title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Recognizing the myriad problems with contact, the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2009 and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2013 introduced guidelines and recommendations that included a right to choose self-isolation.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: There have been reports of human safaris in India's Andaman Islands and in Peru, where tourism companies attempt to help tourists see uncontacted or recently contacted peoples. This practice is controversial.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island, which lies near South Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal, reject contact. Attempts to contact them have usually been rebuffed, sometimes with lethal force. Their language is markedly different from other languages of the Andamans, which suggests that they have been isolated for thousands of years. They have been called by experts the most isolated people in the world, and they are likely to remain so.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: During the 2001 Census of India, a joint expedition conducted during 23–24 February 2001 identified at least a few dozen individuals, but it was not exhaustive. Helicopter surveys after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami confirmed the Sentinelese had survived, and there have been a few limited interactions with them since. The local Andaman and Nicobar administration has adopted an "eyes-on and hands-off" policy to ensure that no poachers enter the island. A protocol for circumnavigation of North Sentinel Island has been made and notified in consultation with the Indian government.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Individuals have occasionally attempted to contact them, although such attempts are against the law. In November 2018, American missionary John Allen Chau was killed by the Sentinelese during an illegal expedition to the island, where Chau had intended to convert the tribe to Christianity.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Another Andamanese tribe, the Jarawas, live on the main islands, largely isolated from other peoples. They are thought to number a few hundred people.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Toromona are an uncontacted people living near the upper Madidi River and the Heath Rivers in northwestern Bolivia. The government has created an "exclusive, reserved, and inviolable" portion of the Madidi National Park to protect the Toromona. The group faced encroachment from a Chinese mining company in 2016.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Among the Ayoreo people of the Gran Chaco are a small number of uncontacted nomadic hunter-gatherers in the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Until the 1970s, Brazil attempted unsuccessfully to move anyone on lands that could be commercially cultivated. Then, in 1987, it set up the Department of Isolated Indians inside FUNAI, facilitating the work of Sydney Possuelo and José Carlos Meirelles, and declared the Vale do Javari perpetually sealed off, encompassing an area of . In 2007, FUNAI reported the presence of 67 uncontacted indigenous peoples in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Awá are people living in the eastern Amazon rainforest. There are approximately 350 members, and 100 of them have no contact with the outside world. They are considered highly endangered because of conflicts with logging interests in their territory.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Kawahiva live in the north of Mato Grosso. They are constantly on the move and have little contact with outsiders. Thus, they are known primarily from physical evidence they have left behind: arrows, baskets, hammocks, and communal houses.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Korubu live in the lower Vale do Javari in the western Amazon Basin. Other tribes may include the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, and the Himarimã. There may be uncontacted peoples in Uru-Eu-Uaw-Uaw Indigenous Territory and Kampa Indigenous Territory and Envira River Isolated Peoples.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: In 2019, some isolated groups of one to two people came to the media's attention. Two brothers of the Piripkura tribe had continued to live alone in the jungle but initiated contact with FUNAI after a fire they had kept burning for 18 years went out. They were the subsequent focus of the documentary "Piripkura". Another man colloquially called the "Man of the Hole" lived alone on where he dug hundreds of holes for farming and trapping. He was found dead in his hammock, in a self-made dwelling, in August 2022.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: As of 2021, uncontacted peoples in Brazil are threatened by illegal land grabbers, loggers, and gold miners. Additionally, the government of Jair Bolsonaro signalled its intention to develop the Amazon and reduce the size of indigenous reservations.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: With the creation of gigantic tribal reserves and strict patrolling, Colombia is now regarded as one of the countries that offers maximum protection to uncontacted indigenous people.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Nukak people are nomadic hunter-gatherers living between the Guaviare and Inírida rivers in south-east Colombia at the headwaters of the northwest Amazon basin. There are groups, including the Carabayo, Yuri and the Passé, in .


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Two isolated indigenous peoples of Ecuador live in the Amazon region: the Tagaeri and the Taromenane. Both are eastern Huaorani peoples living in Yasuni National Park. These semi-nomadic people live in small groups, subsisting on hunting, gathering, and some crops. They are organized into extended families. Since 2007 there is a national policy which mandates: untouchability, self-determination, equality, and no contact. In 2013, more than 20 Taromenane were killed by other Huaorani.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Approximately 100 Ayoreo people, some of whom are in the Totobiegosode tribe, live uncontacted in the forest. They are nomadic, and they hunt, forage, and conduct limited agriculture. They are the last uncontacted peoples south of the Amazon basin, and are in Amotocodie. Threats to them include rampant illegal deforestation. According to Survival International, Brazilian company Yaguarete Porá S.A. is converting thousands of hectares of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe's ancestral territory into cattle ranching land. The Union of Ayoreo Natives of Paraguay is working for their protection, with support from the Iniciativa Amotocodie.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Mashco-Piro are nomadic Arawak hunter-gatherers who inhabit Manú National Park in Peru. In 1998, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs estimated their number to be around 100 to 250. They speak a dialect of the Piro languages. Amid incursions on their land, the tribe has made it clear they do not wish to be contacted. As of 2013, all the bands seem to be surviving. Other groups include the Machiguenga, Nanti, Asháninka, Mayoruna, Isconahua, Kapanawa, Yora, Murunahua, Chitonahua, Mastanahua, Kakataibo, and Pananujuri. Many of them speak dialects of Panoan languages. There are five reserves for uncontacted peoples. However, the law designed to protect those peoples does not prevent economic operations there.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: In Venezuela some groups from the Hoti, Yanomami, and Piaroa tribes live in relative isolation. The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples has no policies designed to protect these people specifically.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: There are over 40 uncontacted tribes living in West Papua region in Indonesia, although contact is usually established upon their initial encounter. While it is illegal for journalists and other organizations to enter West Papua, there is no dedicated government agency to protect isolated indigenous groups. Human rights organizations, including Survival International, have argued that there is a need to raise awareness of the existence of uncontacted tribes, for example, to prevent the development of infrastructure near their lands. On the other hand, remaining vague about the exact location and size of the tribe may help to avoid encouraging contact.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: The Pintupi Nine lived a traditional life in the Gibson Desert of Australia until 1984, having earlier split off from another group of Pintupi people.


title: Uncontacted peoples

text: Ishi, a member of the Yahi people of Northern California, remained in voluntary isolation from the outside world until 1911 and was acclaimed as the "last wild Indian".


title: Box-office bomb

text: A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after release has technically "bombed", the term is more frequently used for major studio releases that were highly anticipated, extensively marketed and expensive to produce that ultimately failed commercially.


title: Box-office bomb

text: With the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in the 2000s, word of mouth regarding new films is easily spread and has had a marked effect on box office performance. A film's ability or failure to attract positive or negative commentary can strongly impact its performance at the box office, especially on the opening weekend.


title: Box-office bomb

text: Occasionally, films may underperform because of issues largely unrelated to the content of the film, such as the timing of the film's release. This was one of the reasons given for the commercial failure of "Intolerance", D. W. Griffith's follow-up to "The Birth of a Nation". Owing to production delays, the film was not released until late 1916, when the widespread antiwar sentiment it reflected had started to shift in favor of American entry into World War I. Another example is the 2015 critically panned docudrama about FIFA entitled "United Passions", which may have been adversely affected by bad publicity relating to a corruption scandal. It was released in theaters in the United States at the same time FIFA's leaders were under investigation for fraud and corruption, combined with general indifference to Association football, and the film grossed only $918 at the US box office in its opening weekend.


title: Box-office bomb

text: Sometimes, a film's performance may be adversely affected by national crisis or a disaster, such as the September 11 attacks in 2001, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Box-office bomb

text: In evaluating box-office gross numbers, it is important to keep in mind that not all that money is returned to the film studio. Some of the gross is kept by the film exhibitors and the film distributor. The scratch formula for making a rough estimate of a studio's portion of the gross is that the studio usually gets half.


title: Box-office bomb

text: A large budget can cause a film to fail financially, even when it performs reasonably well at the box office; 1980's "Heaven's Gate", for example, exceeded its planned production schedule by three months, causing its budget to inflate from $12 million to $44 million. The film only earned $3.5 million at the box office.


title: Box-office bomb

text: For the 2005 film "Sahara", its budget ballooned to $281.2 million for production, distribution, and other expenses. The film earned $119 million in theaters and $202.9 million overall with television and other subsidies included, resulting in a net loss of $78.3 million. In 2012, Disney reported losses of $200 million on "John Carter." The film had made a considerable $234 million worldwide, but this was short of its $250 million budget plus worldwide advertising.


title: Box-office bomb

text: The 2007 film "The Golden Compass" had a production budget of $200 million. To be able to fund the film, New Line Cinema had to sell all of the film's international distribution rights to various film distributors around the world. The film underperformed domestically, but was an international success; however, New Line did not have a cut of the international box office. These events were major factors in New Line becoming a division of Warner Bros. Pictures.


title: Box-office bomb

text: Films that are initially viewed as "flops" may recover income elsewhere. Several films have underperformed in their countries of origin, but have been sufficiently successful internationally to recoup losses or even become financial successes. Films may also recover money through international distribution, sales to television syndication, distribution outside of cinemas, and releases on home media. The 1995 post-apocalyptic action film "Waterworld" was the most expensive film ever made at the time undergoing significant production difficulties. While it performed relatively well in the US box office, it did not initially turn a profit and became known as a box office flop. However, international box office takings and video sales led it to turn a profit.


