Today, Japan has one of the largest fleets in the world and, for over half a century, has stood shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. Navy, defending the waters of Far East Asia and the vital sea lanes surrounding the Japanese islands. Yet previously, these two forces were locked in history's largest and most destructive naval war--World War II. This 2-hour documentary dramatizes the rise, fall, and rise again of one of the most remarkable naval forces in all of history. Tracing the heritage of the Imperial Japanese Navy from origins in a 13th century Mongol invasion, through stunning rise under the influence of Great Britain and the United States during the 19th century, to amazing victories and total defeat in WWII, to today's Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force--one of the world's strongest and finest navies.   TVPG  cc