Tokyo cinema shuns Chinese documentary on controversial war shrine
Posted on Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 1:54 pm
In a bit of breaking news that I’m sure the English dailies will be on to soon enough, Toei-owned cinema management company T-Joy have pussied out of an agreement to screen a Chinese documentary about the controversial war shrine “Yasukuni” at their Shinjuku Wald 9 multiplex because of fears that any ‘trouble’ (i.e. potential intimidation by rightist groups) could inconvenience the building’s other tenants.
The documentary was set to open on April 12th in four Tokyo theatres and others in Osaka and Fukuoka, and as distributor Argo Pictures has responded disappointedly, it would have been quite an achievement for such a micro-budget doco to screen at such a major cinema complex as the still minty-fresh 9-screen Shinjuku Wald 9 which opened in February of last year.
Actual threats against the cinema have yet to be reported, so this seems to be a clear case of “jishuku”, which is usually translated as “self-restraint” although “self-censorship” is more appropriate in cases of media cowardice like this. It’s also more than a little reminiscent of this recent issue.
“Yasukuni” has already been screened for members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after some of its more zealously patriotic representatives expressed concerns about its alleged anti-Japanese leanings despite the film having already received a grant from the Japan Arts Council, an independent administrative institution operating under goverment auspices.
Here’s the original article from the Asahi, found via film critic Yanashita Kiichiro’s mixi blog. Rather than railing against Toei for their perceived crime against freedom of speech, he instead lamented the decline of a company which once seized on such controversial subject matter as a hook for getting people into their cinemas.
The left-leaning, China-friendly Asahi also ran an interview on Saturday with the documentary’s director Li Ying here.
comment by Aceface
posted on Tuesday, March 18 2008 at 1:54 pm
Did you picked up the last week’s issue(March 12th) of NEWSWEEK JAPAN called Schindler of China?
There was this article by Alexandra Seno called “Truth Of Nanjing” and that is about upcoming waves of films on Nanjing massacre coming to the theater near you in the next few months.Li Yang was mentioned there as “getting threats for making movie on Yasukuni in Japan” in contrast to the German director now filming in China where everyone is “open”about history and even demanding director to be “objective when portraiting the Japanese”.
I have an idea about the article of which I shall not mention here,but still it was informative to learn that Li is under certain pressure from Japanese society,what ever it may be and I feel ashamed about it.However these “Jishuku” and intrusion of LDP diet member may contribute to draw more media and public attention that would reflect upon ticket sales.
(The Last Emperor and Battle Royal come instantly to my memory,the former was for removal of 20 seconds of Nanjing clip in 1987 and the latter for the controversy at the diet in 2000)
And reading Asahi interview,I wonder what Li thinks about current situation in Lhasa and his chance of filming a controversial documentary there with fund from the government.
comment by don
posted on Tuesday, March 18 2008 at 1:54 pm
Aceface,
No need for me to comment here about Chinese objectivity in portraying Japan, but it is sad that a company with a pedigree like Toei’s (although admittedly indirectly via T-Joy) has waved the white flag, especially remembering how well they turned the “Battle Royale” controversy to their financial advantage. None of that kind of old-fashioned promotion nous has been displayed in this case.
The current standard of Chinese documentary filmmaking is seen to be superior to that of Japan, which is borne out by the frequency with which they win awards at various film festivals here, but their makers always complain about limited screening opportunities in their own country. Their Japanese counterparts have a great deal more freedom of expression but generally aren’t as good at making use of it, if the prevalence of ‘personal documentaries’ is anything to go by.
comment by Aceface
posted on Tuesday, March 18 2008 at 1:54 pm
Toei made revisionist flic”PRIDE運命の瞬間”featuring HIdeki Tojo as the hero defending Japan’s dignity of the nation in Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal i 1998.
Not much surprise.