title: Box-office bomb

text: Other films have succeeded long after cinema release by becoming cult films or being re-evaluated over time. High-profile films fitting this description include "Vertigo," "Blade Runner", "The Wizard of Oz", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Citizen Kane", "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" and "The Shawshank Redemption", each of which initially lost money at the box office, but have since become popular.


title: Box-office bomb

text: It is common for a single film's lackluster performance to push its studio in financial losses. However, in extreme cases, a bomb may push its studio into bankruptcy or closure. Examples of this include United Artists ("Heaven's Gate") and Carolco Pictures ("Cutthroat Island"). "The Golden Compass" was a success at the international box office and grossed $372 million worldwide; however, its underperformance at the box office in North America was seen as a significant factor in influencing Warner Bros.' decision to take direct control of New Line Cinema.


title: Box-office bomb

text: In 2001, Square Pictures, a division of Square, released its only film, "". It received mixed reviews from critics and failed to recover its $145 million cost. Following the film's struggles, Square Pictures did not make any more films. They are now a consolidated subsidiary of Square Enix as Visual Works. In 2011, "Mars Needs Moms" was the last film released by ImageMovers Digital before Disney's stake got absorbed by ImageMovers to a loss of nearly $140 million – the largest box-office bomb of all time in nominal dollar terms. Despite this loss, the decision to close the production company had been made a year prior to the film's release.


title: Box-office bomb

text: The 2006 independent movie "Zyzzyx Road" made just $30 at the US box office. With a budget of $1.2 million and starring Tom Sizemore and Katherine Heigl, its tiny revenue is due to its limited box-office release – just six days in a single theater in Dallas for the purpose of meeting Screen Actors Guild requirements – rather than its ability to attract viewers. According to co-star Leo Grillo, it sold six tickets, two of which were to cast members.


title: Box-office bomb

text: Previously, the 2000 British film "Offending Angels" had become notorious for taking in less than £100 (~$150) at the box office. It had a £70,000 (~$105,000) budget but was panned by critics including the BBC, who called it a "truly awful pile of garbage", and "Total Film", who called it "irredeemable".


title: Box-office bomb

text: In 2011, the film "The Worst Movie Ever!" opened to just $11 at the US box office. It played in only one theater.


title: Box-office bomb

text: While terms like box-office flop (also box-office failure) and box-office bomb are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not same. A box-office bomb is technically worse than box-office flop.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Hideki Tojo (, "", December 30, 1884 – December 23, 1948) was a Japanese politician, general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), and convicted war criminal who served as prime minister of Japan and president of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association for most of World War II. He assumed several more positions including chief of staff of the Imperial Army before ultimately being removed from power in July 1944. During his years in power, his leadership was marked by extreme state-perpetrated violence in the name of Japanese ultranationalism, much of which he was personally involved in.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Hideki Tojo was born on December 30, 1884, to a relatively low-ranking samurai family in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo. He began his career in the Army in 1902 and steadily rose through the ranks to become a general by 1934. In March 1937, he was promoted to chief of staff of the Kwantung Army whereby he led military operations against the Chinese in Inner Mongolia and the Chahar-Suiyan provinces. By July 1940, he was appointed minister of war to the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: On the eve of the Second World War's expansion into Asia and the Pacific, Tojo was an outspoken advocate for a preemptive attack on the United States and its European allies. Upon being appointed prime minister on October 17, 1941, he oversaw the Empire of Japan's decision to go to war as well as its ensuing conquest of much of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. During the course of the war, Tojo presided over numerous war crimes, including the massacre and starvation of civilians and prisoners of war. He was also involved in the sexual enslavement of thousands of mostly Korean women and girls for Japanese soldiers, an event that still strains modern Japanese–Korean relations.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: After the war's tide decisively turned against Japan, Tojo was forced to resign as prime minister on July 18th, 1944. Following his nation's surrender to the Allied Powers in September 1945, he was arrested, convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in the Tokyo Trials, sentenced to death, and hanged on December 23, 1948. To this day, Tojo's complicity in atrocities such as the Rape of Nanjing, the Bataan Death March, and human experimentation entailing the torture and death of thousands have firmly intertwined his legacy with the fanatical brutality shown by the Japanese Empire throughout World War II.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Hideki Tojo was born in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo on December 30, 1884, as the third son of Hidenori Tojo, a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Under the "bakufu", Japanese society was divided rigidly into four castes; the merchants, artisans, peasants, and the samurai. After the Meiji Restoration, the caste system was abolished in 1871, but the former caste distinctions in many ways persisted afterwards, ensuring that those from the former samurai caste continued to enjoy their traditional prestige. The Tojo family came from the samurai caste, though the Tojos were relatively lowly warrior retainers for the great "daimyōs" (lords) that they had served for generations. Tojo's father was a samurai turned Army officer and his mother was the daughter of a Buddhist priest, making his family very respectable, but poor.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Hideki had an education typical of Japanese youth in the Meiji era. The purpose of the Meiji educational system was to train the boys to be soldiers as adults, and the message was relentlessly drilled into Japanese students that war was the most beautiful thing in the entire world, that the emperor was a living god, and that the greatest honor for a Japanese man was to die for the emperor. Japanese girls were taught that the highest honor for a woman was to have as many sons as possible who could die for the emperor in war. As a boy, Tojo was known for his stubbornness, lack of a sense of humor, for being an opinionated and combative youth fond of getting into fights with the other boys, and for his tenacious way of pursuing what he wanted. Japanese schools in the Meiji era were very competitive, and there was no tradition of sympathy for failure; those who did so were often bullied by the teachers. Those who knew him during his formative years deemed him to be of only average intelligence. However, he was known to compensate for his observed lack of intellect with a willingness to work extremely hard. Tojo's boyhood hero was the 17th-century shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu who issued the injunction: "Avoid the things you like, turn your attention to unpleasant duties". Tojo liked to say: "I am just an ordinary man possessing no shining talents. Anything I have achieved I owe to my capacity for hard work and never giving up". In 1899, Tojo enrolled in the Army Cadet School.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In 1905, Tojo shared in the general outrage in Japan at the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war with Russia, and which the Japanese people saw as a betrayal as the war did not end with Japan annexing Siberia as popular opinion had demanded. The Treaty of Portsmouth was so unpopular that it set off anti-American riots known as the Hibiya incendiary incident as many Japanese were enraged at the way the Americans had apparently cheated Japan as the Japanese gains in the treaty were far less than what public opinion had expected. Very few Japanese at the time had understood that the war with Russia had pushed their nation to the verge of bankruptcy, and most people in Japan believed that the American president Theodore Roosevelt who had mediated the Treaty of Portsmouth had cheated Japan out of its rightful gains. Tojo's anger at the Treaty of Portsmouth left him with an abiding dislike of Americans. In 1909, he married Katsuko Ito, with whom he had three sons (Hidetake, Teruo, and Toshio) and four daughters (Mitsue, Makie, Sachie, and Kimie).


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Upon graduating from the Japanese Military Academy (ranked 10th of 363 cadets) in March 1902, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry of the IJA. In 1918–19, he briefly served in Siberia as part of the Japanese expeditionary force sent to intervene in the Russian Civil War. He served as Japanese military attache to Germany between 1919 and 1922. As the Imperial Japanese Army had been trained by a German military mission in the 19th century, the Japanese Army was always very strongly influenced by intellectual developments in the German Army, and Tojo was no exception. In the 1920s, the German military favored preparing for the next war by creating a totalitarian "Wehrstaat" (Defense State), an idea that was taken up by the Japanese military as the "national defense state". In 1922, on his way home to Japan, he took a train ride across the United States, his first and only visit to America, which left him with the impression that the Americans were a materialistic soft people devoted only to making money and to hedonistic pursuits like sex, partying, and (despite Prohibition) drinking.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Tojo boasted that his only hobby was his work, and he customarily brought home his paperwork to work late into the night, and he refused to have any part in raising his children, which he viewed both as a distraction from his work and a woman's work, having his wife do all the work of taking care of his children. A stern, humorless man, he was known for his brusque manner, his obsession with etiquette, and for his coldness. Like almost all Japanese officers at the time, he routinely slapped the faces of the men under his command when giving orders, saying that face-slapping was a "means of training" men who came from families that were not part of the samurai caste, and for whom bushido was not second nature.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In 1924, Tojo was greatly offended by the Immigration Control Act passed by the American Congress banning all Asian immigration into the United States with many congressmen and senators openly saying the act was necessary because the Asians worked harder than whites. He wrote with bitterness at the time that American whites would never accept Asians as equals and "It [the Immigration Control Act] shows how the strong will always put their own interests first. Japan, too, has to be strong to survive in the world".


title: Hideki Tojo

text: By 1928, he was bureau chief of the Japanese Army and was shortly thereafter promoted to colonel. He began to take an interest in militarist politics during his command of the 8th Infantry Regiment. Reflecting the imagery often used in Japan to describe people in power, he told his officers that they were to be both a "father" and a "mother" to the men under their command. Tojo often visited the homes of the men under his command, assisted his men with personal problems, and made loans to officers short of money. Like many other Japanese officers, he disliked Western cultural influence in Japan, which was often disparaged as resulting in the ero-guro-nansensu ("eroticism, grotesquerie and nonsense") movement as he complained about such forms of "Western decadence" like young couples holding hands and kissing in public, which were undermining traditional values necessary to uphold the "kokutai".


