The Emperor in August (日本のいちばん長い日)

The Emperor in August (日本のいちばん長い日, Nihon no ichiban nagai hi) is a 2015 Japanese historical drama film directed and written by Masato Harada, adapted from the nonfiction book Nihon no ichiban nagai hi: Ketteiban by the Shōwa-era historian Kazutoshi Handō. It dramatizes Japan's surrender in the Pacific War, centered on the final 24 hours from the imperial conference of 14 August 1945 that accepted the Potsdam Declaration to the Emperor's radio broadcast the next day, and it is the second film adaptation of the book, following Kihachi Okamoto's 1967 version.^{1 • 2}

Production and cast

Harada, who had won the Special Grand Prix of the 35th Montreal World Film Festival for Chronicle of My Mother, directed the film from his own screenplay, adapting Handō's book, which the distributor describes as the definitive edition of a work built on meticulous research into Shōwa history.⁴ The film was produced by the "Nihon no ichiban nagai hi" Production Committee and shot at Shochiku Studios, with music by Harumi Fuki, cinematography by Takahide Shiba, and editing by Yūto Harada.^{1 • 6}

Kōji Yakusho, in his fifth collaboration with Harada after Chronicle of My Mother, played Anami; Masahiro Motoki, known for Departures, played the Emperor; and Tsutomu Yamazaki, of The Super-Station (Marusa no Onna), played Suzuki. Tōri Matsuzaka and Shinichi Tsutsumi also appeared, and Erika Toda and Ken'ichi Matsuyama took special-appearance roles.^{4 • 3} Motoki reportedly hesitated before accepting the role of the Emperor, a part that the 1967 version had not treated directly on screen.⁷

Relation to the 1967 film

The 1967 version, directed by Kihachi Okamoto from a screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto for Toho's 35th anniversary, ran 157 minutes in black and white, starred Toshiro Mifune as War Minister Anami, and used a documentary-style narration by Tatsuya Nakadai. It placed third in Kinema Junpo's Best Ten, and its success led Toho to produce a series of war films under the "8.15 series" label for the following six years.⁸

The 2015 film differs in emphasis. Reviewers note that where Okamoto's version foregrounded the Kyūjō incident as its second-half subject, Harada's version treats it more briefly and instead builds a human drama around Anami, with the first half centered on Suzuki and the political process by which the Emperor's decision was used to overcome the military's opposition.^{9 • 5} The 2015 film also stretches its period somewhat: it opens that spring with Suzuki's cabinet being formed, Tokyo's firebombing, and responses to the Potsdam Declaration and the two atomic bombs.¹⁰ A further distinction noted by critics is the treatment of the Emperor himself: the 2015 film portrays Shōwa directly as a human being rather than a deified figure, which the 1967 version had avoided.^{7 • 11}

Reception and honors

The film opened on 8 August 2015, in the year marking the 70th anniversary of the war's end.^{4 • 12} At the 39th Japan Academy Prizes it received the Most Excellent Film award and Most Excellent Director and Screenplay awards for Harada, Most Excellent Lead Actor for Yakusho, and Outstanding Supporting Actor for Motoki, along with awards for music, cinematography, lighting, art direction, sound recording, and editing.¹ It also received the Blue Ribbon Award for the work.⁹

Audience and critic scores varied by outlet: Kinenote users gave it an average of 72.4 points from 983 ratings, Filmarks users 4.1 out of 5 from 7,794 reviews, and Allcinema users 6.3 out of 10 from 24 votes, while Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 90 percent Tomatometer score from two reviews.^{4 • 13 • 14 • 10} Critics writing in English described it as an expertly executed, austere wartime drama; the South China Morning Post's reviewer called it elegant but overly detached and suggested that non-history buffs probably need not apply.^{15 • 10} Japanese commentary was divided on the same point from the other direction: some found the Kyūjō incident underdeveloped compared with the 1967 film, while others argued that Harada deliberately used contemporary filmmaking to convey the end of the war to a generation with no experience of it.⁹

References

1. 日本のいちばん長い日, 映画.com
2. 日本のいちばん長い日(2015), WOWOWオンライン
3. 日本のいちばん長い日, アスミック・エース
4. 日本のいちばん長い日(2015), KINENOTE
5. 日本映画は如何に昭和天皇を描いたか―映画『日本のいちばん長い日』1967年版と2015年版の比較―, 『東アジア日本学研究』創刊号
6. 日本のいちばん長い日 (2015), シネマトゥデイ
7. 「若い世代や、海外の人々にも観てもらいたい」～映画『日本のいちばん長い日』原田眞人監督インタビュー, BLOGOS
8. 日本のいちばん長い日, 優秀映画鑑賞推進事業 (OMC)
9. 日本映画レビュー─2015年
10. The Emperor in August, Rotten Tomatoes
11. 天皇と映画～映画における、時代ごとの天皇観～, シネマトゥデイ
12. 日本のいちばん長い日, 金沢輪之内会 文化会 資料
13. 日本のいちばん長い日, Filmarks映画
14. 日本のいちばん長い日 2015, allcinema
15. Nihon no Ichiban Nagai Hi, Metropolis Japan

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released since 2000 › Released 2000 to 2016

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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