By YASUJI NAGAI/ Staff Writer
November 18, 2025 at 07:00 JST
KOBE—A naval officer’s personal footage shot aboard an Imperial-Era warship and snippets of his life stationed overseas are some of the historical nuggets discovered in film reels donated to the Kobe Planet Film Archive.
Naoki Maeda (1896-1964) doubled as an administration chief and divisional officer of the Chokai ship from December 1934 through November 1935. The heavy cruiser, launched in 1931, later became the Second Fleet of Japan’s flagship.
While views of European streets and other locations comprise much of the 38 16-millimeter reels given to the archive in Kobe’s Nagata Ward, one expert homed in on 33 minutes of particularly valuable footage.
Kazushige Todaka, director of the Yamato Museum in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, who specializes in naval vessels, concluded that scenes split across four reels were likely filmed on Chokai’s deck.
The footage documents fleet operations and training to fire oxygen torpedoes, considered state-of-the-art at the time, a smokescreen drill and a race between ships, among other scenes.
Also immortalized in the reels is a ship-borne airplane that appears to be in flight while crew members paint the side of Chokai’s hull.
“The films feature a lot of scenes that only insiders could record, such as the interior of the bridge and training on firing torpedoes,” said Todaka. “They can therefore be deemed extremely precious visual records.”
Titles on the reel canisters, along with other details, date the footage between 1935 and 1936. Chokai was eventually sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines on Oct. 25, 1944.
Maeda was not there as he had been deployed in 1942 to the puppet state of Manchukuo in China as a military attache at the Japanese Embassy.
Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, Maeda was detained by the former Soviet Union. He returned home in 1953.
Takao Katori, 83, described his uncle Maeda as gentle and kind, adding that he never saw Maeda speak of the fighting or use a camera.
The family’s donation has already reached a wider audience. The archive screened the footage during its annual Kobe Discovery Film Festival on Oct. 12 that is dedicated to showcasing its new acquisitions.
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An Imperial Japanese Navy warship believed to be the Chokai as filmed by Naoki Maeda, who held dual leadership roles onboard (Provided by the Kobe Planet Film Archive)