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In 1934, Hideki was promoted to major general and served as chief of the personnel department within the Army Ministry. Tojo wrote a chapter in the book "Hijōji kokumin zenshū" ("Essays in time of national emergency"), a book published in March 1934 by the Army Ministry calling for Japan to become a totalitarian "national defense state". This book of fifteen essays by senior generals argued that Japan had defeated Russia in the war of 1904–05 because "bushidō" had given the Japanese superior willpower as the Japanese did not fear death unlike the Russians who wanted to live, and what was needed to win the


title: Hideki Tojo

text: inevitable next war (against precisely whom the book did not say) was to repeat the example of the Russian-Japanese war on a much greater scale by creating the "national defense state" that would mobilize the entire nation for war. In his essay Tojo wrote "The modern war of national defense extends over a great many areas" requiring "a state that can monolithically control" all aspects of the nation in the political, social and economic spheres. Tojo attacked Britain, France and the United States for waging "ideological war" against Japan since 1919. Tojo ended his essay stating that Japan must stand tall "and spread its own moral principles to the world" as the "cultural and ideological war of the 'imperial way' is about to begin".


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Tojo was appointed commander of the IJA 24th Infantry Brigade in August 1934. In September 1935, Tojo assumed top command of the Kenpeitai of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. Politically, he was nationalist, and militarist, and was nicknamed , for his reputation of having a sharp and legalistic mind capable of quick decision-making. Tojo was a member of the "Tōseiha" ("Control") faction in the Army that was opposed by the more radical "Kōdōha" ("Imperial Way") faction. Both the "Tōseiha" and the "Kōdōha" factions were militaristic groups that favored a policy of expansionism abroad and dictatorship under the Emperor at home, but differed over the best way of achieving these goals. The Imperial Way faction wanted a coup d'état to achieve a Shōwa Restoration; emphasised "spirit" as the principle war-winning factor; and despite advocating socialist policies at home wanted to invade the Soviet Union. The Control faction, while being willing to use assassination to achieve its goals, was more willing to work within the system to achieve reforms; wanted to create the "national defense state" to mobilize the entire nation before going to war; and, while not rejecting the idea of "spirit" as a war-winning factor also saw military modernization as a war-winning factor; and saw the United States as a future enemy just as much as the Soviet Union.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: During the February 26 coup attempt of 1936, Tojo and Shigeru Honjō, a noted supporter of Sadao Araki, both opposed the rebels who were associated with the rival "Imperial Way" faction. Emperor Hirohito himself was outraged at the attacks on his close advisers, and after a brief political crisis and stalling on the part of a sympathetic military, the rebels were forced to surrender. As the commander of the "Kenpeitai", Tojo ordered the arrest of all officers in the Kwantung Army suspected of supporting the coup attempt in Tokyo. In the aftermath, the Tōseiha faction was able to purge the Army of radical officers, and the coup leaders were tried and executed. Following the purge, Tōseiha and Kōdōha elements were unified in their nationalist but highly anti-political stance under the banner of the Tōseiha military clique, which included Tojo as one of its leaders.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Tojo was promoted to chief of staff of the Kwangtung Army in 1937. As the "Empire of Manchukuo" was, in reality, a Japanese colony in all but name, the Kwangtung Army's duties were just as much political as they were military. During this period, Tojo became close to Yōsuke Matsuoka, the fiery ultra-nationalist CEO of the South Manchuria Railway, one of Asia's largest corporations at the time, and Nobusuke Kishi, the Deputy Minister of Industry in Manchukuo, who was the man "de facto" in charge of Manchukuo's economy. Though Tojo regarded preparing for a war with the Soviet Union as his first duty, Tojo also supported the forward policy in north China as the Japanese sought to extend their influence into China. As chief of staff, Tojo was responsible for the military operations designed to increase Japanese penetration into the Inner Mongolia border regions with Manchukuo. In July 1937, he personally led the units of the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade in Operation Chahar, his only real combat experience.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident marking the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Tojo ordered his forces to attack Hebei Province and other targets in northern China. Tojo received Jewish refugees in accordance with Japanese national policy and rejected the resulting Nazi German protests. Tojo was recalled to Japan in May 1938 to serve as Vice-Minister of War under Army Minister Seishirō Itagaki. From December 1938 to 1940, Tojo was Inspector-General of Army Aviation.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: On June 1, 1940, Emperor Hirohito appointed Kōichi Kido, a leading "reform bureaucrat" as the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, making him into the Emperor's leading political advisor and fixer. Kido had aided in the creation in the 1930s of an alliance between the "reform bureaucrats" and the Army's "Control" faction centered around Tojo and General Mutō Akira. Kido's appointment also favored the rise of his allies in the Control faction. On July 30, 1940, Hideki Tojo was appointed army minister in the second Fumimaro Konoe regime and remained in that post in the third Konoe cabinet. Prince Konoe had chosen Tojo—a man representative of both the Army's hardline views and the Control faction while being considered reasonable to deal with—to secure the Army's backing for his foreign policy. Tojo was a militant ultra-nationalist, well respected for his work ethic and his ability to handle paperwork, who believed that the emperor was a living god and favored "direct imperial rule", ensuring that he would faithfully follow any order from the emperor. Konoe favored having Germany mediate an end to the Sino-Japanese war, pressuring Britain to end its economic and military support of China even at the risk of war, seeking better relations with both Germany and the United States, and taking advantage of the changes in the international order caused by Germany's victories in the spring of 1940 to make Japan a stronger power in Asia. Konoe wanted to make Japan the dominant power in East Asia, but he also believed it was possible to negotiate a "modus vivendi" with the United States under which the Americans would agree to recognize the "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere".


title: Hideki Tojo

text: By 1940, Konoe, who had started the war with China in 1937, no longer believed that a military solution to the "China Affair" was possible as he once did, instead favored having Germany mediate an end to the war that would presumably result in a pro-Japanese peace settlement, but would be less than he himself had outlined in the "Konoe programme" of January 1938. For this reason, Konoe wanted Tojo, a tough general whose ultra-nationalism was beyond question, to provide "cover" for his attempt to seek a diplomatic solution to the war with China. Tojo was a strong supporter of the Tripartite Pact between Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy. As the army minister, he continued to expand the war with China. After negotiations with Vichy France, Japan was given permission to place its troops in the southern part of French Indochina in July 1941. In spite of its formal recognition of the Vichy government, the United States retaliated against Japan by imposing economic sanctions in August, including a total embargo on oil and gasoline exports. On September 6, a deadline of early October was fixed in the Imperial Conference for resolving the situation diplomatically. On October 14, the deadline had passed with no progress. Prime Minister Konoe then held his last cabinet meeting, where Tojo did most of the talking:


title: Hideki Tojo

text: The prevailing opinion within the Japanese Army at that time was that continued negotiations could be dangerous. However, Hirohito thought that he might be able to control extreme opinions in the army by using the charismatic and well-connected Tojo, who had expressed reservations regarding war with the West, although the emperor himself was skeptical that Tojo would be able to avoid conflict. On October 13, he declared to Kōichi Kido: "There seems little hope in the present situation for the Japan-U.S. negotiations. This time, if hostilities erupt, I have to issue a declaration of war." During the last cabinet meetings of the Konoe government, Tojo emerged as a hawkish voice, saying he did not want a war with the United States but portrayed the Americans as arrogant, bullying, white supremacists. He said that any compromise solution would only encourage them to make more extreme demands on Japan, in which case Japan might be better off choosing war to uphold national honor. Despite saying he favored peace, Tojo had often declared at cabinet meetings that any withdrawal from French Indochina and/or China would be damaging to military morale and might threaten the "kokutai"; the "China Incident" could not be resolved via diplomacy and required a military solution; and attempting to compromise with the Americans would be seen as weakness by them.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: On October 16, Konoe, politically isolated and convinced that the emperor no longer trusted him, resigned. Later, he justified himself to his chief cabinet secretary, Kenji Tomita:


title: Hideki Tojo

text: At the time, Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni was said to be the only person who could control the Army and the Navy and was recommended by Konoe and Tojo as Konoe's replacement. Hirohito rejected this option, arguing that a member of the imperial family should not have to eventually carry the responsibility for a war against the West as a defeat would ruin the prestige of the House of Yamato. Following the advice of Kōichi Kido, he chose instead Tojo, who was known for his devotion to the imperial institution. By tradition, the Emperor needed a consensus among the elder statesmen or ""jushin"" before appointing a prime minister, and as long as former Prime Minister Admiral Keisuke Okada was opposed to Tojo, it would be impolitic for the Emperor to appoint him. During the meetings of the "jushin" regarding Prince Konoe's succession, Okada argued against Tojo's appointment while the powerful Lord Privy Seal Kōichi Kido pushed for Tojo. The result was a compromise where Tojo would become Prime Minister while "re-examining" the options for dealing with the crisis with the United States, though no promise was made Tojo would attempt to avoid a war.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: After being informed of Tojo's appointment, Prince Takamatsu wrote in his diary: "We have finally committed to war and now must do all we can to launch it powerfully. But we have clumsily telegraphed our intentions. We needn't have signaled what we're going to do; having [the entire Konoe cabinet] resign was too much. As matters stand now we can merely keep silent and without the least effort war will begin." Tojo's first speech on the radio made a call for "world peace", but also stated his determination to settle the "China Affair" on Japanese terms and to achieve the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" that would unite all of the Asian nations together.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: The Emperor summoned Tojo to the Imperial Palace one day before Tojo took office. After being informed of his appointment, Tojo was given one order from the Emperor: to make a policy review of what had been sanctioned by the Imperial Conferences. Despite being vocally on the side of war, Tojo nevertheless accepted this order, and pledged to obey. According to Colonel Akiho Ishii, a member of the Army General Staff, the newly appointed prime minister showed a true sense of loyalty to the emperor performing this duty. For example, when Ishii received from Hirohito a communication saying the Army should drop the idea of stationing troops in China to counter the military operations of the Western powers, he wrote a reply for the Prime Minister for his audience with the Emperor. Tojo then replied to Ishii: "If the Emperor said it should be so, then that's it for me. One cannot recite arguments to the Emperor. You may keep your finely phrased memorandum."


