Nihon nankyoku tanken

Probably one of the earliest documentary film produced in Japan in a true sense. The Japanese private expedition team of 1912 led by Lieutenant Shirase headed for the South Pole, but was defeated by the extreme condition of the Antarctic soon after they landed at a small inlet on Bay of Whales. Yasunao Taizumi, the accompanying cinematographer, recorded the events from his departure at Nagasaki (October 1911) through the expedition with his Warwick camera. The expedition team originally left Japan and headed for the Antarctic in October 1910, but was stopped by the icebergs before reaching the continent, they had to wait for the next summer season in the Antarctic for 6 months in Sydney, Australia. Meanwhile, the team was facing the financial difficulty; their request for the governmental support was denied earlier, and the most influential sponsor, Shigenobu Okuma, consulted Shokichi Umeya, the owner of M Pathe Shokai to send a cinematographer to the expedition to record, and on return they would distribute the film nationwide to compensate for the costs, thus Yasunao Taizumi was chosen and joined the team in Sydney. He shot about 1800 feet out of 4000 feet film stock he brought. However, half of the used negatives were damaged when they returned to Japan due to poor storage condition. The film was premiered in Tokyo, in June 1912. Even though the expedition did not make to the south pole, the reception from public was enthusiastic