Jiro Shirasu

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TV Movie: Jiro Shirasu
Japanese: マッカーサーを叱った男～白洲次郎・戦後復興への挑戦～
Director: Keishi Ohtomo
Writer: Keishi Ohtomo, Hiroshi Hayashi, Jin Mayama
Network: NHK
Episodes: 2
Release Date: February 28, 2009 & March 7, 2009
Runtime: Sat. 21:00 - 21:58
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

About

The NHK drama "Jiro Shirasu" covers the life of Jiro Shirasu, famous in Japan because of his defiant negotiation sessions with Douglas MacArthur after Japan's defeat in World War II.

Notes

Portions of Jiro Shirasu's early life while studying at Clare College were filmed on location at Clare College and St John's College in England.
Yusuke Iseya, who plays Jiro Shirasu, performs in his first ever television drama.

Cast



Yusuke Iseya	Kengo Kora	Shigeru Koyama	Miki Nakatani	Ittoku Kishibe
Jiro Shirasu	Jiro Shirasu (young)	Jiro Shirasu (old)	Masako Shirasu	Fumimaro Konoe



Yoshio Harada	Kanji Ishimaru	Katsumi Takahashi	Tetsushi Tanaka	Kamejiro Ichikawa
Shigeru Yoshida	Nobuhiko Ushiba	Eiichi Tatsumi	Tetsutaro Kawakami	Jiro Aoyama



Eiji Okuda	Mieko Harada	Raita Ryu	Kenichi Endo	Hidekazu Mashima
Bunpei Shirasu	Yoshiko Shirasu	Joji Matsumoto	Nagano Shigeo	Seizi Honda

Additional Cast Members:

Takeo Nakahara - Aisuke Kabayama
Sansei Shiomi - Miyoshi
Reiko Kusamura - Tachi
Katsuhiko Sasaki
Koji Moritsugu
Hana Konoe
Kenichi Takito
Marie Machida
Kanta Ogata
Susumu Kurobe - Chairman of International Trade and Industry Committee (House of Councillors)

Comments

Randy Jackson Jan 24 2010 1:21 am In response to Daniel Jinsuh. I would just like to point out Korea's persecution of Buddhists. Why is it always christians screaming about persecution when they have historicaly been some of the worst. On the other hand I defy any one to find comparable persecution commited at the hands of buddhists. I furthermore fail to see how Japan is neccesarily to blame for Korea being split in two. Sure if they never occupied it, but then it just would have ended up under Chinese communist rule. I think an even better question than " how long does Japan have to apologize" would be " how long will Korea continue to play the victim card".

Daniel Jinsuh Jan 18 2010 2:52 am This is response to comments posted on 17th May, 2009 by Shiela.

I happened to be an accidental viewer of this programme. I was very intrigued by this person Jiro Shirasu, thus stumbling on this site which i appreciate and impressed by other folk's insight and knowledge.

However, few things she Shiela said were troubling. Her reference to Korea supposedly not teaching about Hiroshima and Nagaski is TOTALLY INCORRECT. I would know this as i am Korean-American who was born, raised and schooled in Korea for nearly 20 years. I learned about atom bombs dropping in Hiroshima and Nagaski in Middle school and High school. And there is even much more extensive study and debate on this topic on University level.

I understand this site is not the forum for the Korea-Japan topic. But I feel compelled to set few facts straight and address Shiela's misconception if not the misinformation.

As for Korea-japan relation and history from the turn of 20th century and on, yes, Korea was "victimized" But the word 'victim' would be a gross understatement describing what Korea went through and endured injustice under imperial Japan's colonial rule since the formal 'Annexation of Korea to imperialist Japan' in 1910. To name a few, under Imperial Japan's rule, Koreans were banned from speaking their own Korean language but speak Japanese and forced to adopt Japanese version of their own names. Churches and Christians were persecuted and some martyred for not pledging their allegiance to Japan's emperor. Hundreds of thousands young Korean men and boys were conscripted to Japanese military and sent to battle front ultimately perished in the action during Japan's war. Many thousands of Korean women were enslaved as 'Comfort Women' during WWII. Then there is this Unit 731 that committed heinous criminal acts against people by performing human experiments for biological warfare. Yes, Korea was victimized at great lengths as other Asian countries have. And yet even after Japan surrendered, Korea is the one that gets divided and remains that way to this day.

i wonder if Shiela came across these topics in textbooks while living in Japan for some ten years or travelling extensively thruout Asia.

As to her #3 question, How long does Japan have to pay for or apologize for not 'what happened' but "what they perpetrated" still remains to be answered. Compared to post-WWII Germany's acknowledging and accepting of mea culpa, mea peccata, Japan has much to be desired.