title: Hideki Tojo

text: On November 2, Tojo and Chiefs of Staff Hajime Sugiyama and Osami Nagano reported to Hirohito that the review had been in vain. The Emperor then gave his consent to war. The next day, Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano explained in detail the Pearl Harbor attack plan to Hirohito. The eventual plan drawn up by Army and Navy Chiefs of Staff envisaged such a mauling of the Western powers that Japanese defense perimeter lines—operating on interior lines of communications and inflicting heavy Western casualties—could not be breached. In addition, the Japanese fleet which attacked Pearl Harbor was under orders from Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to be prepared to return to Japan on a moment's notice, should negotiations succeed. Two days later, on November 5, Hirohito approved the operations plan for a war against the West and continued to hold meetings with the military and Tojo until the end of the month.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: On November 26, 1941, the American Secretary of State Cordell Hull handed Ambassador Nomura and Kurusu Saburo in Washington a "draft mutual declaration of policy" and "Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement between the United States and Japan". Hull proposed that Japan "withdraw all military, naval, air and police forces" from China and French Indochina in exchange for lifting the oil embargo, but left the term China undefined. The "Hull note" as it is known in Japan made it clear the United States would not recognise the puppet government of Wang Jingwei as the government of China, but strongly implied that the United States might recognise the "Empire of Manchukuo" and did not impose a deadline for the Japanese withdrawal from China. On November 27, 1941, Tojo chose to misrepresent the "Hull note" to the Cabinet as an "ultimatum to Japan", which was incorrect as the "Hull note" did not have a timeline for its acceptance and was marked "tentative" in the opening sentence, which is inconsistent with an ultimatum. The claim that the Americans had demanded in the "Hull note" Japanese withdrawal from all of China, instead of just the parts occupied since 1937 and together with the claim the note was an ultimatum was used as one of the principal excuses for choosing war with the United States. On December 1, another conference finally sanctioned the "war against the United States, England, and the Netherlands".


title: Hideki Tojo

text: On December 8, 1941 (December 7 in the Americas), Tojo went on Japanese radio to announce that Japan was now at war with the United States, the British Empire, and the Netherlands, reading out an imperial rescript that ended with the playing of the popular martial song "Umi Yukaba" ("Across the Sea"), which set to music a popular war poem from the classic collection "Manyōshū", featuring the lyrics "Across the sea, corpses soaking in the water, Across the mountains corpses heaped up in the grass, We shall die by the side of our lord, We shall never look back". Tojo continued to hold the position of army minister during his term as prime minister from October 17, 1941, to July 22, 1944. He also served concurrently as home minister from 1941 to 1942, foreign minister in September 1942, education minister in 1943, and minister of Commerce and Industry in 1943.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: As education minister, he continued militaristic and nationalist indoctrination in the national education system, and reaffirmed totalitarian policies in government. As home minister, he ordered various eugenics measures (including the sterilization of the "mentally unfit").


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In the early years of the war, Tojo had popular support as Japanese forces moved from one victory to another. In March 1942, in his capacity as army minister he gave permission for the Japanese Army in Taiwan to ship 50 "comfort women" from Taiwan to Borneo without ID papers (his approval was necessary as the Army's rules forbade people without ID traveling to the new conquests). The Japanese historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi noted this document proves that Tojo was aware of and approved of the "comfort women" corps. On April 18, 1942, the Americans staged the Doolittle Raid, bombing Tokyo. Some of the American planes were shot down and their pilots taken prisoner. The Army General Staff led by Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama insisted on executing the eight American fliers, but was opposed by Tojo, who feared that the Americans would retaliate against Japanese POWs if the Doolittle fliers were executed. The dispute was resolved by the emperor who commuted the death sentences of five fliers while allowing the other three to die, for reasons that remain unclear as the documents relating to the emperor's intervention were burned in 1945.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: As the Japanese went from victory to victory, Tojo and the rest of the Japanese elite were gripped by what the Japanese called "victory disease" as the entire elite was caught up in a state of hubris, believing Japan was invincible and the war was as good as won. By May 1942, Tojo approved a set of "non-negotiable" demands to be presented once the Allies sued for peace that allowed Japan to keep everything it already conquered while assuming possession of considerably more. Under such demands, Japan would assume control of the following territories:


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Additionally, Tojo wanted all of China to be under the rule of the puppet Wang Jingwei, planned to buy Macau and East Timor from Portugal and to create new puppet kingdoms in Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaya. As the Burmese had proved to be enthusiastic collaborators in the "New Order in Asia", the new Burmese kingdom would be allowed to annex much of north-east India as a reward. The Navy for its part demanded that Japan take New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: While Tojo was prime minister, the main forum for military decision-making was the Imperial General Headquarters presided over by the Emperor. It consisted of the Army and Navy ministers; the Army and Navy chiefs of staff; and chiefs of the military affairs bureaus in both services. The Imperial GHQ was not a joint chiefs of staff as existed in the United States and United Kingdom, but rather two separate services command operating under the same roof who would meet about twice a week to attempt to agree on a common strategy. The Operations Bureaus of the Army and Navy would develop their own plans and then attempt to "sell them" to the other, which was often not possible. Tojo was one voice out of many speaking at the Imperial GHQ, and was not able to impose his will on the Navy, which he had to negotiate with, as if dealing with an ally. The American historian Stanley Falk described the Japanese system as characterized by "bitter inter-service antagonisms" as the Army and Navy worked "at cross-purposes", observing the Japanese system of command was "uncoordinated, ill-defined and inefficient".


title: Hideki Tojo

text: However, after the Battle of Midway, with the tide of war turning against Japan, Tojo faced increasing opposition within the government and military. In August–September 1942, a major crisis gripped the Tojo cabinet when the Foreign Minister Shigenori Tōgō objected quite violently on August 29, 1942, to the Prime Minister's plan to establish a Greater East Asia Ministry to handle relations with the puppet regimes in Asia as an insult to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the "Gaimusho") and threatened to resign in protest. Tojo went to see the Emperor, who backed the Prime Minister's plans for the Greater East Asia Ministry, and on September 1, 1942, Tojo told the cabinet he was establishing the Greater East Asia Ministry and could not care less about how the "Gaimusho" felt about the issue, leading Tōgō to resign in protest. The American historian Herbert Bix wrote that Tojo was a "dictator" only in the narrow sense that from September 1942 on, he was generally able to impose his will on the Cabinet without seeking a consensus, but at the same time noted that Tojo's authority was based upon the support of the Emperor, who held ultimate power. In November 1942, Tojo, as Army Minister, was involved in drafting the regulations for taking "comfort women" from China, Japan (which included Taiwan and Korea at this time) and Manchukuo to the "South", as the Japanese called their conquests in South-East Asia, to ensure that the "comfort women" had the proper papers before departing. Until then the War Ministry required special permission to take "comfort women" without papers, and Tojo was tired of dealing with these requests. At the same time, Tojo, as the Army Minister, became involved in a clash with the Army chief of staff over whether to continue the battle of Guadalcanal or not. Tojo sacked the Operations office and his deputy at the general staff, who were opposed to withdrawing, and ordered the abandonment of the island.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In September 1943, the Emperor and Tojo agreed that Japan would pull back to an "absolute defense line" in the south-west Pacific to stem the American advance, and considered abandoning Rabaul base, but changed their minds in face of objections from the Navy. In November 1943, the American public's reaction to the Battle of Tarawa led Tojo to view Tarawa as a sort of Japanese victory, believing that more battles like Tarawa would break American morale, and force the U.S. to sue for peace. Moreover, Tojo believed that the Americans would become bogged down in the Marshalls, giving more time to strengthen the defenses in the Marianas. In late 1943, with the support of the Emperor, Tojo made a major effort to make peace with China to free up the 2 million Japanese soldiers in China for operations elsewhere, but the unwillingness of the Japanese to give up any of their "rights and interests" in China doomed the effort. China was by far the largest theater of operations for Japan, and with the Americans steadily advancing in the Pacific, Tojo was anxious to end the quagmire of the "China affair" to redeploy Japanese forces. In an attempt to enlist support from all of Asia, especially China, Tojo opened the Greater East Asia Conference in November 1943, which issued a set of Pan-Asian war aims, which made little impression on most Asians. On January 9, 1944, Japan signed a treaty with the puppet Wang regime under which Japan gave up its extraterritorial rights in China as part of a bid to win Chinese public opinion over to a pro-Japanese viewpoint, but as the treaty changed nothing in practice, the gambit failed.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: At the same time as he sought a diplomatic effort to end the war with China, Tojo also approved of the planning for Operation Ichi-Go, a huge offensive against China intended to take the American air bases in China and finally knock China out of the war once and for all. In January 1944, Tojo approved of orders issued by Imperial General Headquarters for an invasion of India, where the Burma Area Army in Burma under General Masakazu Kawabe was to seize the Manipour and Assam provinces with the aim of cutting off American aid to China (the railroad that supplied the American air bases in north-east India that allowed for supplies to be flown over "the Hump" of the Himalayas to China passed through these provinces). Cutting off American aid to China in turn might have had the effect of forcing Chiang Kai-shek to sue for peace. Following the 15th Army into India in the U-Go offensive were the Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army, as the political purpose of the operation was to provoke a general uprising against British rule in India that might allow the Japanese to take all of India. The roads necessary to properly supply the 150,000 Japanese soldiers committed to invading India would turn into mud when the monsoons arrived, giving the Japanese a very short period of time to break through. The Japanese were counting on capturing food from the British to feed their army, assuming that all of India would rise up when the Japanese arrived and thereby cause the collapse of the Raj. The Japanese brought along with them enough food to last for only 20 days; after that, they would have to capture food from the British to avoid starving. Bose had impressed Tojo at their meetings as the best man to inspire an anti-British revolution in India.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In the central Pacific, the Americans destroyed the main Japanese naval base at Truk in an air raid on February 18, 1944, forcing the Imperial Navy back to the Marianas (the oil to fuel ships and planes operating in the Marshalls, Caroline and Gilbert islands went up in smoke at Truk). This breach of the "absolute defense line", five months after its creation, led Tojo to fire Admiral Osami Nagano as the Navy Chief of Staff, for incompetence. The Americans had penetrated 2,100 km (1,300 miles) beyond the "absolute defense line" at Truk, and Tojo, senior generals and admirals all blamed each other for the situation. To strengthen his position in face of criticism of the way the war was going, on February 21, 1944, Tojo assumed the post of Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, arguing he needed to take personal charge of the Army. When Field Marshal Sugiyama complained to the Emperor about being fired and having the Prime Minister run the General Staff, the Emperor told him he supported Tojo. Tojo's major concern as Army Chief of Staff was planning the operations in China and India, with less time given over to the coming battles in the Marianas. Tojo decided to take the strategic offensive for 1944 with his plans to win the war in 1944 being as follows:


