What happens
General Hideki Tojo, newly appointed premier of Japan, makes his pilgrimage to the Ise shrine and then reports to the people of Japan by radio. The episode traces his rise from a young officer shaped by ambition and military pride, through his years in Manchuria and his command of military police, to his pivotal role in Japan's alliance with Germany and Italy and the coming war with the United States. It follows his consolidation of power over the army, the government and the nation, and his determination to press the Pacific campaign. The Pacific Story is a 1944 radio series broadcast by NBC, and this episode first aired on March 5, 1944, with the program's writer and director Arnold Bartlett credited for the series.
Japan, Tokyo and Ise, with scenes in Manchukuo, Berlin and the Pacific, in the years before and during the outbreak of war in 1941
Characters: General Hideki Tojo, James Cox, Baron Hiranuma, Premier Konoye, General Itagaki, General Nishio, Ribbentrop, Hitler
Listen for: Tojo's rise through the army from his early career to his leadership of the government, and the notes on the alliance with Germany and Italy leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.