Pearl Harbour and Japanese war films

[Aaron Gerow]

>I was also wondering if anybody knew of Japanese film made in the last 20
>years, apart from Oshima's "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence" that dealt with
>the war. I am assuming that it is a no go area, and that it is almost
>impossible to deal with the subject  in Japanese fictional film. (Germany of
>course has done much better. Das Boot, Heimat etc...)

There were actually a spate of war films made in 1995, the 50th 
anniversary of the end of the war.  Some have already been mentioned, but 
note also the 1995 remake of Himeyuri no to.  I'm writing on Okinawa and 
Japanese film now, and should note two films: Gama: Getto no hana and 
Mabui which deal with the battle of Okinawa and its aftermath.  There 
have been documentaries, usually from the left-wing perspective, on the 
war (e.g., the "Oshierarenakatta senso" series directed by Takaiwa Jin).

One more recent film is Merdeka, based on the historical fact that some 
Japanese soldiers stayed behind in Indonesia after the war to help the 
independence movement.  Interesting fact, but in the contemporary context 
of feel-good revisionist rightism, it just comes out stating that "We 
Japanese actually fought WWII to free Asia from Western imperialism."  
The press site for the film (in Japanese) is:

http://www.toho.co.jp/movie-press/merdeka/welcome-j.html

Mark Schilling wrote a nicely scathing review which he might want to 
share.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171