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Tojo expected that a major American defeat in the Marianas combined with the conquest of China and India would so stun the Americans that they would sue for peace. By this point, Tojo no longer believed the war aims of 1942 could be achieved, but he believed that his plans for victory in 1944 would lead to a compromise peace that he could present as a victory to the Japanese people. By serving as Prime Minister, Army Minister and Army Chief of Staff, Tojo took on nearly all of the responsibility; if plans for victory in 1944 failed, he would have no scapegoat.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: On March 12, 1944, the Japanese launched the U-Go offensive and invaded India. Tojo had some doubts about Operation U-Go, but it was ordered by the Emperor himself, and Tojo was unwilling to oppose any decision of the Emperor. Despite the Japanese Pan-Asian rhetoric and claim to be liberating India, the Indian people did not revolt and the Indian soldiers of the 14th Army stayed loyal to their British officers, and the invasion of India ended in complete disaster. The Japanese were defeated by the Anglo-Indian 14th Army at the Battles of Imphal and Kohima. On July 5, 1944, the Emperor accepted Tojo's advice to end the invasion of India as 72,000 Japanese soldiers had been killed in battle. A similar number had starved to death or died of diseases as the logistics to support an invasion of India were lacking, once the monsoons turned the roads of Burma into impassable mud. Of the 150,000 Japanese soldiers who had participated in the March invasion of India, most were dead by July 1944.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In parallel with the invasion of India, in April 1944 Tojo began Operation Ichigo, the largest Japanese offensive of the entire war, with the aim of taking southern China.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In the Battle of Saipan, about 70,000 Japanese soldiers, sailors, and civilians were killed in June–July 1944 and in the Battle of the Philippine Sea the Imperial Navy suffered a crushing defeat. The first day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 19, 1944, was dubbed by the Americans "the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", as over the course of the dogfights in the air, the US Navy lost 30 planes while shooting down about 350 Imperial Japanese planes, in one of the Imperial Navy's most humiliating defeats. The Japanese believed that indoctrination in "bushido" ("the way of the warrior") would give them the edge as the Japanese longed to die for the Emperor, while the Americans were afraid to die, but superior American pilot training and airplanes meant the Japanese were hopelessly outclassed by the Americans. With Saipan in American hands, the Americans could take other islands in the Marianas to build airbases. The establishment of American bases in the Marianas meant the cities of Japan were within the range of B-29 Superfortress bombers and the British historian H. P. Willmott noted that "even the most hard-headed of the Japanese militarists could dimly perceive that Japan would be at the end of her tether in that case". As the news of the disastrous defeat suffered at Saipan reached Japan, it turned elite opinion against the Tojo government. The Emperor himself was furious about the defeat at Saipan; had called a meeting of the Board of Field Marshals and Fleet Admirals to consider whether it might be possible to recapture Saipan (it was not); and Prince Takamatsu wrote in his diary "he flares up frequently". Tojo was the Prime Minister, Minister of War and Chief of the Army General Staff, and was seen both in Japan and in the US as, in words of Willmott, "the embodiment of national determination, hardline nationalism and militarism". Prince Konoe and Admiral Okada had long been plotting to bring down the Tojo government since the spring of 1943, and their principal problem had been the support of the Emperor, who did not wish to lose his favorite Prime Minister.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: After the Battle of Saipan, it was clear to at least some of the Japanese elite that the war was lost, and Japan needed to make peace before the "kokutai" and perhaps even the Chrysanthemum Throne itself was destroyed. Tojo had been so demonized in the United States during the war that, for the American people, Tojo was the face of Japanese militarism, and it was inconceivable that the United States would make peace with a government headed by Tojo. Willmott noted that an additional problem for the "peace faction" was that: "Tojo was an embodiment of "mainstream opinion" within the nation, the armed services and particularly the Army. Tojo had powerful support, and by Japanese standards, he was not extreme." Tojo was more of a follower than a leader, and he represented mainstream opinion in the Army, and so his removal from office would not mean the end of the political ambitions of an Army still fanatically committed to victory or death. The "jushin" (elder statesmen) had advised the Emperor that Tojo needed to go after Saipan and further advised the Emperor against partial changes in the cabinet, demanding that the entire Tojo cabinet resign. Tojo, aware of the intrigues to bring him down, had sought the public approval of the Emperor, which was denied; the Emperor sent him a message to the effect that the man responsible for the disaster of Saipan was not worthy of his approval. Tojo suggested reorganizing his cabinet to regain Imperial approval, but was rebuffed again; the Emperor said the entire cabinet had to go. Once it was clear that Tojo no longer had the support of the Chrysanthemum Throne, Tojo's enemies had little trouble bringing down his government. The politically powerful Lord Privy Seal, Marquis Kōichi Kido spread the word that the Emperor no longer supported Tojo. After the fall of Saipan, he was forced to resign on July 18, 1944.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: As Tojo's replacement, the "jushin" advised the Emperor to appoint a former Prime Minister, Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, as he was popular among the Navy, the diplomatic corps, the bureaucracy and the "peace faction". However Yonai refused to serve, knowing full well that a Prime Minister who attempted to make peace with the Americans might be assassinated, as many Army officers were still committed to victory or death and regarded any talk of peace as treason. He stated only another general could serve as Prime Minister, and recommended General Kuniaki Koiso in his place. At a conference with the Emperor, Koiso and Yonai were told by the Emperor to co-operate in forming a new government, but left in the dark about who was to become Prime Minister. As the Emperor was worshiped as a living god, neither Yonai and Koiso could ask him who was to be the Prime Minister, as one does not ask questions of a god, and after the meeting, both men were very confused as to which of the two was now the Prime Minister. Finally Lord Privy Seal Kido resolved the muddle by saying Koiso was the Prime Minister. Two days after Tojo resigned, the Emperor gave him an imperial rescript offering him unusually lavish praise for his "meritorious services and hard work" and declaring "Hereafter we expect you to live up to our trust and make even greater contributions to military affairs".


title: Hideki Tojo

text: After Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, U.S. general Douglas MacArthur ordered the arrest of forty individuals suspected of war crimes, including Tojo. Five American GIs were sent to serve the arrest warrant. As American soldiers surrounded Tojo's house on September 11, he shot himself in the chest with a pistol, but missed his heart. As a result of this experience, the Army had medical personnel present during the later arrests of other accused Japanese war criminals, such as Shigetarō Shimada.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: As he bled, Tojo began to talk, and two Japanese reporters recorded his words: "I am very sorry it is taking me so long to die. The Greater East Asia War was justified and righteous. I am very sorry for the nation and all the races of the Greater Asiatic powers. I wait for the righteous judgment of history. I wished to commit suicide but sometimes that fails."


title: Hideki Tojo

text: After recovering from his injuries, Tojo was moved to Sugamo Prison. While there, he received a new set of dentures, made by an American dentist, into which the phrase "Remember Pearl Harbor" had been secretly drilled in Morse code. The dentist ground away the message three months later.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Tojo was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes and found guilty of, among other actions, waging wars of aggression; war in violation of international law; unprovoked or aggressive war against various nations; and ordering, authorizing, and permitting inhumane treatment of prisoners of war.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Crimes committed by Imperial Japan were responsible for the deaths of millions (some estimate between 3 million and 14 million) of civilians and prisoners of war through massacre, human experimentation, starvation, and forced labor that was either directly perpetrated or condoned by the Japanese military and government with a significant portion of them occurring during Tojo's rule of the military. One source attributes 5 million civilian deaths to Tojo's rule of the military.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Tojo was sentenced to death on November 12, 1948, and executed by hanging 41 days later on December 23, 1948, a week before his 64th birthday. Before his execution, he gave his military ribbons to one of his guards; they are on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. In his final statement, he apologised for the atrocities committed by the Japanese military and urged the American military to show compassion toward the Japanese people, who had suffered devastating air attacks and the two atomic bombings.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: After his execution, Tojo's body was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean approximately east of Yokohama from a US Army aircraft on the afternoon of 23 December, along with the ashes of six other Class-A war criminals.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Historians Herbert P. Bix and John W. Dower criticize the work done by General MacArthur and his staff to exonerate Emperor Hirohito and all members of the imperial family from criminal prosecutions. According to them, MacArthur and Brigadier General Bonner Fellers worked to protect the Emperor and shift ultimate responsibility to Tojo.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: According to the written report of Shūichi Mizota, interpreter for Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, Fellers met the two men at his office on March 6, 1946, and told Yonai: "It would be most convenient if the Japanese side could prove to us that the Emperor is completely blameless. I think the forthcoming trials offer the best opportunity to do that. Tojo, in particular, should be made to bear all responsibility at this trial."


