1941 Mini Documentary: Children of Japan (Video)

Here is an interesting look at Japan, produced by an American film crew in 1941 (prior to the outbreak of war between the US and Japan):

High quality clips of this film are available at the Internet Archive, where Christine Hennig wrote this excellent review of the film:

Considering the year this was made, 1941, I at first thought it was a WWII propaganda film. But no, this is a charming children’s educational film made just before the war about life in Japan. We follow two siblings, Taro and Yukiko, as they go through their day with their family, at school, and going to a cherry blossom festival. It looks pretty realistic, though in simplified form, about Japanese life at the time, and everything seems peaceful and well-ordered. Look at all those strange but nice people from another culture, children! Don’t be afraid––they may seem different to us, but deep down they’re really like you and me. How quickly that would change! In fact, I wonder if this film got any showing in classrooms at all, considering how quickly its tolerant message became outdated. I could swear I saw the scene of Japanese boys practicing fencing at school in a later propaganda film. Here, it’s shown as another charming Japanese cultural practice, but in the other film it was shown as proof of Japanese indoctrination of children in military values. Overall, this is an interesting snapshot of our attitudes towards the Japanese just before we went to war with them.

I’ll admit I was shocked to find such a positive film about Japan from that time period. I wonder if other pre-war films on the Japanese were similar, anyone an expert on this?