-day, 40-hour-a-week for good wages. he works 72 hours a week for starvation wages and frequently dies of tuberculosis at the age of 40. >> why did japan's millions accept their fate? why don't they rebel? organize a labor union? well, first of all, having

dedicated their lives to the emperor, belief in japan's divine mission to conquer runs through the whole people. this makes practically all of them willing prisoners of a vicious iron-clad social structure, a system of regimentation so perfect it made hitler's mouth water. on top of the heap of this social structure are leaders of the army and navy, the warlords who surround the emperor. they are japan's first team. nearly equal in power are the half-dozen superrich industrial aristocratic families who own the wealth. they're the second team. and they play ball with the military rulers because the warlords give them cheap labor and profits, and they in turn provide the money for the war machine. next in line are the professional politicians, who are appointed to the government as rulers over the provinces. these political stooges slavishly follow orders because their jobs and their very lives depend on the whims of the military leaders.

at the bottom of the heap, the peasants and workers, the worker. to make sure the masses stay in their place, there are the police, the gendarmes, the japanese gestapo, and the billions of ghosts of dead japanese ancestors who watch over every act of the living. just in case some japanese don't believe in ghosts, they have an efficient, unique japanese invention, the thought police. yes. thought police, whose business it is to arrest you if you think dangerous thoughts. who decides when your thinking is dangerous? that is easy. the thought police decide. about 10,000 people a year are arrested for thinking bad, selfish, dangerous thoughts. to keep the aristocrats and government officials from straying on the straight and narrow japanese line, there is another strictly japanese invention, secret organizations like the dreaded black dragon

society. this secret gangster organization, made up of thousands of fanatics, was headed by one of the world's most sinister characters, toriyama, the chief of japan's murder incorporated. 90 years old when he died in 1944, this dreaded mass murderer held the threat of death over everyone in japan who dared to oppose the warlords too strongly. 1930. this man, shot down dead. 1932. prime minister inukai, finance minister inoyi,, the head of the house of mitsui. 1936, four political leaders killed. the prime minister's brother-in-law shot. but the main reason the warlords have been able to maintain their vicious grip on japan lies in the educational system.

education is compulsory in japan. 97% of the japs are illiterate. -- literate. but the japanese school is not an institution for the development of the mind. it is a government-controlled institution designed to teach only officially selected facts, and officially approved ideas. the object is to mass produce students who all think alike. to teach in the shortest possible time only the knowledge and skills necessary to make the student an obedient, loyal subject of the divine emperor. the children are taught only how to do things. their minds absorb the efficient lessons like a sponge absorbs water, and like a squeezed sponge, they give back the same water. teachers are trained only by the government, and only those fanatically loyal to the emperor are allowed to teach. here are some of the divine thoughts that are hammered home every day. >> all will become sincere, only

when they are offered to the emperor and the state! our race has before it a great ideal, a great commission to assimilate the earth and the universe. [cheering] narrator: thus, from childhood, the japanese are taught that they are descendants of god, a race superior to all others, born for only one purpose, to dedicate their lives to the emperor. the cardinal virtue? obedience to superiors. the cardinal ambition? to cover the earth under a japanese roof. that is, briefly, the social structure of japan. that is the vicious system of political and religious regimentation that molds the whole population until it becomes an obedient mass with but a single mind. >> by 1894, the warlords thought they were ready for their first modern test of strength.

their first move was against china. send your armies over and attack. the japs got the island of formosa. on february 8, 1904, the japs stepped into the big league. without warning, they attacked the russian fleet here. three days later, they declared war. by defeating russia, they temporarily obscured that country's influence in the pacific. the japanese were delirious. they had arrived. they had defeated their first major world power. and six years later, in 1910, they simply marched in and annexed korea. in 1914, during the first world war, the japanese, correctly figuring the allies would win, declared war on germany, took the peninsula from the germans and grabbed off the german-owned

mariana islands. after the war, the japanese emissaries signed anything and everything, league of nations, disarmament agreement, nine power treaty. but they insisted on keeping the marshals and carolines and declared them taboo to all foreigners. hakkoichiu was coming true. the japs couldn't seem to make mistakes. they won every war in the field. every time they tangled with the rest, they got new territory. the warlords grew more popular than ever. in 1927, one of them, tanaka, made out a secret modern blueprint to achieve this mad dream and handed it to the emperor. it is called the tanaka memorial, japan's mind count. it was a simple plan but carefully thought out. to cover the earth with the japanese rule, the japs had first to conquer asia. to conquer asia, they needed

manpower and raw materials. china had the manpower. manchuria had iron and coal. so manchuria would be first, then china. the next step was siberia, with its vast resources of timber, coal, wheat, and metals. then south into malaysia and the east indies with its fabulous 10, oil, and rubber. -- tin, oil, and rubber. the united states was the last step. and when the orange groves of california and the cotton fields of alabama were part of japan's empire, when the factories of los angeles and detroit were producing for japan's war machine, then the rest of the world would fall like a ripe plum, and the japs would have fulfilled jimmu's divine commandment, to cover the eight corners of the world with a japanese roof. that was the plan, the blueprint, the specifications for world conquest.

