The late Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda was infuriated by an "anti-Japanese" TV documentary that cast his nation's companies in a bad light as they considered setting up bases in Britain, according to official documents from 1977 released Friday.
The controversial program, "Eastern Promise," which used a war scene and portrayed Japanese businessmen as samurai warriors, led to an "outburst" from Fukuda, who demanded British Charge D'Affaires Sydney Giffard be summoned for an official dressing down.
Fukuda and his Cabinet saw the TV program reflecting a more generalized attack by the British government, which was suffering a large balance of payments deficit with Japan. Fukuda was the father of current Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
He expressed "irritation" at what he perceived to be several negative statements by British ministers who were urging Japan to buy more British exports, according to London government files released for the first time at the National Archives.