1937 TOKYO JAPAN TRAVELOGUE MOVIE “SYMPHONICAL SKETCH“ 10374

Presented by The Board of Tourist Industry Japan, Tokyo Symphonical Sketch is a short 1937 film that gives viewers a look at pre-WWII Tokyo as it blends traditional Japanese culture with modernization and some western influence. The film opens with a shot of a large building. Planes fly over a torii gate. There are scenes of canals and rivers, train stations, and modern buildings. Viewers see a train as it arrives at Tokyo Station (01:16). Men and women walk to work in western clothes. At a market, vendors prepare their goods for display (presumably the market near Tokyo Station). Men and women work at desks in a large office (01:58); women operate a switch board. Men call out at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (02:30). At a school, young children perform exercises (02:55). The film shows a large modern building with a clock tower that looks somewhat like the expressionist architecture in northern European countries (03:18). A man uses a type of printing press to print Japanese (03:42). Women arrange cherry boughs. Women work on embroidering designs (04:40). Two westerners talk with a store clerk about an item at what looks like a department store. A woman shops for sandals. Two women browse the kitchen section of a department store. There is a tracking shot of storefronts along a street. Women look at Japanese mannequins displaying kimonos in a store window (06:02). There is a shot of a main thoroughfare in Tokyo (06:25). A view from a tall building overlooks what appears to be the Arakawa River with bridges spanning the river. Boats travel along the river. An oil refinery or production plant billows smoke (06:56). The film features several quick shots inside factories, showing shots of mechanical gears, looms spinning thread, and what appears to be the production of paper. Men clean the inside of a locomotive engine. Viewers see train engines in a production plant; heavy artillery shells are carried along a conveyer. People visit Meiji Jingu (09:04). Men and women process through the gardens of the shrine. Next, the film takes viewers to the Imperial Palace and a look across the moat at the East Gardens (09:40). People row boats out on a pond. Viewers see cranes and ducks at the garden. Two women walk into what could be either a Buddhist temple or the building of an art museum (11:37), because the film then cuts to people looking at statues and paintings housed in a gallery or museum. Viewers see a large buddha statue (13:00); that is followed by shots of pagodas. A young girl uses chopsticks to move noodles into a bowl (14:35). Two men serve customers at a small restaurant. Two westerners sit at the bar in a ramen restaurant. People drive bumper cars at a small park (16:11). There are more shots of Tokyo’s streets, signs, and buildings. Footage shows a baseball game in a large stadium (17:09), as well as a huge crowd watching a horse race at the tracks. Pedestrians and buses cross a bridge. Viewers see the sun setting over Tokyo, followed by shots of Tokyo lit up at night (business signs and street lamps). A man cuts fish at a sushi bar (19:14). Women carry trays of food up to a room where men are meeting. A theatre set rotates behind the curtains (20:10). Viewers see a traditional Japanese performance where a woman dances with two fans. People dine in booths at a restaurant. At the Tokyo Post Office, men sort letters and packages (21:44). Newspapers fly off a printing press. The film shows a few more quick shots of production floors inside factories, and then it concludes with footage of a cars driving down a street at night. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit