The footage includes harrowing images that linger in the mind: unforgettable shots of the devastation wreaked in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the atomic bomb; the efforts of thousands of people to rebuild homes among the rubble; overloaded hospitals trying to cope with a scourge that had never been encountered before. But they also show the roots of one of the most incredible political and material transformations in history: the rebuilding of Japan after World War II and its evolution from an implacable foe to one of the United States' most important allies. JAPAN UNDER AMERICAN OCCUPATION features never-before-seen footage shot by a camera crew in the first days after World War II. The US government feared the images captured were too disturbing to be seen, and for a long time they were classified as top secret. Now, the project' director and others who were there tell of the events that marked the beginning of a new era in Japan, from the nuclear cleanup to the nation's first free elections

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Documentary