but the japanese are careful people. there was much to do. many details to prepare at home and abroad before putting the plan into action. first make sure of the home front, for in spite of every conceivable method of thought control, certain western ideas were seeping into japan, especially among city people. so western music was banned. instead, the government approved this. western dancing was forbidden. western movies were thrown out. and the people were made to see pictures of their ancient war heros. musicals began singing the praises of the warlords. western card games were purged in favor of this. it is a game of super chess called go. it actually, it is a game of military strategy. western books and magazines not in accord with japanese militarism were banned. instead, these books were declared official reading.

we fight, by this admirable. >> the attack on hawaii must be the first battle in the war of the pacific ocean. if one snatches away, the enemy's pluck in its first battle, the american navy will certainly become weary in the wind of panic! therefore, attack! narrator: arguments against american policies. >> we can run it down, the vicinity of san francisco, and the vicinity of los angeles! but this is possible only after we have destroyed the american fleet. narrator: baseball was becoming japan's national sport. it was popularized in japan by visiting american teams. in 1931, an all-star team, led by lou gehrig, al simmons, and others played in tokyo, standing room only. [speaking japanese]

narrator: the warlords became afraid of baseball and tried to stop it. and would later on babe ruth was brought over by a tokyo newspaperman, the hatchet men acted. one night, the newspaper publisher was found butchered to death. to try to take the place of baseball, the rulers encouraged the old shinto-approved sports like sumo, kendo, and judo. judo, or jujitsu, is the act of giving in, making your opponent lose his balance, then tripping him, choking him, hit, chop, poke, or kick his vital spots. jap diplomats think in terms of judo. for example, make an offer of peace, just before you intend to attack. kendo means the way of the sword. there is no defense in kendo.

it's all offense. you either kill or are killed. the jap army thinks in terms of kendo. [screaming] narrator: sumo or japanese wrestling is the act of calmly waiting or stalling for time. than a swift charge to overcome your opponent. the japanese people think in terms of sumo, calm, peaceful, serene, like their volcano mount fuji, with violent eruptions in between. but even as they hammered their homefront into shape, the gentlemen of japan were softening up the rest of the world for their tanaka plan. to every country marked for conquest, they sent their

agents, army officers posing as laborers, shop keepers, gardeners. along the coast, officers of the imperial japanese navy masquerading as fishermen piloted tiny boats, sending signals. they fished for pearls off the south pacific islands. they fished for tuna off the coast of california. they made some good hauls. other japanese traveled widely as tourists, photographing the sites of honolulu and seattle. something to show the folks back home. still others went to work in barbershops, strange barbers who didn't talk. all this information was collected, studied, filed away, in tokyo, ready for use when the day came for the army to go into

action. wherever japanese spies went, japanese propaganda followed, especially in asia. the message was simple. >> the white man is exploiting you. drive him out. asia for the asiatics. japan is your protector. narrator: meantime, to finance the more machine, the second team, the industrialists started their offensive. from the factories of osaka, the mills of tokyo, the chemical plants of nagoya, the steel mills of [indiscernible], the ship-yards of nagasaki, came the economic books. these were not the real machinery behind japan's trade war, for here was the real machinery. the slums of the cities where 64% of japan's products were made in small, back-room factories employing five people or less.

there are hundreds of thousands of these factories in the home where father, mother and children work in semi-slavery. taking advantage of these low labor costs, the industrialists of japan knew they could undersell every other nation on earth, and they did. all over the world, they dumped their cheap labor products, and to their dumping, they added piracy. countless articles were manufactured and sold throughout asia under their american names. the two best-known american spark plugs, genuine old scotch whiskey was made in the suburbs of osaka, matches made in kobe were labeled "made in sweden." they undersold silk to the silk-producing italians. they undersold england's cotton goods in the home of our own cotton industry. they undersold beer to the beer-producing germans. american toothbrushes, retailing at $.35 to $.50 a piece, were copied in japan to retail in american chain stores at $.10

each. they even undersold us with our own american flag. and with the money accumulated in foreign countries with these cheap-labor exports did they in turn buy automobiles, ice boxes or food, did they erect better homes or improve their living conditions? no, indeed. instead, they imported oil, scrap iron, tin, rubber, aluminum, and secretly built up their power for war machines. a fanatic nation turning its sweat into weapons for conquest, sweat for guns, sweat for planes, sweat for ships, sweat for war. ♪

narrator: but the greatest weapon made in japan was the first team product, the japanese soldiers. as iron, ore is melted to remove its purity, so in japan, humanitarian impurities are burned out of the child. as the steel is shaped by beating and hammering, so is the boy, hammered and beaten into the shape of the fanatic samurai. >> [speaking japanese] ♪ [pounding iron sound]

