'Yasukuni," a two-hour documentary about the controversial Shinto shrine in Tokyo, had its world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival earlier this month. It comes two years after "Annyoung Sayonara," a feature about a South Korean woman who sued the shrine to have her father's name removed from its list of dead, premiered at PIFF.
"Annyoung" was a joint South Korea-Japan production that took an anti-Yasukuni stance. "Yasukuni," slated to open in Japan next spring, offers a more balanced perspective. This may surprise some since its director is Chinese, and China has been vocal in its condemnation of the shrine and Japanese politicians who visit it.
Yasukuni enshrines 2.46 million soldiers who have died in the name of the Japanese Emperor since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, including 12 convicted Class-A war criminals. Its very existence offends those Asian countries who suffered at the hands of the Imperial Japanese forces during World War II, who see it as a holdover from that period and a glorification of Japanese militarism. Supporters of the shrine claim that Yasukuni is a sacred monument to the people who perished defending Japan and is therefore nobody's business but the Japanese.