Introduction

Tokyo Trial is a Japanese four-part historical drama miniseries that depicts the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

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Outline

A historical drama that focuses on a decade-long investigation into events in the Pacific during and after WWII.

Cast

• Judges:
  • Tim Ahern as Major General Myron C. Cramer (Representing the United States of America).
  • Paul Freeman as The Honourable Lord William D. Patrick (Representing the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
  • Serge Hazanavicius as Henri Bernard (Representing the French Republic).
  • Marcel Hensema as Professor Bert V.A. Röling (Representing the Kingdom of Netherlands).
  • Jonathan Hyde as President Sir William Webb (Representing the Commonwealth of Australia).
  • Irrfan Khan as Radhabinod Pal (Representing British India).
  • Stephen McHattie as Edward Stuart McDougall (Representing the Dominion of Canada).
  • David Tse as Mei Ju-ao (Representing the Republic of China).
  • Julian Wadham as Sir Erima H. Northcroft (Representing New Zealand).
  • Bert Matias as Colonel and former Supreme Court Associate Justice of the Philippine Commonwealth Delfín Jaranilla (Representing the United States Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands).
  • Kestutis Stasys Jakstas as Major General I.M. Zaryanov (Representing the Soviet Union).
  • William Hope as John P. Higgins (Representing the United States of America).

• Other:
  • Stacy Keach as the narrator.
  • Michael Ironside as General Douglas MacArthur.
  • Hadewych Minis as Eta Harich-Schneider.
  • Shinya Tsukamoto as Michio Takeyama.

Production

The miniseries was proposed by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The company signed a co-production deal with FATT Productions. At the OMDC’s International Financing Forum at TIFF 2013, NHK and FATT officials discussed co-producing the series with Don Carmody Television. Netflix gained streaming rights for the series by providing financing through Don Carmody Television.

Filming

The series was filmed in Japan and Lithuania in 2015.

Trivia

• Tokyo Trial premiered on NHK in Japan on 12 December 2016.
  • Thereafter, it was made available on the NHK On-Demand VoD service and subsequently by Netflix.
  • Overseas, the series premiered in 190 countries on Netflix in December 2016.
  • The Netflix broadcast of the series includes subtitles in 20 languages.
• Nominated for the 45th International Emmy Awards for Best TV Movie/Mini-Series in 2017.
• The trial itself lasted two and a half years.
  • Comparatively, the Nuremberg Trials only lasted 11 months.
• All the furniture in the courtroom, hotel and restaurant sets were custom-built replicas made by the art and construction departments for use on the production in order for everything to look authentic.
• The Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was originally located in Tokyo opposite the Imperial Palace.
  • While most of Wright’s building was destroyed during WWII, the iconic central lobby wing and the reflecting pool were disassembled and rebuilt near Nagoya in the Meiji-Mura outdoor village museum.
  • Filmmakers gained access to shoot a portion of the production on this historic site.
• Before the mini-series was produced, little was known about the Tokyo Trial in the western world.
  • It is one of the biggest untold stories in World War II history.
• Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo was executed on 23 December 1948. Before his execution, he gave his final statement and apologised for the atrocities committed by the Japanese military and urged Americans to show compassion for the Japanese people who had suffered devastation from the atomic bomb attacks.
• Two of the twenty-eight war criminals on trial died during the course of the legal proceedings.
  • One was declared mentally unfit to stand trial.
• 90% of the series was shot in Lithuania in studio and on-location.
  • The other 10% was shot on-location in Japan.

Tokyo Trial Series

• Episode 01.
• Episode 02.
• Episode 03.
• Episode 04.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Rob W. King … (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Pieter Verhoeff … (4 episodes, 2016).
• Producer(s):
  • Don Carmody … executive producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • David Cormican … executive producer / producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Hans de Weers … executive producer / producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Kestutis Drazdauskas … line producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Takashi Enjo … executive producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Rob W. King … executive producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Elwin Looije … co-producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Shinsuke Naitô … producer (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Yuki Takafumi … co-producer (4 episodes, 2016).
• Writer(s):
  • Rob W. King … (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Max Mannix … (co-writer) (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Toru Takagi … (original story) (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Toru Takagi … (writer) (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Kees van Beijnum … (4 episodes, 2016).
• Music:
  • Robert Carli … (4 episodes, 2016).
• Cinematography:
  • Rolf Dekens … (4 episodes, 2016).
• Editor(s):
  • Daryl K. Davis … (4 episodes, 2016).
  • Bart van den Broek … (4 episodes, 2016).
• Production:
  • Don Carmody Television.
  • FATT Productions.
  • NHK Enterprises.
  • NHK.
• Distributor(s):
  • NHK (2016) (Japan) (TV).
  • Netflix (2016) (World-wide) (TV).
  • Netflix (2017) (Japan) (video).
• Release Date: 12 December 2016 to 15 December 2016.
• Rating: Unknown.
• Running Time: 45 minutes.
• Country: US and Japan.
• Language: English and Japanese.

Video Link