Self-introduction/Yasukuni

[Junkerman John]

Hi folks:

This is John Junkerman, documentary filmmaker/translator based in  
Tokyo and Falmouth, Massachusetts. Recent films include "Power and  
Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times" and "Eiga Nihon-koku  
Kempo" (Japan's Peace Constitution). I also did the English subtitles  
for "Yasukuni."

Just got back from a press conference at the Diet to protest the  
political pressure on "Yasukuni" (organized by filmmaker Watai  
Takeharu ["Little Birds"], producer Yasuoka Takaharu, and video  
journalist Doi Toshikuni). It was quite the scene. Some 200 press  
there. Director Li Ying, just back from China, spoke, and some 15  
journalists (the most prominent being Tahara Soichiro, and ailing  
Chikushi Tetsuya sent a hand-written letter of support) and several  
filmmakers (including Koreeda Hirokazu) spoke in support.

Li Ying's remarks focused on his various visits to the sword smith  
featured in the film, Kariya Naoji, after the film was finished. He  
made several trips to Kochi  to show him the film and publicity  
material and get his approval/understanding, and said that, while his  
wife was initially put off by the film, he managed to alleviate her  
concerns and Kariya gave him his blessing. This is now becoming an  
issue, because LDP dietmember Arimura Haruko got in touch with Kariya  
and announced that he told her he wanted his scenes deleted from the  
film. Other media have done follow-up interviews and reported that  
Kariya feels he was deceived, that Li misrepresented the nature of  
his film. This looks like it might be the next point of attack on the  
film.

It does seem rather remarkable that members of the Diet would pay  
this much attention to a film that hasn't been released yet, which  
was the thrust of many of the comments of the journalists who spoke  
in support. Some 20 theaters have stepped forward to screen the film,  
which will undoubtedly get a much bigger audience now that such a  
fuss has been made over it. The controversy has sparked an  
examination of the methods of the Japanese media (while they  
simultaneously bandwagon and problematize Kariya's portrayal in the  
film) and issues of freedom of expression and government interference.

After the press conference, I asked Li about the rumor at the Nippon  
Connection screening that the scene in the film with the American  
flag-waving supporter of Koizumi had been set up. He responded with a  
hearty laugh, and said all he had to do was turn on his camera and  
scenes like that appeared one after another. He had no pre-knowledge  
of any of the events documented during the 8/15 ceremonies at  
Yasukuni (including the protesters during the singing of Kimigayo or  
the man who worships at the shrine with his sword at night).

All of those scenes suggest that Yasukuni itself is a provocative  
place, and not just because the Chinese and Koreans make an issue out  
of it. Certainly Li has a political perspective, but the point of the  
film is to explore why Yasukuni is so provocative, to get beyond the  
formulaic "Class-A war criminals/PM visits/foreign governments  
protest." As the film makes clear, Yasukuni is at the spiritual heart  
of the effort to deny Japan's war crimes, justify Japanese  
aggression, and glorify militarism. All you need to do to discover  
that is to go film there, as Li did. Since Inada is closely  
associated with all of these efforts, her challenge of the film as  
"politically biased" is deeply suspect.

One last thing I learned at the press conference is that the Tokyo  
Lawyers Association is holding a public screening and symposium on  
the film later this month (I think it's the 23rd). The Yasukuni  
scholar Takahashi Tetsuya, who so far has remained silent on the  
film, is the featured speaker. There will also be a press conference  
organized by the nationalist group Issuikai, whose founder Suzuki  
Kunio appeared at today's press conference and apologized for right- 
wing attacks on the film).

All this leaves me wondering if the film is going to be talked to  
death before anyone has a chance to see it.



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