Update: Documentary Film "Yasukuni"

(Movie poster; image borrowed from China.org.cn)

There is a lot of buzz about the documentary film, Yasukuni, that I wrote about last October. Apparently the filmmaker received some sort of Japanese government subsidy to make the film. With this as a possible excuse, some Japanese lawmakers got a special sneak preview of the film to judge its tone and make sure it is not overly anti-Japanese. Read more in the story reported in today's Japan Today.

Link to story in Japan Today
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/430857

Also, apparently the filmmakers have been threatened by Japanese right wing groups.

Link to story at Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080220/film_nm/japan_dc_1#

A synopsis of the film can be found at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival webpage.

Link to Yasukuni
http://filmguide.festival.asianamericanmedia.org/tixSYS/2008/filmguide/eventnote.php?EventNumber=1124¬epg=1

Many blogs have been reporting on this subject as well. Here is an interesting post from Tokyomango.

Link to "Yasukuni: A Documentary Explores the Ethics of War Memory" at Tokyomango
http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2008/03/post.html

The film is scheduled to be released in Japan in April.