title: Hideki Tojo

text: The sustained intensity of this campaign to protect the Emperor was revealed when, in testifying before the tribunal on December 31, 1947, Tojo momentarily strayed from the agreed-upon line concerning imperial innocence and referred to the Emperor's ultimate authority. The American-led prosecution immediately arranged that he be secretly coached to recant this testimony. Ryūkichi Tanaka, a former general who testified at the trial and had close connections with chief prosecutor Joseph B. Keenan, was used as an intermediary to persuade Tojo to revise his testimony.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: Tojo's commemorating tomb is located in a shrine in Hazu, Aichi (now Nishio, Aichi), and he is one of those enshrined at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: A number of his descendants survived, including his granddaughter, Yūko Tojo, who was a political hopeful who claimed Japan's war was one of self-defense and that it was unfair that her grandfather was judged a Class-A war criminal. Tojo's second son, Teruo Tojo, who designed fighter and passenger aircraft during and after the war, eventually served as an executive at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In a 1997 survey of university students in China asking "When somebody talks about Japanese people, what person do you think of?", the answer that most gave was Hideki Tojo, reflecting a lingering sense of hurt in China about Japan's wartime aggression.


title: Hideki Tojo

text: In the Japanese 1998 film "Pride", Tojo was portrayed as a national hero, forced into war by the West and then executed after a rigged trial.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: 6 Underground is a 2019 American vigilante action thriller film directed by Michael Bay and written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins, Ben Hardy and Dave Franco. Bay produced the film with his longtime business partner Ian Bryce and Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger. It follows a group of people that fake their deaths and decide to form a vigilante team in order to stage a coup d'état against a ruthless dictator.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: "6 Underground" premiered at The Shed in New York City on December 10, 2019, and was released by Netflix on December 13, 2019. With a budget of $150 million, the film is one of the most expensive Netflix originals ever made. It received generally polarizing reviews, with praise for Reynolds' performance and action sequences, but criticism for its direction and length. Netflix announced plans for a sequel, though due to the film's mixed reviews and the studio's disappointment in the film's lack of creativity, the sequel was officially cancelled.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Four years after witnessing the horrors of a brutal regime in the fictional Central Asian nation of Turgistan, American billionaire and philanthropist Magnet S. Johnson, who made his fortunes from inventing neodymium magnets, fakes his own death to form an anonymous vigilante squad to take down criminals and terrorists which the world as a whole either cannot or will not pursue. Known as One, he recruits five others to abandon their pasts and join his cause, each given a numbered nickname similar to his own: Two, a spy; Three, a hitman; Four, a parkour runner and thief; Five, a doctor; and Six, a driver. They refer to themselves collectively as "ghosts".


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: On their first mission in Florence, Italy, the team interrogates the lawyer of Turgistan's four highest-ranking generals for information on those generals before driving across the city in a dayglow green Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio while chased by the Mafia and the Italian police. Six is killed just as they get away.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Days later, One recruits Blaine, a former sniper from Delta Force suffering from survivor guilt as he was ordered not to save his team in Afghanistan. He is convinced to fake his suicide and is renamed Seven. One plans to stage a coup d'état to topple the government of Turgistan dictator Rovach Alimov and install Alimov's imprisoned brother, Murata staunch supporter of democracyas the country's new leader. It is revealed that in the past, then–CIA spy Two had reluctantly captured Murat and handed him back to Rovach.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: The ghosts assassinate Rovach's generals in Las Vegas, learn of Murat's location, and successfully extract Murat from his penthouse imprisonment in Hong Kong. During the extraction, Four is caught by one of Rovach's men, who begins severely beating him. Seven is unwilling to subscribe to One's philosophy that "the mission always comes first," instead following his personal philosophy to never leave a teammate behind. Ignoring One's protests, Seven manages to save Four. Afterward, Seven convinces all but One to reveal their real names.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: In Turgistan, One sets his plan in motion by hacking the state-run television station during Rovach's public address to the nation and giving Murat the platform he needs to spread his message of democracy. Murat's impromptu speech inspires a citizen revolt, and strategic explosions in the city force Rovach to evacuate to his private yacht. The ghosts storm the yacht and One activates a magnetic pulse invention to incapacitate the guards. When the yacht is immobilized in the middle of the ocean and Four is once again in mortal danger, One chooses to save Four instead of capturing Rovach. Rovach flees by helicopter only to discover it to be commandeered by Murat and the ghosts, who drop him helpless in a refugee camp where he is beaten to death by an angry mob.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: In the aftermath of the revolution, Murat becomes Turgistan's new president and the ghosts part ways until their next mission is determined. Two and Three begin a relationship. Four and Five go climbing together. One and Seven travel to New York City. Seven tosses his gun into a nearby river, but keeps the last remaining bullet, and One watches from a distance as the woman he loved before his faked death plays with her young son, who is implied to be One's son as well.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: On March 7, 2018, it was reported that Michael Bay would direct the action-thriller film "6 Underground" based on the script by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, which would be produced by Skydance Media's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, along with Bay. In May, it was reported that Netflix would distribute the film, which they intend to be a new action franchise with Ryan Reynolds starring in the lead role.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: In July 2018, Dave Franco, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins, Ben Hardy and Lior Raz joined the cast. The next month, Mélanie Laurent and Peyman Maadi were announced as part of the cast Principal production commenced on July 30, 2018.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Over the subsequent months, shooting would be completed in several cities of Italy, in Los Angeles, Budapest, and in the United Arab Emirates cities of Al Ain, Liwa Oasis, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Al Jazirah Al Hamra (standing in for Nigeria and Afghanistan) and particularly in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In the UAE, 24 locations were used, some standing in for Las Vegas, Afghanistan, California, Hong Kong and the fictional Turgistan. The UAE military worked with the crew, providing soldiers as extras as well as aircraft that appear in the film. Production designer Jeffrey Beecroft made this comment: "I've shot a lot of military stuff with Michael [Bay], but I never had the ability to have six Apache [helicopters], ten Black Hawks and soldiers".


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: In Italy, some filming was also done at Cinecittà Studios in Rome and on the "Kismet", a superyacht rented from Pakistani-American businessman Shahid Khan. The lengthy car chase, set in the historic center of Florence, consisted of sequences filmed in Florence itself, between August 22 and September 22, 2018,


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: After Bay watched their videos on YouTube, British parkour team Storror joined the film's production to choreograph and perform the parkour sequences in the film. They perform the stunts between skyscrapers and cranes, including some scenes on the Florence Cathedral.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Principal photography wrapped on December 5, 2018. The film's production reportedly cost $150 million, making it one of the most expensive films made by Netflix at the time.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Lorne Balfe composed the film's score; he had previously worked with Michael Bay in "". Milan Records released the film soundtrack on December 13, 2019.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: The film premiered at The Shed arts center in New York City on December 10, 2019, and was released digitally to Netflix and in limited theaters on December 13, 2019. On January 21, 2020, Netflix announced that the film had been viewed by over 83 million viewers on its service within its first month of release.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads ""6 Underground" is loud, frenetic and finally preposterous – which is either bad news or a hearty recommendation, depending how one feels about the movies of Michael Bay." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 41 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Matt Singer of ScreenCrush gave the film 5 out of 10 and stated that it was "excessive, wanton, gorgeous, bizarre." Cary Darling of Houston Chronicle gave the film 1.5 out of 5 and stated, ""6 Underground", a non-stop stunt reel with a few, admittedly impressive displays of [Bay's] usual visual verve, is just "Fast & Furious" crossed with an old Whitesnake music video, but with fewer functioning brain cells." Simon Abrams of TheWrap gave the film a negative review and stated, "It wouldn't be a Michael Bay movie if he didn't slavishly cater to the lowest common denominator (get ready for some sexist and gay-panic jokes!), so it makes sense that Bay's antiheroes are more obnoxious when they're trying to be good." Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave the film 2 out of 4 and stated that "it becomes repetitive, nonsensical, and just loud after everyone gets an origin story and we're left with nothing to do but go boom". Brian Lowry of CNN.com gave the film a negative review and stated, ""6 Underground" proves so uneven in its tone and unrelenting in its volume that it's hard to imagine a hole deep enough in which to bury its silliness." Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a negative review and stated, "After a strong start the movie steadily declines, one set piece after another, and there are many moments where the mind wanders and then asks: 'Is this still going on?'" Matthew Monagle of the Austin Chronicle gave the film 2 out of 5 and stated, "6 Underground feels twice as disappointing for its early success."


