The deployment of Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq on a humanitarian mission puzzles Arabs because it runs counter to their long-held image of a peaceful Japan, according to a documentary film based on eight interviews with people in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.
"The SDF Dispatch to Iraq Seen Through Arab Eyes," previewed last week in Tokyo, asked the eight, who include journalists, political activists and a film director, about how they viewed Japan's decision to send troops to Samawah, southern Iraq. Some Palestinians in a refugee camp in Syria also added comments.
"Many people there were shocked (by Japan's SDF deployment) and just wanted to know why," said Najib El-Khash, a Syrian journalist living in Nagoya who conducted interviews along with film director Makoto Sato.