January 25th, 2007
Reversing Nanking?
When I was in Japan, I saw right-wing political groups with a van and a microphone standing in the middle of crowded areas making crazy right-wing nationalist statements. People tend to ignore it, or even mock it. Rightfully so, I’d say.
In that vein, a shocking report this morning came out. Apparently in response to the new documentary “Nanking,” based on the controversial Iris Chang book “The Rape of Nanking” and premiered recently at Sundance, Japanese filmmaker Satoru Mizushima has announced that he will make his own documentary to present his own version of “what really happened” in Nanking. The film, titled “The Truth about Nanking,” will be released in December for the anniversary of the massacre, where it’s been generally acknowledged that over 200,000 Chinese were killed in an invasion by the Japanese Imperial Army. The film has the support of several conservative house members and Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, who also wrote his own nationalist film to be released in May - “Ore wa Kimi no Tame ni Shi ni Iku” (”For You, I Go To My Death”).
Sources:
Japan Times
Variety Asia
Daily Mainichi
Ryuganji
Note that around that time, there will also be a film adaptation of “The Rape of Nanking,” co-produced by China released.
And we complain about right-wingers in America.