Our Job in Japan began with the observation that the Japanese were a people “trained to play follow-the-leader.” The problem the victors faced could be stated in a word: it was the Japanese brain, which could “make trouble” or “make sense.” Viewers were presented with a close-up of a Japanese man’s head in profile—and then watched as a literal representation of a spongelike brain filled his cranium and expanded until the head itself was obliterated and the brain, now gigantic, held the center of the screen, floating against a background of countless other tiny brains crowded together like so
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