Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS (2002)

Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS 2002 / 陽はまた昇る 2002 / Hi wa mata noboru

Shizuo Kagatani, an employee at home electronics manufacturer Victor Company of Japan, is transferred to the home video division of the company’s Yokohama factory and told to cut the division's staff by 20%. But Kagatani doesn't want to fire anyone, so he decides to increase sales instead of developing a home video player. Inspired by Kagatani's impassioned phrase, ‟We have to defend our jobs ourselves,‟ the employees pour their efforts into product development, and perfect a trial model, VHS. Kagatani sees compatibility as the most important issue for popularizing home video and makes the technical data public access. But Sony has already begun to market their home video deck, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry decides to make Sony's version the domestic industry standard. Kagatani plays his last card and sells his pitch directly to the corporate advisor to industry giant Matsushita Electric Indusial Co. Matsushita is highly impressed with VHS and decides to use it, and VHS is born.