The Last War 1961

Mokichi Tamura, Frankie Sakai, works as a driver for a press center in a rapidly rebuilding Tokyo, sixteen years after the end of World War II, hoping for happiness for his family. His daughter, Saeko Tamura, Yumi Shirakawa, is in love with Takano, a merchant who has been at sea for a long time, and the young couple plan to marry with Saeko’s father’s blessing.

Meanwhile, tensions between the Federation and the Alliance—fictional stand-ins for the United States/NATO and the USSR/Warsaw Pact—grow after an intelligence vessel is captured. A new Korean War erupts across the 38th parallel, drawing both blocs into renewed conflict. Dogfights between Federation and Alliance fighters over the Arctic Ocean flare up, accompanied by the looming threat of nuclear-tipped air battles. Two ICBMs come close to being launched but are halted, and government officials worry that Japan could face retaliation for its visible support of the Federation. After an armistice between North and South Korea, fighting flares again as tensions widen, and the military efforts to prevent catastrophe prove fruitless.

Five ICBMs are eventually launched, targeting major cities around the world: Tokyo, London, Paris, New York, and Moscow. The Tamura family stays in Tokyo as panic grips the city, sharing a final dinner where Mokichi sobs at the thought that Saeko may never marry Takano and that his other children might not reach adulthood. The first missile detonates miles above the National Diet Building, and Tokyo is blown apart—ground turned to a fissured, lava-stitched wasteland with the Diet Building at its center. The remaining four missiles strike Moscow, New York, London, and Paris in quick succession, suggesting a broader mayhem beyond the Japanese capital, with additional launches hinted at from submarines or Arctic sites.

The following morning, Takano and his crew alter their course toward Tokyo’s ruins, prepared to face deadly radioactive fallout. The ship’s maitre d’ wonders whether any survivors remain, while Takano and his companions confront despair as he learns that Saeko is dead. The film closes with a stark image of Tokyo as a vast crater, the Diet Building still standing near the center and surrounded by cooled lava flows, before an on-screen warning underscores that such events must never occur in reality.