Finally, this is about TV drama born out of fiction based on historical event. Viewers should be able to comment on the programme for their likes as well as dislikes without having to hear 'if you don't like it, Get out".

Bobby Hanafin Jan 15 2010 11:07 am "Though enjoyable as a period piece I feel the whole program is out of touch with historical reality and misses the opportunity to face wartime issues."

I believe that Anette Natking handled the response to this very well. It is fiction based on historical events sort of like a historical novel. In fact, most of the Taiga and related historical dramas on NHK are only based on historical events (not entirely facts). Good case in point is their adaptation of Shinsengumi.

NHK protrays Shinsegumi as relatively accurate historically but is trying to play to a younger Japanese viewing audience. There has been a surge in young Japanese singers and actors playing roles in historical and Samurai dramas and TV shows for just that reason. Another example is Byyokotai, (I know I've got the spelling messed up) about the young high school level Samurai who committed suicide by mistake during Japan's civil war(s) leading to the Meiji period. It even uses a western song sung by the Irish Women as a theme song.

As a military historian, I'm kind of puzzled by what Ms. Matkin means by wartime issues? As George points out it take two to tango. However when was the last time a U.S. media outlet including PBS portrayed American history accurately? Even Ken Burns who tells a compelling story of our American civil war just comes close to reality, and he has his critics mostly from the far right in America.

In the context of world history, why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor and begin WWII even given the militarists in control at the time misjudged American endurance to go to war. Japan had been isolated from the rest of the world even before the U.S. was something in the eye of Great Britain.

The Western colonial (ok, imperialist) powers are well know for both slavery and world conquest as well as the ancient civilizations of China, Korea, and Japan, etc... However, the Japanese though isolated were not dumb enough to not notice what was happening in China and Korea. First China was being carved up by the Western powers to the point that even Japan would join in as am imitation western colonial power.

Then first China, then Japan carved up or controlled most of the Korean Peninsula again imitating the western colonial movement as these Asian nations tried to modernize.

When Commodore Perry's Black Ships rolled into knock Japan's door open, the Tokugawa government knew on one hand Japan lacked the modern technology to take on any western power in war. This led to Japan's own civil war with what to do about the Americans and other western powers as the root cause. Not only that but just like we (the U.S.) has done in the Middle East and elsewhere in the 21st century, we supplied arms and military advisers to the side that desire closer ties with US.

Be careful what you wish for.

The strategy of Japanese modernization had one object in mind and one only - to not become carved up by American, Britain, Germany, Russia, and so on. The only way to achieve this was to learn from the west in order to one day compete with or fend off attacks from the west in war.

Sneaky little blah, blahs

To say that the Japanese learn and adapted well to western technology from the Meiji period right up to December the 7th is an understatement. They build competitive naval fleets, surpassed us technologically in aircraft with the Zero, though we quickly caught up, and needed natural resources (oil comes to mind) and territory to ignite economic growth and become a western power. Yes, Japan wanted to be us in order to compete with us.

We get so wrapped up around Japan's sneak attack on us that we tend to forget the it takes two to tango remark made by George. How many times had U.S. troops historically made surprise or sneak attacks in our history, the Indian Wars come to mind as we committed genocide against native Americans.

How did Japan get so sneaky to attack our Pacific Fleet with the intention of destroying it, a feat they almost accomplished.

Not only was there conflict over Japan's aspirations to be a western colonial power, but we (and other western nations) threatened to cut off the supply of natural resources (mainly oil from S.W. Asia) from Japan. Resources much needed to ensure economic prosperity going into the later part of the 20th century.

There is of course a lesson to be learned from this. As we (the U.S.) are bogged down in the Middle East and S.W. Asia, and our people give the impression that our population is too weak to fight or defend our own nation. Only mention two words - THE DRAFT - and most Americans wilt and get weak kneed.

This of course is the same dangerous under estimation the Japanese made when they attacked Pearl Harbor. But this time around, it will be China who will compete with US on an economic and military international scale. It will China who one day will attack the U.S. somewhere in the world. Why?

For the same reasons that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Not intentionally, but we are potentially cutting off the flow of natural resources to China that is much needed for them to establish a growing Middle Class in one of the largest populations on earth outside of India.

China is coming into the 21st century the way Japan came into the 20th. When Japan attacked us WE were a sleeping Giant and Japan paid the price. This time around China is the sleeping Giant, and if China challenges us economically and militarily for world power they have no reluctance what so ever to implement conscription. Heck, just mobilizing a tear drop in a rain barrel of China's population and deploying them to the Middle East where China has natural resource treaties with Iran, Syria, and the various -istans surrounding Afghanistan (once part of the former Soviet Union and all Muslim states) would not only match but far surpass our ground force levels.

