Visions for Japanese Society: An Examination of Japanese Postwar Occupation Period Film

Abstract

By following the films of directors Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Masaki Kobayashi, and Shohei Imamura during occupation period Japan, unified visions for Japanese society are formed as it transitions from wartime into the postwar era. Each of these films convey a sense of rapid change in the society, external pressures and foreign influence, a daily struggle, and immediate postwar suffering. Not only can these films be seen across a wide variety of styles, but they also each approach these issues with immediacy and show tentative outlooks for how Japan functioned and felt for most people in the postwar period. This difference in style can be contributed to the director’s diverse backgrounds and what they were influenced by in the time that began making films in which further complicate our understanding of Japanese society as it transitioned into the postwar era.