Akagami – the red papers that sent Japanese to war
The other night, TBS aired an excellent documentary/drama about a man who delivered draft notices during the war:
As the 64th anniversary of Japan’s surrender approaches, the special memorial programs about World War II come faster and thicker. This week’s big event is a docudrama called “Saigo no Akagami Haitatsunin” (The Last Red Letter Deliveryman; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.). “Red letter” refers to the draft notices received by men during the war. These were hand delivered by special deliverymen. It was considered a great honor to receive a call to service by the Imperial Army, and families would celebrate out in the open, but, understandably, many recipients and their loved ones secretly dreaded the arrival of such notices.
In the drama portion of the program, Hidetaka Yoshioka plays the deliveryman, who distributes draft notices in a small village in Shiga Prefecture. The documentary portion traces the fates of the men who received notices and then left for battle.
Here are a couple excerpts you might find interesting:
1. A young man goes to war, followed by his brothers
In this clip, we are shown a community celebrating the drafting of a local boy into the military. It takes place in 1939, a period when Japan was not yet at war with the United States. The boy’s brothers and parents seem sad for him to go, but there is an overall atmosphere of pride that he will go to serve his country.
The last portion of the clip takes place in the later years of the war after things have turned against Japan. The younger brother of the boy drafted in 1939 has been drafted. Few people are there to celebrate, and his parents pretty much understand that there will be little chance of him returning alive.
2. The resentment of a community
In this clip we see the way the draft notice deliveryman is treated by his neighbors. It is only 1942, yet the draft has taken a tremendous toll on the community. Wives are left alone with small children while their husbands are sent to war, and almost everyone has had relatives drafted into the military. The draft notice deliveryman is treated with hostile glares every time he walks through town.
Like most Japanese TV programs about the war, it seemed it was meant to reinforce pacifist ideas and remind younger generations about just how horrible it was when Japan last fought a war.
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