HOME MOVIES: OCCUPIED JAPAN

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1946

Format: 16mm

Description: One of a series of extraordinary home movies shot in Occupied Japan immediately after WWII, this film shows images shot at a Japanese ski resort, possibly near Nagano but it's not clear. Unlike some of the other films of skiing in this collection, this one shows a resort with a real ski lift (as opposed to a rope pull type lift.) The first real post-war ski lift was installed in 1946 in Mariuke, Nagano, but there were also lifts installed in Moiwayama and Kusatsu by 1950. The ski resort shown might be any one of these. The man who filmed these was a Harvard graduate ('43) and U.S. Army Intelligence Officer named Robert Ryan. Ryan may have very well worked for the OSS, although it's not clear. He definitely worked as an instructor at the U.S. Army's AFFE Intelligence School, and toured Vietnam in the early 1960s to conduct strategic vulnerability surveys. These films dates to the period July 1947-May 1951, when Ryan served in the Department of Defense in the Geographic Branch, Theater Intelligence Division, Far East Command. During this time he served in Occupied Japan and in the Korean theater. The film begins with images of a man in a red ski jacket putting on his wooden skis. The film then shows various shots of people on skis, moving across the snow and posing for the camera. At (2:42), there are images of an early ski lift followed by shots of downhill runs. The film concludes with images shot in the ski lodge (8:16), of friends warming up together and possibly having a hot tea or sake.

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