It was the year 1963. Just one year before Tokyo Olympic. People were pretty much occupied with the economic boom and speed of capitalism. Life is fun. You work and get paid. There are so many fun things in life. Playing sports is fun. Rock and roll music is fun. Spending nights with your friends, your girl or boy, or your family is fun. Or is it?
The title and the year of its production suggests a maritime war film glorifying the sinking of an enemy ship. It turns out, it is a propaganda film to motivate factory workers to improve their productivity (or to work overtime). The product of the interest in the film happened to be a tornado, which (supposedly) sunk the Prince of Wales in December 1941.
In the era of economic boom, roughly from 1950’s to 90’s, being a salary-man (a businessman) in Japan was a ticket to a comfortable life. Not a great, but a decent pay. Nice bonuses twice a year. Unless you are not aiming for the VP’s chair, you don’t have to be seriously competitive, just doing your job is fine. If you are lucky, you may even get promoted. And even if you don’t, there is a pretty fat retirement plan when you survive through roughly 40 years of the service in the same company. If you don’t screw things up.