♪

narrator: the final product, the japanese soldier. ready to shoot, smash and slug jap superiority into all non-japanese people. and so, on september 18, 1931, the first team kicked off. the warlords, faithfully following the tanaka plan, launched their shooting war in manchuria. co-prosperity. enlightenment. justice. truth. peace. peace. peace. [cheering]

♪ >> [speaking japanese] ♪

narrator: in groups of 100, the sick, battle weary, starved filipino prisoners were lined up, beaten, and searched. then herded together for what was to be, for them, the march of death. this march of death is a lasting monument to the insane arrogance and brutality of the japanese soldier. burning with malaria, racked with diarrhea and dysentery, the men barely able to stand were marched for some seven days without food or water. their helmets were purposely knocked off to expose them to the blistering sun. for hours at a time, they were given a torturing sun treatment.

at night, they were packed into enclosures so tight, the men lay in their own human defecation. in the daytime, they marched in the sun. thousands dropped out and were bayoneted and shot. those made it to the prison camps were subjected to unspeakable humiliation and torture. three years later, when rescued by macarthur, this is how they looked. ♪ narrator: in retreating before macarthur, the enraged japs wantonly burned most of the city of manila. before our men could kill them all, the sons of heaven had bound and slaughtered thousands of helpless filipino citizens in the inner city. ♪ [beethoven symphony 7, mvt. 2]

♪ narrator: coprosperity. peace. enlightenment. >> [speaking japanese] narrator: that's roughly your enemy, japan, a nation with a tough, seasoned fanatic army of four million still practically intact.

a nation that can supply a million conscripts a year, willing to die in their foxholes. a nation that believes we will throw in this towel, because they will outfight us, outlast us, outdie us. a nation hell-bent to rule the world or commit national suicide. [cheers] narrator: defeating this nation is as necessary as shooting down a mad dog in your neighborhood. with only a portion of our total strength, we have already cracked japan's outer defenses. ♪ [gunfire] ♪

narrator: general macarthur has brilliantly retaken the philippines and cut their supply lines to the indies. the price of this power to retake corregidor was the payoff that thrilled the hearts of american and filipino defenders of 1942. [airplane drone] [gunfire] ♪ narrator: our marines topped their glorious fighting history by killing 20,000 japanese on iwo jima.

♪ narrator: on okinawa, we trapped and destroyed over 100,000 of their best troops. [bombs] ♪ our submarines and air forces spend millions of tons of their ships. from the airfields near japan,

our air forces are systematically blasting war plants. and now that the nasty gangsters have been blown apart, we can concentrate the full fury of our total power on japan. the power of the navy than all other powers combined. the power of an air force greater than all other air forces combined.

the power of the best equipped and hardest hitting army the world has ever seen. >> they are going to destroy japan's armies, japan's navy, japan's air forces, japan's full power to wage war. ♪

[applause] >> senators and representatives, i have the distinguished honor of presenting the president of the united states.

president roosevelt: vice president, speaker, members of the senate and the house of representatives. yesterday, december 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the united states of america was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of japan. the united states was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the pacific.

indeed, one hour after japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the american island of oahu, the japanese ambassador to the united states and his colleague delivered to our secretary of state a formal reply to a recent american message. and while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack. it will be recorded that the distance of hawaii from japan

makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. during the intervening time the japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the united states by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. the attack yesterday on the hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to american naval and military forces. i regret to tell you that very many american lives have been lost. in addition american ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between san francisco and honolulu. yesterday the japanese government also launched an

attack against malaya. last night japanese forces attacked hong kong. last night japanese forces attacked guam. last night japanese forces attacked the philippine islands. last night the japanese attacked wake island. and this morning the japanese attacked midway island. japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the pacific area. the facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. the people of the united states have already formed their opinions and well understand the

implications to the very life and safety of our nation. as commander in chief of the army and navy i have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. but always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. [applause] president roosevelt: no matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the american people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. [applause]

president roosevelt: i believe that i interpret the will of the congress and of the people when i assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us. [applause] president roosevelt: hostilities exist. there is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. with confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable

triumph, so help us god. [applause] president roosevelt: i ask that the congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by japan on sunday, december 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the united states and the japanese empire. [applause]

>> congress voted the declaration of a state of war and the president signed three hours after this historic scene. [applause] >> american history tv is marking the 75th anniversary of the japanese attack on pearl harbor throughout the weekend. next we hear from former hawaii senator daniel akaka, who was living in honolulu at the time. this is five minutes. >> prior to the outbreak of war, what do you recall about the discussions with your family or friends about what the war