Changes

The movie despite its attempts to represent the reality of the attack on Pearl Harbor does not portray accurately the role of the Japanese in the attack. The movie was a joint Japanese-American production and this perhaps led to some distortions. The first one is the idea propagated by the filmmakers was that Pearl Harbor was to suggest that it was not a surprise attack and that it was contrary to all international norms and laws. The Japanese in the movie is are shown preparing a formal declaration of war that was to be presented to the American Secretary of State in Washington D.C. This suggests that the Japanese did not want to launch a surprise and illegal attack which was against international laws and also cowardly. The movie indicates that because of some delays and technical difficulties that the Japanese failed to submit the declaration of war on time. There was a document submitted by the Japanese to the Americans but it was not an official declaration of war, ‘rather it was an ultimatum’<ref> Collier, p. 14</ref>. The government in Tokyo did not intend to declare war on America as this would have ruined their plans for a surprise attack on the US fleet moored in Pearl Harbor. In fact, research indicated that the Japanese delayed this ultimatum at the last minute in case it alerted the Americans to the possibility of a military strike. On at least two occasions in the movie, Admiral Yamamoto states that the document was a declaration of war and he is shown to be visibly upset when he learns that the document had not been submitted to the American Secretary of State, before the attack. This was because it was contrary to the Japanese military code of honor <ref> Clausen, p. 11</ref>. This is totally inaccurate. The Japanese after the war wanted to show that the attack on Pearl Harbor was not a cowardly attackand invented the idea that they had attempted to declare war on the Americans before the events of the 7th of December, 1941. This no doubt was something that appealed to The movie is too reliant on the Japanese producers and financial backers interpretation of the movieevents which are biased and inaccurate.