Yamato
"Yamato: The Last Battle" (Japanese: 男たちの大和) strongly hits the box-office record of Japan. The movie has likely reached six billion yen box-office as the highest grossing film of Japan since opening on Dec 17 2005. Yamato (Japanese: 大和) was the largest battleship ever built in World War II, more than 260 meters long and 64,000 tones heavy. Its final mission was to destroy the US forces off Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄) and to prevent an invasion of Japanese mainland. On April 6 1945, under a few hours of attack by 390 US planes, it exploded and sank off the coast of Kyushu (Japanese: 九州) with the loss of all but 300 of its 3,000 crew, most of whom were teenagers. The movie tells the final mission of the teenagers.
This movie has provoked anger amongst China and South Korea because of its sympathetic portrayal of the battleship's military crew, especially in this cold winter between Japan and China freezed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (Japanese: 小泉純一郎)'s repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine (Japanese: 靖国神社) that honors convicted war criminals along with the country’s 2.5 million war dead. However, the producer of the movie Haruki Kadokawa (Japanese: 角川春樹) stands well.
According to Guardian Unlimited UK, He said he felt very strongly that the anti-Japanese demonstrators were acting without knowing about Japan and it was the result of government propaganda. He hoped that when Chinese and Korean viewers watched the film they would better understand Japanese culture. He said the movie was about people's courage to live, and I want people to start thinking again about how to live with self-awareness and pride as Japanese.
People who have read "The Chrysanthemum and The Sword" should not feel weird about statements of Mr. Kadokawa. His statements show values of Japanese tradition. One of them is to sacrifice oneself for sake of others in an organization. This is considered as courage and loyalty that Japanese is used to emphasizing. Because of such tradition, Japanese is considered as one of most patriotic nationals. Such tradition is also an element of Asian Values, which were claimed by Lee Kuan Yew just before the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998.
Loyalty sometimes needs courage but it does not necessarily mean obeying. In US, W. Mark Felt, known as Deep Throat, leaked information about the involvement of the administration of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate Scandal. Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins took huge risks to blow the whistle on what had gone wrong at Worldcom, the FBI and Enron respectively. Between obeying for small groups and denying wrongdoers for public interest, they selected the latter. They are whistleblowers respected.
In contrast, the courage and the loyalty demonstrated in the movie are doubtful. Were they brave enough to criticize justice of military actions in the war? Were they brave enough to criticize strategic correctness of keeping fire against the Allies? Were they brave enough to criticize tactic correctness of the suicide attack? Were they loyal enough to say no to the war? Were they loyal enough to save reputation of the emperor and the nation? Were they loyal enough to keep lives of their colleague?
Mr. Kadokawa said both winners and losers of the war were victims and therefore Japan will not go to war again. His logic indicates his misunderstanding of the war. First, he does not need to bear the responsibility of the war, either other nationals who disagree with the war. The responsibility should be taken by the military leaders and their supporters. They did not represent the whole Japan. Secondly, the crime of the war was not due to their failure, but inhuman behaviors of the military in the war. Nazi was a criminal but Erwin Rommel was highly respected by the Allies. Thirdly, the mistake made by the current Japanese government was not bad marketing of Japanese culture, but no resolution of drawing a line between the war criminals and nationals else. The Japanese government should not confuse and also let nationals clearly know that soldiers sacrificed their lives for the nation they loved, but criminals played risk of their lives, these of other people and public interest of the nation for their own ambition. This is no ambiguity.
Chinese government, which is used to appealing to Japan for correct history vision, is a pot calling the kettle black. From May Fourth Movement, Culture Revolution, Tiananmen Massacre to recent small politic issues, Beijing should learn that press freedom and speech freedom can prevent the nation from going in a wrong way. They are warm beds for critical thinking and creativity that push a nation forward. It is a chance to build up modern Chinese-style society with open Chinese-style values. She should say goodbye to the so-called Asian Values.
