Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire (2004)
Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire(2004) This 3-part PBS documentary explores Japanese society under the most long-lasting dynasty of shoguns, a time when Japan cut itself off from the rest of the world. The Tokugawa shoguns succeeded in first unifying Japan and then isolating the country from the outside by the early 1600s. The documentary is particular good at dealing with Japan’s social elites (shoguns and samurai) and those who served them (especially fascinating are the Geisha of Edo’s pleasure district, Yoshiwara). Unfortunately, it largely overlooks Japan’s peasantry and their place in Japan’s complicated social structure.
Part 1 provides background on the vicious civil wars that tore Japan apart throughout the 1400s and 1500s and how the Tokugawas were able to unite Japan under their rule. Part 2 describes the elaborate measures to which Tokugawa shoguns went to preserve their static, tightly controlled, and almost completely isolated society over the next two centuries. Part 3 discusses the internal pressures and external forces that disrupted Japanese society in the 1800s and ultimately brought an end to the Tokugawa Shogunate and their policy of enforced isolation.
The film’s explanation of the events leading up to Commodore Perry’s U.S. expedition to compel Japan to open to foreign trade is very good, but the documentary unfortunately comes to a rushed, abrupt end with the 1850s and has little to say about long-term consequences or connections to future events.
What makes Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire interesting is how the film furthers its narrative through vignettes. Rather than just a parade of details, the film frequently spends time to tell a particular story in depth, which then illustrates a broader point in the narrative. The documentary is visually attractive but traditional in format: a heavy reliance on still imagery, artwork and architecture, and footage of natural scenery. It does not employ any dialogue-based dramatizations or detailed recreations of people and events. Information is provided entirely through voice-over narration.
In a clever touch, the narrator is Richard Chamberlain, star of the 1980 epic miniseries Shogun (and one of the film’s vignettes is the story of William Adams,
the shipwrecked English sailor who was the real-life inspiration for James Clavell’s novel and the miniseries). Despite its total running length of nearly three hours, the documentary has potential for use in secondary and college classrooms. Each part is around 54 minutes, which can fit into one standard class period, and generally can stand alone without requiring the other parts.
Some of the stories contain violent details, but there is explicit nothing in them to trouble students in the younger secondary grades. Perhaps the only drawback is that the film refers to numerous Japanese words which do not appear on the screen; the teacher may need to provide a list so that students can follow along and learn the vocabulary.
Scott Metzger Pennsylvania State University sam59@psu.edu
