“Yasukuni” controversy never seems to end, Kochi theatre receives bomb threats

by Chris MaGee

I’ve posted a couple of stories on Ying Li’s controversial documentary “Yasukuni” back in April, one of the 3rd here and the other on the 14th here, but for the most part I’ve tried to stay away from making many comments on the film because a) I’m not comfortable taking sides on political issues on the blog, and b) I haven’t seen the film yet; but when I saw this story in The Mainichi Daily News I couldn’t help but mention it.

Leading up to the July 21st theatrical run of the film at the Kochi Prefecture Hall both the governors office and the hall itself have been receiving bomb threats. According to the story an anonymous male caller told management at the Prefecture Hall that, “If you screen ‘Yasukuni’ there'll definitely be divine retribution. I will blow up the hall.” The police are currently investigating the threats and here’s hoping that this caller is more talk than action.

Frankly, I have to shake my head when I hear something like this. As I mentioned previously Kaoru Ikeya’s very interesting and equally controversial documentary “the Ants” had a successful if limited theatrical run in Tokyo back in 2006 without any of this right-wing blustering, so while this bomb threat report is disturbing I wonder if we’re not running into copy cat threats and band wagon jumping at this point. Thankfully “Yasukuni” has been screened at this year’s Nippon Connection festival, the Berlin Film Festival, and the New York Asian Film Festival amongst others without incident.