A Day in Tokyo: A 1968 Movie Captures a Town Reborn 23 Years After Its Destruction

Dur­ing Global Conflict II, Tokyo sus­tained heavy dam­age, espe­cial­ly with the bomb­ings con­duct­ed through the U.S. mil­i­tary in March 1945. Referred to as Oper­a­tion Meet­ing­area, US air raids destroyed 16 sq. miles in cen­tral Tokyo, leav­ing 100,000 civil­ians useless and one mil­lion house­much less. Tokyo did­n’t recov­er fast­ly. It took till the Fifties for recon­struc­tion to actual­ly achieve momen­tum. However achieve momen­tum it did. By means of 1964, Tokyo discovered itself massive­ly rebuilt, mod­ern­ized, and in a position to host the Olympics. That brings us to the 1968 movie above, A Day in Tokyo, cre­at­ed through the Japan Country­al Tourism Orga­ni­za­tion (JNTO) to professional­mote tourism within the rebuilt town.

The internet­web page Japan­ese Nos­tal­gic Automobile units the scene:

The yr 1968 used to be a spe­cial time for Japan. It used to be emerg­ing as a mod­ern coun­check out. The Tokyo Olympics had simply been held a couple of years pri­or. Bul­let trains, high-speed categorical­tactics, and col­or tele­vi­sion wide­casts had been unfold­ing thru­out the land. The yr prior to noticed the Toy­ota 2000GT and Maz­da Cos­mo Recreation, Japan’s con­tem­po­rary sports activities automobiles, debut. It will have to were incred­i­bly excit­ing.

Within the 23-minute movie above, you’ll revis­it this second of trans­for­ma­tion and renew­al, when Tokyo—because the movie’s nar­ra­tor put it—blended the most productive of latest and outdated. Right here, within the “con­stant meta­bol­ic cycle of destruc­tion and cre­ation, Tokyo professional­gress­es at a dizzy­ing tempo.” And it’s a sight to behold. Experience.

Relat­ed Con­tent 

Watch Existence at the Streets of Tokyo in Photos Document­ed in 1913: Stuck Between the Tra­di­tion­al and the Mod­ern

A Vir­tu­al Excursion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Misplaced Japan­ese Mas­ter­piece, the Impe­r­i­al Resort in Tokyo

Behold the Distinctive Beau­ty of Japan’s Artis­tic Guy­hollow Cov­ers