Pearl Harbor (2001) removed a scene involving women in kimonos for the Japanese release, but why?

Cafe Society
1

You can see the scene here, and according to IMDB

Other alterations made in the Japanese versions include:

  • a scene showing Japanese women in traditional kimonos and carrying parasols during Doolittle’s Raid on Tokyo was omitted.

Is there a specific reason why this season was removed from the Japanese version? Do they have an aversion to “stereotypical” displays of Japanese people or is it a more cultural thing where they don’t like the contrast of peaceful Japan and the bombings? Or is that suppose to be the Imperial Palace and they’re also very touchy about that?

2

Maybe it just wasn’t realistic. Like showing men on Wall Street in 1942 wearing top hats and monocles while out for a stroll.

3

It’s not the imperial palace: it’s the Byodo-In temple in Hawaii. Which is apparently a replica of a Byodo-In monastery building on the outskirts of Kyoto. Kyoto was not a target then or later. @Elmer_J.Fudd may be correct.

4

From what I recall of it, if they went through and removed all the scenes that weren’t “realistic”, Pearl Harbor would be a much shorter movie.

5

It’s more about; realistic to who? The scene looks plausible to most in an American audience; not so much to a Japanese one.

6

It’d be down to a TikTok video in length.

7

Pearl Harbor is extremely unrealistic, but it’s unrealistic in ways that American audiences mostly expect, and most of them aren’t going to know or care about the inaccuracies. On the other hand, if they showed an establishing shot of “the White House” before cutting to FDR’s scene, but used a different neo-classical building, even the most tolerant American blockbuster popcorn movie audiences might object.