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Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen
(The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay)
US Naval History Photo 62534
The photo above is of a model of Pearl Harbor built by the Japanese. It sometimes is identified as having been built as an aid for training Japanese aircrews for the attack on that U.S. Pacific Fleet base in 1941. On closer examination, however, it can be noted that the ships along Battleship Row are aligned exactly as they were on the morning of December 7, 1941 -- something that could not have been known during the months of preparation for the attack.
This elaborate model of the entire Pearl Harbor complex was constructed by the Japanese in early 1942 as a special effects stage for a propaganda film,
(Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen, or "The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay")
The movie was filmed in the spring of 1942 at the Pearl Harbor model, ashore in Japan, and aboard the aircraft carrier Akagi that had participated in the Pearl Harbor attack. Most famous for its dramatic re-enactments of the attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet in its home anchorage, the film also includes a well executed account of the sinking of the Royal Navy battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales off Malaya on December 10, 1942.
Video segments of the Pearl Harbor attack from Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen have been used in nearly every documentary of this event. Here are the most widely seen segments from the film showing the departure of the Japanese fleet, the launch of the attack force, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor:
Some of the footage in these segments was taken during actual operations, especially scenes showing other aircraft carriers and multiple aircraft on flight decks. The attack sequences were done using the Pearl Harbor model. Those portions showing a single aircraft launching with cheering sailors lining the flight deck were filmed aboard Akagi especially for the movie. The segments depicting what appears to be the island of Akagi with water in the background, aircraft flying by, or crew members assembled in front of it likely were made using a mockup of this structure constructed next to water. Although no confirmation of the use of this technique in Hawai Mare has been found, a similar approach was used for the 1960 movie Storm Over the Pacific, (a.k.a., for the English subtitled version, I Bombed Pearl Harbor ).
The inclusion of footage from Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen in the pioneering TV series Victory At Sea (1952-53), provided some of these segments with an air of credibility to the point where they were widely accepted as authentic.
There is, however, more to this production than trend-setting combat visual effects. It also is the story of a young Japanese man who is swept up in the patriotic ferver of the time and volunteers to serve in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The plot follows him through his training, assignment to the fleet, and participation in the Pearl Harbor attack. Released in December 1942 after Japan's disastrous defeat in the Battle of Midway (June 1942), Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen was intended to extol the victories of the Imperial forces and rally the Japanese people to continued effort in the war. In this aspect it is similar to movies produced for popular consumption during this period in other World War II belligerents and provides valuable insight to the attitudes of a people at war. When viewed with others of this genre and period from around the world, this film contributes to an understanding of attitudes and experiences of people swept up in war.
The full version of Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen is available in eight segments from YouTube (total of 117 minutes) in Japanese. No full version with English subtitles appears readily available, but YouTube has two short segments, one from second segment, Training, and other from the fifth segment, The Fleet Sorties, that contain brief English subtitles and hint there may be more out there.
The search continues for a fully subtitled version of this classic film.
pilsch@gatech.edu