Robert L. Hanafin Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired

Anette Sep 27 2009 6:34 am This is an addition to suzan matkin's comment #2 - D. MacArther had never been the Boss of Jiro Shirasu. After the WWII, Shirasu was working at a Liason office for Japanese Government to liaise information between J. GOvernment & GHQ. As Shirasu showed up at GHQ office quite oftern, he was familier with people who worked at GHQ, including MAcArthur.

The 3rd episode was boradcasted a few days ago. THe main focus of this final episode was the days which led to the San Francisco treaty - which, I think Shirasu's personality was quite well portrated.

george Sep 24 2009 12:31 am I think Susan's comment is more than justified, and Shiela, though you are very well qualified, and obviously very clever, perhaps you are forgetting that it takes two to tango, and that whilst Japan need not continue to apologise or pay for their part in WWII (though I can't see that Susan in her comment demanded either) they do, at least, have a duty to accurately portray history.

Shiela May 17 2009 12:52 pm This is response to Susan Matkin statement about throwing stones at glasshouses. You seem to have some serious issues about the Japanese and their role in World War II. I have some questions for you #1. Did you actually serve in the military during the war? #2. Have you actually lived in Japan? #3. How long do the Japanese have to pay for or appologize for what happened 60+ years ago? Just for the record, I am half-Japanese/half American. I have spent 13 years of my life in Japan. I also majored in Asian Studies and have travelled extensively throughout Asia. In Korea, for instance-they don not teach abotu Hiroshima or Nagasaki in their history textbooks. But I guesss since they were the victims, it is justified, right? If you dislike the way the Japanese handle/deal with the topic of their role in World War II. Here's an idea-Don't watch Japanese programs that are about that topic.

Billy Mar 31 2009 11:13 pm Historically, I think it is not unusual for governments to treat people as slaves, be it in peace time or war - including their own citizens. Getting back to shirasu, i think it was probably salt in the wound to show disrespect to a God who had just been restructured as a common guy. However, as the gift was probably a gaimusho effort, quite understandable for the general to not prostrate before it for the rest of the afternoon. Enjoyed the images of Cambridge in the '20 ? but I felt it tried too hard to make this guy look like some dandy jet-set, not shy about standing up to westerners. Tutorial scenes were poor and his english bits were at times not very good.

Anette Natking Mar 15 2009 12:20 pm Hello Aisanmediawiki,

Here's full casting of the Drama.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E6%B4%B2%E6%AC%A1%E9%83%8E_(%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9E)

アメリカ (US) マッカーサー (MacArthur, Douglas) 演：TIMOTHY HARRIS GHQ司令官、元帥。戦後の日本の実効支配にあたり、東久邇宮内閣に新憲法草案作成を指示する。

ケーディス (Kades, Charles L.) 演：CHRISTIAN JAMES マッカーサーの元で新憲法作成に関わっている。

グルー大使 (Ambassador Joseph C. Grew) 演：STEVEN ASHTON アメリカの大使。舞踏会で正子と知り合う。

イギリス(UK)

ロビン Robbin 演：ED SPELEERS

( Translation source : http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/figures.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Grew)

Anette Natking Mar 15 2009 10:44 am This dramatisation is based on 2 books, many parts of the story are fiction. According to NHK's comment in the programme, they clearly mentioned "This is a dramatised programme, not a historical documentary"

I agree that whether Mr Shirasu used the words: we are not Slaves.: remains mistery. But, some authobiography of Mr Shirasu says that he shouted to MacArther that his casual treatment to the Christmass Gift from the Emperor, saying ' Oh, Putting it somewhere'...

Since MacArther was already in good term with the Emperor since their first meeting, I wonder why MacArther took such a casual treatment to the gift from the Emperor. This is the bit quizzical point for me to understand.

suzan matkin Mar 07 2009 6:57 pm I wonder if Shirasu really took exception to MacArthur's casual treatment of the imperial Christmas present as in last nights program using the words :we are not Slaves. It would have been a case of people in glasshouses throwing stones as Japanese treatment of other nationalities as slaves is well documented ;so surely Shirasu would not have made such a comment? In addition putting presents on one side for later is quite common practice in Japan although no doubt the messenger should have been thanked formally first. Would it have been possible for him to reprove his boss MacArthur with overt anger ? Though enjoyable as a period piece I feel the whole program is out of touch with historical reality and misses the opportunity to face wartime issues.

Tim Harris Feb 14 2009 9:21 pm Could you add that the part of General Douglas MacArthur will be played by Timothy Harris, please?

Jiro Shirasu

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