Both nations should learn the following story. One day, George junior complained to his father that his teacher punished him because he wrote "God Bless America". George senior known as a patriot was angry and took his son to the teacher. After the teacher listened to George senior, she asked another student to come in and showed his back. The student's back was written by George junior with the word "God Bless America".
Whatever brilliant marketing you have applied, criminals never turn to saints.
This movie has provoked anger amongst China and South Korea because of its sympathetic portrayal of the battleship's military crew, especially in this cold winter between Japan and China freezed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (Japanese: 小泉純一郎)'s repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine (Japanese: 靖国神社) that honors convicted war criminals along with the country’s 2.5 million war dead. However, the producer of the movie Haruki Kadokawa (Japanese: 角川春樹) stands well.
According to Guardian Unlimited UK, He said he felt very strongly that the anti-Japanese demonstrators were acting without knowing about Japan and it was the result of government propaganda. He hoped that when Chinese and Korean viewers watched the film they would better understand Japanese culture. He said the movie was about people's courage to live, and I want people to start thinking again about how to live with self-awareness and pride as Japanese.
People who have read "The Chrysanthemum and The Sword" should not feel weird about statements of Mr. Kadokawa. His statements show values of Japanese tradition. One of them is to sacrifice oneself for sake of others in an organization. This is considered as courage and loyalty that Japanese is used to emphasizing. Because of such tradition, Japanese is considered as one of most patriotic nationals. Such tradition is also an element of Asian Values, which were claimed by Lee Kuan Yew just before the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998.
Loyalty sometimes needs courage but it does not necessarily mean obeying. In US, W. Mark Felt, known as Deep Throat, leaked information about the involvement of the administration of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate Scandal. Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins took huge risks to blow the whistle on what had gone wrong at Worldcom, the FBI and Enron respectively. Between obeying for small groups and denying wrongdoers for public interest, they selected the latter. They are whistleblowers respected.
In contrast, the courage and the loyalty demonstrated in the movie are doubtful. Were they brave enough to criticize justice of military actions in the war? Were they brave enough to criticize strategic correctness of keeping fire against the Allies? Were they brave enough to criticize tactic correctness of the suicide attack? Were they loyal enough to say no to the war? Were they loyal enough to save reputation of the emperor and the nation? Were they loyal enough to keep lives of their colleague?
Mr. Kadokawa said both winners and losers of the war were victims and therefore Japan will not go to war again. His logic indicates his misunderstanding of the war. First, he does not need to bear the responsibility of the war, either other nationals who disagree with the war. The responsibility should be taken by the military leaders and their supporters. They did not represent the whole Japan. Secondly, the crime of the war was not due to their failure, but inhuman behaviors of the military in the war. Nazi was a criminal but Erwin Rommel was highly respected by the Allies. Thirdly, the mistake made by the current Japanese government was not bad marketing of Japanese culture, but no resolution of drawing a line between the war criminals and nationals else. The Japanese government should not confuse and also let nationals clearly know that soldiers sacrificed their lives for the nation they loved, but criminals played risk of their lives, these of other people and public interest of the nation for their own ambition. This is no ambiguity.
Chinese government, which is used to appealing to Japan for correct history vision, is a pot calling the kettle black. From May Fourth Movement, Culture Revolution, Tiananmen Massacre to recent small politic issues, Beijing should learn that press freedom and speech freedom can prevent the nation from going in a wrong way. They are warm beds for critical thinking and creativity that push a nation forward. It is a chance to build up modern Chinese-style society with open Chinese-style values. She should say goodbye to the so-called Asian Values.
Both nations should learn the following story. One day, George junior complained to his father that his teacher punished him because he wrote "God Bless America". George senior known as a patriot was angry and took his son to the teacher. After the teacher listened to George senior, she asked another student to come in and showed his back. The student's back was written by George junior with the word "God Bless America".
Whatever brilliant marketing you have applied, criminals never turn to saints.
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