Blood on the Sun (1945) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The secret police refuse to disturb the portrait of Emperor Hirohito out of reverence and respect. When Captain Oshima searches Condon's house, he explicitly avoids touching the portrait, believing it would be a desecration to move it. This allows Condon to hide the Tanaka Memorial behind the portrait where it remains undiscovered for a crucial period.

• secret police
• emperor portrait
• hirohito
• hide document
• tanaka memorial

The Japanese secret police arrange Ollie Miller's murder after he brags about the money he received for obtaining the Tanaka Memorial. A secret police informer at the press bar alerts them to Miller's boastful behavior, making him a liability. They kill both Miller and his wife Edith to recover the document and eliminate anyone who knows its origin.

• ollie miller
• murder
• secret police
• tanaka memorial
• killed

Although Iris Hilliard is employed by Baron Tanaka and tasked with retrieving the Tanaka Memorial, she is secretly loyal to Japan's liberal faction that opposes the militarist hardliners. Her true allegiance lies with the liberal politicians who want to expose the militarists' world domination plan. She helps Condon because doing so serves the liberal cause and prevents Tanaka's faction from suppressing the document.

• iris hilliard
• tanaka
• liberal faction
• spy
• help condon

The Tanaka Memorial is a secret document attributed to Baron Giichi Tanaka that outlines Japan's plan for world domination. It details a step-by-step strategy for military conquest across Asia and eventually the globe. The document becomes the most dangerous piece of intelligence in the film, with multiple factions fighting to control or destroy it.

• tanaka memorial
• world domination
• document
• baron tanaka
• plan

Baron Tanaka commits seppuku after being disgraced by the failure to secure the Tanaka Memorial. His political prospects collapse when Iris betrays him by taking the document and aligning with the liberal faction. Facing ruin and unable to recover the document that would expose Japan's militarist ambitions, Tanaka chooses suicide as honorable retreat rather than live with the shame of failure.

• baron tanaka
• seppuku
• suicide
• disgraced
• political collapse

The woman with the ruby ring is Iris Hilliard. When Nick Condon glimpses a fleeing woman near Edith Miller's murdered body, he notices a ruby ring on her finger. Later, when he meets Iris Hilliard, he recognizes a similar ring, which initially makes him suspect her involvement in the murder. However, Iris was at the cabin to retrieve the document for the liberal faction, not to commit murder.

• ruby ring
• iris hilliard
• edith miller cabin
• woman seen

The Tanaka Memorial escapes Japan when Iris Hilliard takes the document from Condon and flees on a fishing boat from the dock where Prince Tatsugi has just signed it to lend credibility. While Condon stays behind to delay the pursuing secret police, Iris boards the boat and escapes into the ocean. The document thus reaches safety outside Japanese jurisdiction.

• fishing boat
• iris escapes
• document smuggled
• tanaka memorial
• embassy

When the head of the secret police offers a handshake and forgiveness at the end of their confrontation, Condon refuses. He delivers his famous line about getting even before forgiving enemies. This refusal symbolizes his unwavering stance against the militarist regime and his commitment to exposing their crimes rather than accepting hollow reconciliation.

• condon
• secret police chief
• handshake
• refuse forgiveness
• for even

Edith Miller is murdered because the secret police believe she may know the location of the Tanaka Memorial or have information about how it was obtained. Her cabin is ransacked as the killers search for the document. While the primary target is the document itself, the murder also serves as a warning to anyone involved with the Tanaka Memorial.

• edith miller
• murder
• document search
• cabin ransacked
• secret police

Prince Tatsugi, a liberal Japanese government official who despises the militarist hardliners, is killed at the fishing dock. He accompanies Condon to sign the Tanaka Memorial with his signature to lend it credibility as an authentic document. When the secret police close in, Tatsugi is shot and killed during the confrontation, becoming a martyr for the liberal cause.

• prince tatsugi
• killed
• fishing dock
• sign document
• liberal

Nick Condon is arrested after the secret police fabricate a story about a drunken party to explain the damage to his house and the disappearance of the document. When he wakes up in a prison cell, he realizes the document has been taken, though in truth, he had already hidden it behind the Emperor's portrait, and the police's fabricated story reveals they cannot find it.

• condon arrested
• prison
• drunken party
• document missing
• secret police