<div dir="ltr">My review in the April edition of Metropolis magazine:<div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(29,33,41);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Shusenjo: The Main
Battleground of The Comfort Women Issue</span><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(29,33,41)"><br>
<br>
</span><span style="font-family:Cambria"></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria">By ROB SCHWARTZ</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)">One of the most painful lingering controversies of Japanese
imperialist and WWII history is the issue of so-called comfort women, or women
forced into sexual slavery. Despite the Japanese government’s apology in 1993
the Abe administration has been insisting that the wartime government did
nothing wrong and that the brothels they set up were staffed by willing
participants. This is counter to much historical evidence that women from
around Asia were conscripted against their will and the governments of Korea
and China in particular have been active in erecting memorials for the affected
women and demanding compensation.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(29,33,41)">Otherwise apolitical Japanese-American </span><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)">director
Miki Dezaki was drawn into the heated political fray when he posted a video on
racism in contemporary Japan. This led the right wing in the country to attempt
to bury him with threats and online attacks so he committed himself to researching
the comfort women topic. This documentary is the fruitful result. Showing how
the issue affected women from as far-flung nations as Korea, </span><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(29,33,41)">China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Indonesia, and
Micronesia the breadth and detail of this work makes it surpass other
documentaries, such as the Japanese-produced <i>Riben Guize</i> (Japanese Devils).</span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;color:rgb(29,33,41)"> </span><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(29,33,41)">That pic exclusively interviewed ex-Japanese imperial army
soldiers on exactly what they did while occupying China, in all its graphic
minutiae. </span><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)"></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)">For </span><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(29,33,41);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Shusenjo,</span><span style="font-family:Cambria;color:rgb(17,17,17)"> Dezaki
interviewed dozens of people to hear both sides of the story and dig for the
historical truth hidden beneath propaganda and anger for more than sixty years
now. He exposes that fact that each side has hedged toward a narrative that doesn’t
capture how complicated and messy the situation really is. Dezaki takes on
crucial issues such as how the women were actually recruited, what kind of eyewitness
accounts exist, and what kind of government documents remain. This issue is
even more pertinent in the light of Japanese media accepting the government
version of events as well as changing terminology around the matter. Dezaki has
created crucial viewing for those concerned with the political realities of
Japan, past, present and future.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Times,serif"><span style="font-family:Cambria">122 min.</span></p><div><br></div><div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">Rob Schwartz<span><u><span style="color:blue"><br>+81-90-6541-8895</span></u></span><span style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif"><font size="2"><br>Wechat/</font></span><span style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif"><font size="2">Whatsapp/</font></span><span style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif"><font size="2">KakaoTalk/</font></span><span style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif"><font size="2">Line/Viber</font></span><span style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif"><font size="2">: <br></font></span><span><span style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif"><font size="2">gangamati</font></span></span><br>





</div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 12:36 AM Desser, David M via KineJapan <<a href="mailto:kinejapan@mailman.yale.edu">kinejapan@mailman.yale.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">



<div dir="auto">
Not sure why someone would imagine that a filmed interview would not be screened publicly.  <br>
<br>
<div id="gmail-m_2010439579766035996AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
On Jun 19, 2019, at 8:29 AM, Gerow Aaron via KineJapan <<a href="mailto:kinejapan@mailman.yale.edu" target="_blank">kinejapan@mailman.yale.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Right wingers, including the American Kent Gilbert, have sued to stop the screening of Shusenjo, a documentary directed by Miki Dezaki. Although they were interviewed in the documentary about the comfort women issue, which has been quite successful
 in Japan, they assert that they were not told it would be released publicly, and that they have been defamed by being called historical revisionists, etc. Dezaki has already given a press conference in which he stated that everyone was made aware the film
 would likely be shown publicly, and even stated that Gilbert sent him e-mails congratulating him on the public release.
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a href="https://www.bengo4.com/c_18/n_9780/?fbclid=IwAR2Lv8zJrrLZI5UAdAMm0siz9wGpUHrneWPqs_HV7H3DMyslYjQk4KphExs" target="_blank">https://www.bengo4.com/c_18/n_9780/?fbclid=IwAR2Lv8zJrrLZI5UAdAMm0siz9wGpUHrneWPqs_HV7H3DMyslYjQk4KphExs</a></div>
<div><br>
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<div>Here’s Dezaki’s YouTube response to the initial allegations:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WdVrzp40bg&t=24s" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WdVrzp40bg&t=24s</a></div>
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<div>It doesn’t seem that those suing have any legs to stand on, and that this is just an effort to suppress criticism of the comfort women issue. This threat to documentary and freedom of speech is of great concern.</div>
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<div>Aaron Gerow<br>
Professor<br>
Film and Media Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures</div>
<div>Director of Graduate Studies, Film and Media Studies</div>
<div><span style="text-align:-webkit-auto">Yale University</span></div>
<div>143 Elm Street, Room 210<br>
PO Box 208324<br>
New Haven, CT 06520-<span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px">8324</span><br>
USA<br>
Phone: 1-203-432-7082<br>
Fax: 1-203-432-6729<br>
e-mail: <a href="mailto:aaron.gerow@yale.edu" target="_blank">aaron.gerow@yale.edu</a></div>
<div>website: <a href="http://www.aarongerow.com" target="_blank">www.aarongerow.com</a></div>
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<div dir="ltr"><span>_______________________________________________</span><br>
<span>KineJapan mailing list</span><br>
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</div>
</blockquote>
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_______________________________________________<br>
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</blockquote></div>