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Near the end of World War II, 43,000 Japanese soldiers and more than 20,000 civilians were reported to have died either in battle or by suicide on Saipan. In fact, however, more than 10,000 civilians, most of them children, survived. Indoctrinated to believe that a brave death by suicide was beautiful and preferable to capture, most of these Japanese adult civilians took their own lives. But many of the children, through their own will and instinct, or through circumstances managed to stay alive. This programme explores Japan's manipulative use of education and propaganda during the war and presents interviews with Saipan survivors, many of whom talk for the first time about the dramatic and terrifying choices they made between life and death.

Japan - 2006 - 52 mn - HD - Colour

Director Masumi Nakao Writer Shunichiro Wakai Camera Hori Naruyoshi Sound Fumio Shibatsuji Editing Matsumoto Tetsuo

Producer Masumi Nakao Production NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp, 2-2-1 Jinnan, Shibuya-Ku, 150-8001 Tokyo, Japon Tél : +81 3 5455 4279 Fax : +81 3 3466 2811 E-mail : yoshida.y-oa@nhk.or.jp

Sales NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp, 2-2-1 Jinnan, Shibuya-Ku, 150-8001 Tokyo, Japon Tél : +81 3 3466 2811 Fax : +81 3 3481 1453 E-mail : yoshida.y-oa@nhk.or.jp