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Jesse Hassenger of AV Club gave the film a "C" and stated, "What [director Michael Bay] seems to be chasing is the feeling of freedom, the windswept open-skies exhilaration of a man who has everything. But he's still just doing donuts, hoping all those whiplash turns from nihilism to macho sentiment awaken something inside him." Peter Bradshaw of "Empire" magazine gave the film 2 out of 5 and said, "If you like your Bayhem pure and unfiltered, this one's for you. Others need not apply." David Fear of Rolling Stone gave the film 1.5 out of 5 and listed what he called the film's ingredients: "Guns. Ferraris... Parkour. Headshots. Mélanie Laurent. Las Vegas. Luxury yachts... Parisian Bartenders. Thong underwear... Incoherence. Xenophobia. Sexism. Auteurism (Vulgar). 'Merica." Karen Han of Polygon gave the film a negative review and stated, "What kills me most... is that amid all the cacophony, there's one joke that hints at the kind of joyful mayhem Bay is capable of." Wenlei Ma of News.com.au gave the film 1.5 out of 5 and stated, ""6 Underground" really is as terrible as you'd expect it to be, exactly the kind of brainless, bombastic and seizure-inducing fare Michael Bay is known for." Clarisse Loughrey of "The Independent" gave the film 2 out of 5 and described the film as "[letting] its audience gorge on violence and bravado, only to make us feel sick of the taste by the final reel". Roxana Hadadi of the entertainment blog Pajiba gave the film a negative review and stated, "Military idolatry and craven female objectification and a belief that the rich will save us? "6 Underground" has it all!" Robert Levin of "Newsday" gave the film 1 out of 4 and called the film "a terrible action movie that utilizes Michael Bay's worst instincts and none of his best".


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Not all reviews were negative. Glenn Kenny of the "New York Times" gave the film a positive review: "There are genuinely eccentric innovations here. There's certainly not a whole lot of recognizable humanity, but hey, that's why there's 'It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood'." Barry Hertz of "The Globe and Mail" gave the film 3.5 out of 4 and stated the movie is "a riotous and gleefully delirious assault on the senses. It is vulgar. It is absurd. And it is completely enthralling." Nick Schager of "The Daily Beast" gave the film a positive review, stating, "For better and worse, in a multiplex or on your television or tablet, it delivers pleasure through pain." Adam Graham of "The Detroit News" gave the film a "B" and said, "The madman director's Netflix debut "6 Underground" is so big it feels like it's going to smash out of your television screen."


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: Netflix reported the film was watched by 83 million members over its first four weeks of release, among its best for an original title.


title: 6 Underground (film)

text: On December 15, 2019, it was revealed that Netflix was already planning to create a franchise that would follow the adventures of the team introduced in the film. On December 18, 2019, due to the film's mixed reviews, those plans were put in doubt. On July 28, 2021, Netflix's film chief Scott Stuber confirmed that the film would not be getting a sequel, despite its success. He considered the film to be a failure: "We didn't feel like we got there on ["6 Underground"] creatively. It was a nice hit, but at the end of the day we didn't feel like we nailed the mark to justify coming back again. There just wasn't that deep love for those characters or that world."


title: Calum Scott

text: Calum Scott (born 12 October 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. In April 2015, he rose to prominence after competing on the ITV talent contest "Britain's Got Talent", where he performed his version of Robyn's hit "Dancing on My Own". After coming sixth in the contest, he released his version as a single the following year, which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and became Britain's best-selling single of summer 2016.


title: Calum Scott

text: Scott later signed with Capitol and in 2017, released the single "You Are the Reason", which was included on his 2018 debut album "Only Human", which reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. Later in 2018, he collaborated with Leona Lewis to release a duet version of the single "You Are the Reason".


title: Calum Scott

text: Scott was born in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, to parents Debbie Burton and Kevin Scott, and grew up around the Yorkshire area, mainly North Ferriby and Kingston upon Hull. His parents split up when he was two years old, and his father moved to Canada. He has a younger sister, Jade, who is also a singer. Scott played the drums, and his sister later encouraged him to sing. Prior to his fame, he worked in human resources.


title: Calum Scott

text: On 15 August 2013, Scott won the talent competition Mail's Star Search, organised by "Hull Daily Mail". He then joined a Maroon 5 tribute band, Maroon 4, and toured around the United Kingdom. In 2014 he formed the electronic duo, The Experiment with John McIntyre. The debut single, "Girl (You're Beautiful)", was released on 14 June. The duo performed the song on "Good Morning Britain" and "BBC Look North", but after, broke up.


title: Calum Scott

text: On 11 April 2015, Scott's audition for the ninth series of "Britain's Got Talent" was broadcast on ITV. Just before his audition, his sister Jade also auditioned but was stopped early on both of her songs by Simon Cowell. Jade received four "No" votes from David Walliams, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell.


title: Calum Scott

text: Despite obvious nerves at seeing his sister get rejected, Calum performed a cover of Robyn's "Dancing on My Own", which he had heard Kings of Leon performing on BBC Radio 1's "Live Lounge" in 2013. Following a standing ovation from the judging panel, Cowell pressed the Golden Buzzer giving Scott an automatic place in the live shows. Explaining his decision to send Scott straight to the semi-finals, Cowell said:


title: Calum Scott

text: Following his appearance on the show's first episode, his Twitter followers jumped from 400 to over 25,000. The video of his audition has been viewed over 361 million times on YouTube. In the semi-final on 29 May, Scott performed "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" by Jermaine Stewart. Walliams commented "You really sound like a recording artist", whilst Alesha Dixon suggested that he could have "success around the world". He won the semi-final with 25.6% of the vote, sending him straight through to the final. In the final on 31 May, Scott performed "Diamonds" by Rihanna and finished sixth out of 12 contestants with 8.2% of the vote. After "Britain's Got Talent", Scott embarked on a series of shows around the United Kingdom, including Viking FM Future Star Awards, Flamingo Land Resort Fair, Westwood Cross Shopping Centre's tenth anniversary, Gibraltar Summer Nights, Hull Daily Mail's Star and Dartford Festival.


title: Calum Scott

text: Scott released his cover of "Dancing on My Own" independently on 15 April 2016. It became a sleeper hit, first hitting number 40 in the charts in May and climbing into the top 40 despite little radio airplay apart from on West Hull FM. It was then added to Radio 2's "C List" and reached number two on the UK Singles Chart on 5 August. In August 2016, it was certified platinum in the UK, having sold over 600,000 copies. Scott announced on Twitter on 24 May that he had inked a record deal with Capitol Records, where he was signed by A&R Executive Alex Wilhelm. Scott performed the song at television shows "BBC Look North", "Lorraine", "Weekend", "Late Night with Seth Meyers" and Brazilian show "Encontro com Fátima Bernardes". He also promoted the song on several radio stations, including BBC Radio Humberside, Viking FM, Radio Gibraltar, BFBS Radio and Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation. On 16 September, he released the promotional single "" with Brazilian recording artist Ivete Sangalo as the official song of the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro; they performed the song at the closing ceremony on 18 September. It was revealed in September 2016 that "Dancing on My Own" was the most downloaded song of the summer in the UK.


title: Calum Scott

text: In 2017, he toured the US and released the single "You Are the Reason". Also in 2017, he began working on his debut album, "Only Human", which was released on 9 March 2018. A new version of "You Are the Reason" was released ahead of the album in early 2018 as a collaboration with Leona Lewis, and was performed by the two on "The One Show" in February 2018. In May, Scott released "What I Miss Most" as the fourth single from "Only Human".


title: Calum Scott

text: In September 2020, Scott partnered with American watch company Bulova on the development of a music documentary series titled "Minutes with Calum", which explores the creative process behind his upcoming second album through the lens of Bulova.


title: Calum Scott

text: In March 2021, Scott digitally released his first EP, titled "Only Acoustic", which featured acoustic renditions of songs from his debut album. The following month, he released two more EPs; "Only Collabs" and "Only Love".


title: Calum Scott

text: On 11 June 2021, Scott released the single "Biblical", the first song from his upcoming second album. He released the second song titled "Rise" on 1 October 2021, and the third song titled "If You Ever Change Your Mind" on 4 February 2022. On 29 April 2022, Scott announced that his second album, "Bridges", would be released on 17 June 2022. On the same day, he released the fourth song, "Heaven", from the album.


title: Calum Scott

text: In July 2021, Scott collaborated with Belgian artist Lost Frequencies singing on a song titled "Where Are You Now", which was released on 30 July 2021. The song became a big hit over the next several months, charting on many streaming platforms in many countries. In early February 2022, the song reached the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, becoming Scott's second song to reach the UK top 10.


title: Calum Scott

text: In November 2021, Scott collaborated with Brazilian recording artist Bryan Behr, singing on the song "Da Primeira Vez (From the First Time)". Scott sang in both English and Portuguese. Also in November 2021, he collaborated with British singer Jasmine Thompson on a song titled "Love Is Just a Word".


title: Calum Scott

text: Scott is gay. He has talked about having struggled with his sexuality when growing up, but since becoming an adult, he is confident about it.


title: Calum Scott

text: Scott is a proponent of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. In 2020, he performed live in support of Mind for Mental Health Awareness, donating all proceeds to Mind.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet "The Greatest Gift", which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella "A Christmas Carol". The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams in order to help others in his community and whose thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve bring about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he did not exist.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Theatrically, the film's break-even point was $6.3 million, about twice the production cost, a figure it did not come close to achieving on its initial release. Because of the film's disappointing sales, Capra was seen by some studios as having lost his ability to produce popular, financially successful films. Although "It's a Wonderful Life" initially received mixed reviews and was unsuccessful at the box office, it became a Christmas classic after its copyright lapsed and it fell into the public domain, which allowed it to be broadcast without licensing or royalty fees.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Today, "It's a Wonderful Life" is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time and among the best Christmas films. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made. It was No. 11 on the American Film Institute's 1998 greatest movie list, No. 20 on its 2007 greatest movie list, and No. 1 on its list of the most inspirational American films of all time. Capra revealed that it was his favorite among the films he directed and that he screened it for his family every Christmas season. It was one of Stewart's favorite films. In 1990, "It's a Wonderful Life" was designated as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, George Bailey contemplates suicide. The prayers of his family and friends reach Heaven, where guardian angel second class Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George in order to earn his wings. Clarence sees flashbacks of George's life. He watches 12-year-old George rescue his younger brother Harry from drowning, but become deaf in his left ear. George later prevents the pharmacist, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a prescription.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: In 1928, George plans a world tour before college. He is reintroduced to Mary Hatch, who has been enamored with him since childhood. When his father dies suddenly, George postpones his travel to settle the family business, Bailey Brothers Building and Loan. Avaricious board member Henry F. Potter, who controls most of the town, seeks to dissolve it, but the board votes to keep the Building and Loan open if George runs it. George acquiesces and works alongside his uncle Billy, giving his tuition to Harry with the understanding that Harry will run the business when he graduates.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Harry returns from college married and with a job offer from his father-in-law, and George resigns himself to running the Building and Loan. George and Mary rekindle their relationship and wed. They witness a run on the bank and use their honeymoon savings to keep the Building and Loan solvent. Under George's leadership, the company establishes Bailey Park, a housing development surpassing Potter's overpriced slums. Potter entices George with a job for $20,000 a year but, realizing that Potter's true intention is to close the Building and Loan, George declines.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: On Christmas Eve 1945, the town prepares a hero's welcome for Harry, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot preventing a kamikaze attack on a troop transport. Billy goes to Potter's bank to deposit $8,000 of the Building and Loan's cash. He taunts Potter with a newspaper headline about Harry, but absentmindedly wraps the envelope of cash in Potter's newspaper. Potter finds the money and keeps it, while Billy cannot recall how he misplaced it. With a bank examiner reviewing the company's records, George realizes scandal and criminal charges will follow. Fruitlessly retracing Billy's steps, George berates him and takes out his frustration on Mary and their children. George appeals to Potter for a loan, offering his life insurance policy as collateral. Potter refuses to help, and phones the police.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: George flees Potter's office, gets drunk at a bar, and prays for help. Suicidal, he goes to a nearby bridge, but before he can jump, Clarence dives into the river and George rescues him. When George wishes he had never been born, Clarence shows George a timeline in which he never existed. Bedford Falls is now Pottersville, an unsavory town occupied by sleazy entertainment venues, crime, and callous people. Mr. Gower was imprisoned for manslaughter because George was not there to stop him from poisoning the prescription. George's mother does not know him. Uncle Billy was institutionalized after the Building and Loan failed. Bailey Park is a cemetery, where George discovers Harry's grave. Without George, Harry drowned as a child, and without Harry to save them, the troops aboard the transport ship were killed. George finds Mary, now a spinster, and when he claims to be her husband, she screams for the police and George flees.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: George races back to the bridge and begs Clarence for his life back. The original reality is restored, and a grateful George rushes home to await his arrest. Mary and Billy have rallied the townspeople, who donate more than enough to cover the missing money. Harry arrives and toasts George as "the richest man in town". Among the donations George finds a copy of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", a gift from Clarence, with a note assuring him that no man is a failure who has friends, and thanking him for his wings. When a bell on the Christmas tree rings, George's youngest daughter, Zuzu, explains that "teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." George realizes that he truly has a wonderful life.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: The original story, "The Greatest Gift", was written by Philip Van Doren Stern in November 1939. After it was rejected by several publishers, he had it printed as a 24-page pamphlet and mailed to 200 family members and friends for Christmas 1943. The story came to the attention of either Cary Grant or RKO producer David Hempstead, who showed it to Grant's agent. In April 1944, RKO Pictures bought the rights to the story for $10,000, hoping to turn it into a vehicle for Grant.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Dalton Trumbo, Clifford Odets, and Marc Connelly each worked on versions of the screenplay before RKO shelved the project. In Trumbo's draft, George Bailey is an idealistic politician who grows more cynical as the story progresses, then tries to commit suicide after losing an election. The angel shows him Bedford Falls not as it would be if he had never been born, but if he had gone into business instead of politics. Grant went on to make another Christmas movie staple, "The Bishop's Wife".


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: RKO studio chief Charles Koerner urged Frank Capra to read "The Greatest Gift". Capra's new production company, Liberty Films, had a nine-film distribution agreement with RKO. Capra immediately saw its potential, and wanted it for his first Hollywood film after making documentaries and training films during the war. RKO sold Capra the rights for $10,000 and threw in the three earlier scripts for free. (Capra claimed the rights and the scripts cost him $50,000.) Capra salvaged a few scenes from Odets' earlier screenplay and worked with writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Jo Swerling, Michael Wilson, and Dorothy Parker (brought in to "polish" the script), on many drafts of the screenplay.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: It was not a harmonious collaboration. Goodrich called Capra "that horrid man" and recalled, "He couldn't wait to get writing it himself." Her husband, Albert Hackett, said, "We told him what we were going to do, and he said 'That sounds fine.' We were trying to move the story along and work it out, and then somebody told us that [Capra] and Jo Swerling were working on it together, and that sort of took the guts out of it. Jo Swerling was a very close friend of ours, and when we heard he was doing this we felt rather bad about it. We were getting near the end and word came that Capra wanted to know how soon we'd be finished. So my wife said, 'We're finished right now.' We quickly wrote out the last scene and we never saw him again after that. He's a very arrogant son of a bitch."


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Later, a dispute ensued over the writing credits. The final screenplay, renamed by Capra "It's a Wonderful Life", was credited to Goodrich, Hackett, and Capra, with "additional scenes" by Jo Swerling. Capra said, "The Screen Writers' Arbitration committee decided that Hackett and Goodrich and I should get the credit for the writing. Jo Swerling hasn't talked to me since. That was five years ago."


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Seneca Falls, New York, claims that Capra was inspired to model Bedford Falls after the town after a visit in 1945. The town has an annual "It's a Wonderful Life Festival" in December. In mid-2009, The Hotel Clarence opened in Seneca Falls, named after George Bailey's guardian angel. On December 10, 2010, the "It's a Wonderful Life" Museum opened in Seneca Falls, with Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in the movie, cutting the ribbon. However, film historian Jeanine Basinger, curator of the Frank Capra archives at Wesleyan University and author of "The 'It's A Wonderful Life' Book", has said no evidence exists for Seneca Falls' claim. "I have been through every piece of paper in Frank Capra's diaries, his archives, everything. There's no evidence of any sort whatsoever to support this. That doesn't mean it isn't true, but no one is ever going to prove it." Basinger said that Capra always described Bedford Falls as an "Everytown".


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Philip Van Doren Stern said in a 1946 interview, "Incidentally, the movie takes place in Westchester County. Actually, the town I had in mind was Califon, N.J." The historic iron bridge in Califon is similar to the bridge that George Bailey considered jumping from in the movie.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: In his autobiography, Capra recalled: "Of all actors' roles I believe the most difficult is the role of a Good Sam who doesn't know that he is a Good Sam. I knew one man who could play it ... James Stewart. ... I spoke to Lew Wasserman, the MCA agent who handled Jimmy, told him I wanted to tell Jimmy the story. Wasserman said Stewart would gladly play the part without hearing the story." Stewart and Capra had previously collaborated on "You Can't Take It with You" (1938) and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939).


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Henry Fonda, Stewart's best friend, was also considered. Both actors had returned from the war with no employment prospects. Fonda, however, was cast in John Ford's "My Darling Clementine" (1946), which was filmed at the same time that Capra shot "It's a Wonderful Life." For 17 supporting roles in the film, Capra considered more than 170 established actors.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Jean Arthur, Stewart's co-star in "You Can't Take It With You" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," was first offered the role of Mary, but had recently dropped out of the Broadway show "Born Yesterday" from exhaustion shortly before its premiere. Capra next considered Olivia de Havilland, Martha Scott, Ann Dvorak, and Ginger Rogers before borrowing Donna Reed from MGM. Rogers turned it down because she considered it "too bland". In chapter 26 of her autobiography "Ginger: My Story", she questioned her decision by asking her readers: "Foolish, you say?"


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Before Capra decided on Ward Bond as Bert, he also considered Sam Levene, Barton MacLane, Robert Mitchum, John Alexander and Irving Bacon for the role.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: H. B. Warner, who was cast as the drugstore owner Mr. Gower, had studied medicine before going into acting. He was also in some of Capra's other films, including "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", "Lost Horizon", "You Can't Take It with You", and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". In the silent era, he had played the role of Jesus Christ in Cecil B. DeMille's "The King of Kings" (1927). The name Gower came from Capra's employer Columbia Pictures, which had been located on Gower Street for many years. Also on Gower Street was a drugstore that was a favorite for the studio's employees.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Charles Williams, who was cast as Eustace Bailey, and Mary Treen, who was cast as Matilda "Tilly" Bailey, were both B-list actors, having appeared in 90 films each before "It's a Wonderful Life".


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: Jimmy the raven (Uncle Billy's pet) appeared in "You Can't Take It with You" and each subsequent Capra film.


title: It's a Wonderful Life

text: "It's a Wonderful Life" was shot at RKO Radio Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, and the 89-acre RKO movie ranch in Encino, where "Bedford Falls" was adapted from Oscar-winning sets originally designed by art director Max Ree for the 1931 epic film "Cimarron". Covering 4 acres (1.6 ha), the town consisted of a main street stretching 300 yards (three city blocks) with 75 stores and buildings, and a residential neighborhood. Capra added a tree-lined center parkway, built a working bank set, and planted 20 full-grown oak trees. Pigeons, cats, and dogs were allowed to roam the mammoth set to give the "town" a lived-in feel.