The Hollywood Sign over Mt Fuji: A Film Analysis of the American Occupation of Japan

This research is an in depth, interdisciplinary analysis of Japanese film history, with the focus being the American Occupation of Japan, from 1945-1952. It was during this period that American style filmography came to influence the film style of Japanese cinema, after seeing a return in traditionalism pre-World War II, and new advances in film due to Western influences even before that. American occupation authorities would approve of films that included typical American ideals, and prohibit/censor topics that criticized the United States or promoted Japanese traditionalism. An interdisciplinary approach will be taken when conducting the method of the study, due to the multifaceted nature of the research being undertaken. An understanding of the history of Japanese film, a careful analysis of films that are relevant to the time periods that will be discussed, and content analysis will be used in order to comprehend the messages and characteristics of the works being examined. The study will aim to fill a gap in the field of film history, in which the effects the Occupation of Japan had on cinema as a whole, are largely ignored. Additionally, the repercussions of the Occupation on Japan’s contemporary filmography will be discussed, since the Occupation and Japan’s role in World War II have had a profound impact on what is considered appropriate in its cinema. This study will attempt to highlight the extent of the effects of an occupation of a country, and how those foreign occupations affect the culture and way of life of a society