You are correct about state of J-Docs and Chinese Docs.MIDNIGHT EYE’s favourite “The New God”director
Tsuchiya Yutaka had made a video about Yasukuni in 1994.And that was basically plain interviews of passerbys in Yasukuni on August 15 th about war responsibility of Hirohito.Tsuchiya took minimalist approach and he just let people speak their mind.
One interesting moment for me was the crew came accross with former naval engineer who was in charge of 桜花Ohka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohka
a rocket powered Kamikaze aircraft solely designed for suicide mission.But the rest was basically ordinary people who came to mourn for war buddy or just came there to peek a look.There are almost no artificial direction and all you see is a raw material of facts.Some might finds it boring.
I came to know Tsuchiya around that time he made this video and befriended with him for a while.
Never had I imagined he become famous in J-Doc world by doing “New God” featuring Goth-Loli right wing activist(now turn left wing social worker)Amamiya Karin.But my impression was “New God ” was typical “Personal Documentaries”and not exactly what I was expecting from him as the extention of his previous work of Yasukuni.And that I thought that was revealing some of the problem with Japanese narratives as you have rightly mentioned by the comparison with the Chinese dirctors.
Li Yang is being interviewed in just came out EIGA HIHO.And I just finished reading.
Frankly,I wasn’t impressed with his approach or his perception of Yasukuni or people who go their to pilgrimage.
He justifies focusing on freaks in Imperial Military war costumes who go to Yasukuni only intending to get attantion from others.Li is well informed that these cosplayers who have politics and history as secondary priority and see Yasukuni as more of a right of assylum for social misfits.But Li says in the interview that he is not interested in personal background or motivation of these people.He plainly puts them as they too are part of “The symbol of Japan”.
Another thing.As I see the cast list,I see name of 高金素梅,a Taiwanese politician and member of the legistrative yuan.Also known as an actress May Ching.appeared in films like Ang Lee’s “Wedding Bunquet”.And it seems she is heavily featured in the Yasukuni doc.May Ching did rather weird performance in front of Yasukuni as she called it was the ceremony of recovering ancestoral souls in Taiwanese aboriginal way and had half dozen camera crew to record that.
I don’t want spend another hundred words to share my knowledge about her with you,but I happened to know well about Taiwanese aboriginal ethnic politics and it’s implication to historic memory of colonial Taiwan,since I was the member of such study group founded by Taiyal students studying in Meiji Univ in 1993.
And despite the fact that May Ching is being lionized as the true representative of Taiwanese patriot with Aboriginal background by Mainland Chinese and Kuomingtang associated media in Taiwan,there is a strong opposition from the Aboriginal community and former aboriginal veterna who served in Takasago vo;unteer regiment that May proclaim she is representing.So learning her being featured as one of the main characters in the doc greatly reduced my expectation to “YASUKUNI”.
But then again,these obssesion to the factual details would probably seen as pidgeonholing to others and
I too sense this Japanese tendency is one of the main reasons why J-docs are losing power in it’s narratives and story telling…..
comment by Aceface
posted on Tuesday, March 18 2008 at 1:54 pm
This just in from Kyodo.
It seems that the other three theaters are following the footsteps of Wald 9…
All three theaters had decided to not to show “YASUKUNI”in there theater today.That means that the doc will not be shown here in Tokyo.
Pathetic.
comment by Aceface
posted on Tuesday, March 18 2008 at 1:54 pm
Add one more for the theater in Osaka.
comment by don
posted on Tuesday, March 18 2008 at 1:54 pm
Thanks for the tip Ace. The plot thickens.
I’ve got that issue of Eiga Hiho (glad to hear you read it), but haven’t got around to reading the interview yet. Guess I’ll have to now.
comment by logboy
posted on Tuesday, March 18 2008 at 1:54 pm
although the official site seems fairly non-existent
when you click that link, there’s a trailer online elsewhere :
http://movie.goo.ne.jp/contents/movies/MOVCSTD12235/