Culture

Japan shies away from shrine film

by Amy Judd | April 11, 2008 at 09:17 pm

475 views | 5 Recommendations | 4 comments

A Chinese made film about the the Yahukuni shrine in Tokyo is being shunned in Japan and is accused of being anti-Japanese.

From a scabbard he pulls a long ceremonial sword. Calmly and with precision, he carves an arc in the air above his head with the blade, before bringing it down firmly, deliberately in the space in front of him.

Naoji Kariya, who is 90, is the last living swordsmith at the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, the place where Japan remembers its war dead.

He is one of the characters interviewed at length for a new documentary, simply entitled Yasukuni, made by Chinese film-maker Li Ying.

The film has attracted criticism from some lawmakers in Japan, who have described it as "anti-Japanese."

Those comments have been blamed for inciting right-wing activists to make threats of violence and stage protests against cinemas that planned to show the movie this weekend.

Five have cancelled screenings.

Publicly funded

For the moment, the film - which has won awards at festivals elsewhere in the world - will not be released in Japan.

But the criticism of his documentary has disappointed Li Ying - particularly the comments from some lawmakers, who demanded a special screening before it went to the cinemas.

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Maireid Sullivan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:56 on April 11th, 2008

Wow, Amy - this is a great find!

Thanks for posting it.

Amy Judd

at 21:58 on April 11th, 2008

Thanks! I found it to be a very interesting subject as well!

Maireid Sullivan

at 22:10 on April 11th, 2008

Just read the full BBC version of the article. The filmmaker's comment is important!

"'Anti-Japanese' was a phrase that was used here often before the Sino-Japanese War," the director says.

"It was used to encourage nationalism. It's a very dangerous phrase. Those who use it are irresponsible."

It reminds me of Anti-Israel or "un-American". Just plain ignorant posturing

A recent film well worth seeing, "Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles" -a Japanese man ursuing his son's "dream" across China. A brilliant insight into how to 'access' the humanity behind the "regime" in China.

And, another film we watched on DVD recently: "The Last Samurai" starring, of all people, Tom Cruise, whom I'm not a fan of, but he did a brilliant job capturing a very important part of Japanese history.

Amy Judd

at 22:17 on April 11th, 2008

I totally agree about 'The Last Samurai' - I'm not a Cruise fan either but he did do a rather good job.

The phrase 'anti-Japanese' is inflamatory - it is one of those phrases that shouldn't be used without wanting to cause friction between two groups.

Film is an art form, and while everyone can have their opinion, it is something that is supposed to start discussion and provide a jumping off point, and by shunning the film from the very beginning, Japan may be missisng out on what could be an interesting and poignant look at their history.