[KineJapan] New Film: THE OZU DIARIES (Oscar-nominated director Daniel Raim) - now available for Campus Screenings

Thu Nov 20 02:08:43 EST 2025

Hi William and all,

Here are the rough translation of the Japanese passages I posted:

1) Ozu’s 1939 interview
When I saw these Chinese soldiers, I felt that they were not human beings at all. They were like bugs that flew everywhere. Because I found no human values in them and saw them only as saucy enemies—or as something like mere objects—I became harden to shoot 'em nonstop. So much so that countless people are there in China in swarms.

2) Hoshino’s concluding remark:
Ozu’s journal dated on Sunday, April 30th, 1939, wrote: “All of sudden, our unit was called for a mission to subjugate enemies. But the unit leader told us that 'let’s leave Ozu out because he’s always over the top inappropriately,” so I was made to remain behind.” According to this, Ozu was not forced to commit to atrocities reluctantly; even in the eye of the unit leader, he appeared completely absorbed in killing “Chinks.”

I should be clear that I had no intention to downplay the value of three recent and upcoming works on Ozu—Dan Raim’s documentary film The Ozu Diaries, Daisuke’s new monograph Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy, and Markus and Adam Kuplowsky's English translation of Ozu’s 800-page long diaries. These are invaluable additions to our ongoing discussion on Ozu and Japanese cinema, and I will definitely use them when I teach this director in my own classroom. 

My intention was simply to turn our attention also to another “ongoing” discussion of Ozu and Japanese cinema in the Chinese context. As Rea rightly pointed out, Ozu’s was responsibility has been an issue among scholars for a long time thanks to Tanaka Masasumi’s excavation of Ozu’s personal diaries (1987) and his own groundbreaking studies on the topic including Ozu Yasujirō and War (2005/20). But the director’s commitment to war atrocities received a renewed interest among Chinese people in this past year in conjunction with the release of two popular Chinese films on Japan’s war against China, Zhao Linshan’s Evil Unbound (a.k.a. 731) and Shen Ao’s Dead to Rights (a.k.a. Nanjing Photographic Studio). While the former is said to be seen as a total failure, the latter ranked the 3rd highest annual glossing film in 2025 and received a series of positive critical claims both inside and outside China. Dead to Rights is an interesting case for our discussion because one of its main characters, the Japanese Army photographer Itō Hideo, is often associated with Ozu among Chinese viewers, although this “popular” association is obviously not based on any historical fact at all. 

What to do with this as a scholar or dedicated fan of Japanese cinema? This was the question that came to my mind and I wanted to share it with you all on this list. But I apologize if my earlier posts sounded unkind and dismissive. 

Best,
Naoki

Naoki Yamamoto
Associate Professor
Department of Film and Media Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara

> On Nov 20, 2025, at 11:43 AM, William M. Drew via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
> 
>  
> In a message dated 11/11/2025, Naoki Yamamoto posted from a 1939 interview with Ozu quoted in an essay by Hoshino Haruhiko as well as a commentary by the essayist on the same page 547 of this particular publication. However, he did not provide an English translation of either the Ozu quote or the commentary by Hoshino Haruhiko also quoted in his email. For those of us who cannot read Japanese it thus makes it difficult to analyze or interpret any of the facts of this situation. I would therefore appreciate it if someone here could provide an English translation of these quotes.
>   I might add it is unfortunate that these quotes may be relevant but not in a good way as the result of Chinese-Japanese relations being torpedoed as a result of the new foolish and irresponsible leadership in Tokyo.
>  
> William M. Drew
> 
> In a message dated 11/18/2025 10:55:47 AM Pacific Standard Time, kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu writes:
>  
> Thank you all for the lively discussion and I look forward to reading the new and forthcoming material!
>  
> Since my initial post got pushed so far down this thread… Just a reminder that for those of you who are still including Ozu in their Spring ’26 Japanese cinema survey courses and wish to screen the film in class, or to arrange a screening at your university, please fill out this form to request a screener or apply to book the film for your institution:
> https://airtable.com/app8ALm03YfCjEIMN/pagYCsdFCAjuCREBi/form
>  
> Thank you all, and please email me privately with any questions.
>  
> Best,
>  
> David
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
> David Averbach (he/him)
> Creative Director
> The Film Collaborative
>  	+1 415.948.1789 <>
>  	david at thefilmcollaborative.org <mailto:david at thefilmcollaborative.org>
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>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
> On Nov 13, 2025, at 10:34 AM, Rea Amit via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
> 
> Thank you all for this fascinating discussion.
> 
> 
> I am so happy that there is still so much to add to what we know about Ozu. I am really looking forward to watching the film and to reading Daisuke’s new book (congratulations!).
> 
> As for the controversies around Ozu’s remarks, this is not really a new issue, right? The diaries, which include these offensive comments, have been readily available since at least 1993 (全日記小津安二郎). The editor, Tanaka Masasumi, also discusses this aspect in 小津安二郎周游 (2003) and again in 小津安二郎と戦争 (2005), on which, I believe, Hoshino Haruhiko is relying.
> 
> It is remarkable, though, that associations between an artists’ works and their politics are having so much sway even among Chinese-born expats, including those in the U.S. I wonder what role social media and erroneous A.I. translations might have in spreading such interpretations beyond ideology.
> 
> At any rate, I am excited to check out the diaries, the documentary, Daisuke’s new book, and of course, to have a good excuse to revisit the films themselves!
> 
> Best,
> Rea
>  
> 
> On Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 10:40 PM Naoki Yamamoto via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu <mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>> wrote:
> Thanks Eleanor for sharing the info! 
>  
> Markus, Let me clarify the background of my previous post. My wife is Chinese and one day she asked me if I knew Ozu was involved in killing Chinese people during his service and left his comments like “I feel nothing in shooting Chinese because they look like insects or non-human objects.” She told me she found that reference at one of the internet discussion sites she frequently visits, which is popular among Chinese Americans. 
>  
> I was surprised by this because as far as I remember, Ozu did not write about his commitment to killing in such a direct manner, though he did mention about his commitment to using mustard gas on the field. Then, I discovered an article titled 「小津安二郎の戦争責任」by Hoshino Haruhiko (星乃治彦) of Fukuoka University, and found the exact same expression appearing there. According to Hoshino, Ozu often talked about his war experience at interviews, and one of such interviews titled 「小津安二郎戦場談」 (『大陸』1939年9月号) included the following remark:
>  
> 「こうした支那兵を見ていると、少しも人間と思えなくなって来る。どこへ行ってもいる虫のようだ。人間に価値を認めなくなって、ただ、小癪に反抗する敵ーいや、物位に見え、いくら射撃しても、平気になる。それ位、支那には数限りのない人間がうようよしているのだ」(p.547)
>  
> Obviously, someone on the aforementioned internet site found this article and spread this information among the members of  that online community. So it might have been too much to say that this disturbing statement is now “well known” in China, but at least Ozu’s active participation in the war is widely known among Chinese readers through the translation of his diary.  
>  
> I cannot prove Hoshino’s argument is correct as I haven’t yet read these interviews in original. But he also wrote this toward the end of his essay:
>  
> 「 39年4月30日日曜の小津の日記によると、『突如舞台ハ討伐に出かけることになる。＜小津ハ置いてゆけ、彼奴ハ下手に頑張るから＞との部隊長の話由、残留となる』というところから見ると、小津は、いやいや殺戮に加担していたわけでもない。部隊長の目から見ても、「チャンコロ」殺戮に余念がなかったと考えられるのである」(ibid.)
>  
> You can easily find this article online. Whether it is correct or not, this now informs a quite different reception of Ozu which I hadn’t been aware of until my wife told me about it. 
>  
> Best,
> Naoki
> 
> Naoki Yamamoto
> Associate Professor
> Department of Film and Media Studies
> University of California, Santa Barbara
> naokiya at ucsb.edu <mailto:naokiya at ucsb.edu>
>  
> On Nov 12, 2025, at 12:38 PM, Eleanor Zhang via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu <mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>> wrote:
> 
> Hi Markus,
>  
> I’m not sure if this is the same book mentioned by Naoki, but there appears to be a book called 小津安二郎全日记 published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House in 2020 (picture attached). 
>  
> Best wishes,
> Eleanor 
>  
> 
> On Wed, 12 Nov 2025 at 03:18, Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu <mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>> wrote:
> This is interesting. When you say “well-known,” do you mean published in translation? Pirated or official translation? 
> > 
> > He’s no longer a calm and stylish director defending Japanese culture. But just one of those excited and then completely numbed about inhumane duties during his service in the Second Sino-Japanese War. 
> 
> The first read is definitely wrong. 
> 
> The second is not one I’ve taken from the diaries. 
> 
> To his credit, the director does include the China War. However, I think he downplays Ozu’s real enthusiasm for the war, as well as his life-long commitment to the imperial family. 
> 
> Markus
> 
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