"Viewers at the time would not escape the connection to real-world debates over "Japan, Inc." References to Japan buying entire continents merely exaggerate existing fears about the Japanese economic powerhouse. By the early 1990s, many American commentators were already suggesting that although the Allies were the military victors of the Second World War, Japan had staged a successful economic victory. Omori plainly makes this connection by depicting the architect of Japan's postwar economic prosperity as a commander of the Imperial Army in the war. Shindo loses the battle in 1944, but wins it five decades later."