Chinese movies on Japan's wartime atrocities clear censors

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SiouxGirl at 03:24 PM JST - 27th March

The only thing I'll say about the dispute between China and Japan is that history certainly does repeat itself. Do you ever think we'll be free of atrocities, documentation and arguments? Maybe not in our lifetimes.
KingRat at 06:00 PM JST - 27th March

"The fact is that two Chinese films, one a joint Chinese-German one have cleared censorship for viewing in Japan despite the obvious contents. The question one should consider is what are the odds that a foreign film about Tianamen Square or the opression of Tibet would clear the censors in China, when even hollywood garbage can't?"

Haha good one.
KingRat at 06:02 PM JST - 27th March

ClassWarUK

"Unlike you, i reside in Japan, so i am more qualified to see what'S going on here. Japan killed more than the Nazi's."

. .

Is that true?
kramiczzz at 09:48 PM JST - 27th March

For me, the poignant history of the past brought by war should serve as a lesson for this generation ,so that war between nations be avoided.

PEACE
Brunobear at 10:06 PM JST - 27th March

It is interesting that know one seems to know how many Chinese,Americans, Australians, Indonesians, Malayans, Indo-Chinese, Papua New Guineans, New Zealanders or British were killed by the Japanese or how many Britains, Americans, French, Greek, Yugoslavs, Dutch, Belgiums, Polish, Russians and so on were killed by the Nazi's, but everyday, 365 days a year, year after year for fifty four years now the Jews tell us six million Jews died.

My point is that estimates vary between 50 million and 100 million died which includes no doubt many who would have died of natural causes. About 4.5 million Chinese die each year from natural causes so over the period of war that raged for nine years from 1936 to 1945, probably 40 million Chinese died from natural causes.

Some Armies were more brutal than in their person to person treatment of other humans, while all forces exacted heavy tolls by largely indiscriminate bombing and artillery.

Fortunately the World War is 55 years into the past. The world has been able to avoid such a major conflict for all that time and there is no realistic reason that we need to expect it will occur again, possibly ever.

Most movies are made for entertainment and to make money. Few are ever made just to inform people accurately of past events.

Fortunately, I don't know what my ancestors did through time, possibly some horrific things, nor do I know the precise nature of my genealogical background. What I do know is that I am very grateful they procreated whether by mutual agreement, lust or maybe in some instances force, because of that long line of procreation activities I was fortunate to have been conceived, born, and lived, plus in a time, post WW11 and with the best (rock) music ever.

Just be grateful that the war ended the way it did and virtually everyone has forgiven the wrongs of others and just got on with their lives. The world is a much better place today than it has ever been!
smithinjapan at 11:51 PM JST - 27th March

KingRat: Japan did indeed kill far more than the Germans ever did, though there is no way of proving the actual number. Keep in mind that this number is taken over a period of at least 30 years (on the Korean Peninsula), though most of it was preceding and during WWII. Unbeknownst to many Japanese and foreigners alike Japan invaded quite a number of SE and West-Asian countries, and slaughtered thousands even in Viet Nam, Burma (now Myanmar, of course), Thailand, and India. Total estimates are in the millions, though again, it can't be verified.

From a guy who takes his handle from Clavell's novel about American POWs in Japanese camps, this shouldn't be such a surprise, but I guess we're talking about civilians and not the even the POWs (Burma/Thai Death Railway, Death March in Indonesia, etc., to name but a few).

Anyway, back to the topic at hand:

Ossan: "The fact is that two Chinese films, one a joint Chinese-German one have cleared censorship for viewing in Japan despite the obvious contents."

Really? I was under the impression from the article that these movies cleared the censors in BEIJING, not in Japan. Will they be shown in Japan, though?
OssanAmerica at 12:08 AM JST - 28th March

Really? I was under the impression from the article that these movies >cleared the censors in BEIJING, not in Japan. Will they be shown in >Japan, though?

smith you're right I misread the article. Although that begs the question of why bother even considering censoring any film of this sort in China. Of course it's going to clear. When that silly Geisha movie came out (a US production) China censored it because it showed the Japanese in a "human light". Wow....
Pukey2 at 02:33 AM JST - 28th March

ossan:

One may ask why all of South East ASia is on such good terms with Japan since WWII ended.

Money, dear. Money! The same reason why Fillipinos with a drop of Japanese blood are scrambling to claim Japanese citizenship. If or when these poor countries develop into richer nations, I bet their attitudes will change. The imperial army spilt a lot of blood in the Phillipines. And as for there being 'no record of slaughtering', I think you need to come back to planet Earth. Or perhaps you think this movie was based on a fairy tale.

It'll be interesting to see how viewers in the west react to this movie. In Japan, I won't be holding my breath. But surprise me, Japan.
Triple888 at 03:43 AM JST - 28th March

And so the rage is maintained across generations and hatred inflamed once > again.

True but you're not vicim.
ClassWarUK at 05:00 AM JST - 28th March

I especially hope the John Gabe film is shown in Japan, though i expect right wingers and Japanophiles to try to stop screenings. You see when you love a country so much you are blind and oh so very sad, shame really.
OssanAmerica at 08:04 AM JST - 28th March

I especially hope the John Gabe film is shown in Japan, though i expect >right wingers and Japanophiles to try to stop screenings. You see when >you love a country so much you are blind and oh so very sad, shame >really.

The article talks about two films passing censorship in China. It has nothing to do with screenings in Japan and obviously nobody has tried to stop it. Is really sad when you hate a country so much that you have to comment on something that's not even in the article.
Triple888 at 05:42 AM JST - 29th March

I think it's a good thing that atrocities should be remembered and passed on to the next generations so grudges will never stop. This includes those committed at home too by own people.
grafton at 08:57 AM JST - 29th March

Two films have been produced primarily for the Chinese market, they passed the censor of that country because they obviously up held the Chinese propaganda of the last 65 years. Which of the two countries is telling the truth about what happened? Neither of them. This is not a yes or no situation, & just because Japan isn’t the way you would like it to be & the people don’t fall on their knees to say sorry to you personally doesn’t mean they are hiding from anything. Un like China Japan has moved into the 20th century & the 21st. century & however they see their history they do see it as history. Not today’s headline (again). It is China that has failed to move forward, not Japan, China has kept it’s history alive in an effort to control & unify it’s people.

Anybody that believe anything that comes out of China really needs their head examining.
wasurenaide at 05:58 PM JST - 1st April

> The question one should consider is what are the odds that a foreign film about Tianamen Square or the opression of Tibet would clear the censors in China

Yes, China needs to address these issues, but these issues are independent to the Naking "incident" I was an exchange student in Japan and I will be honest- the history text books were watered down compared to the ones I read in my country (New Zealand). BOTH countries need to stop pointing fingers at each other and being defensive.
As for the Chinese movie version- I hear it will have a Japanese perspective (played by a Japanese actor)so audiences an empathize on both sides.

Anybody that believe anything that comes out of China really needs their head examining.

After reading that arrogant sentence- I completely disregarded everything else you said earlier on.
memyselfI at 10:40 AM JST - 3rd April

Remember this is a movie. If you want the facts. The internet is your key to finding more true information about what happened.

Search the facts. And decide for yourself