Yasukuni Documentary Film

I very much want to see this new film by Chinese director about Yasukuni Shrine. I know there is no US printing yet, and the region 2 edition does not have subtitiles, but does anyone know another way to possibly view this film?

I used to know of some sites to download Japanese fillms with fandubs, but I lost them.

Has anyone seen this film, by the way?

If you're talking about "Yasukuni" by Li Ying, you can easily rent or buy the region 2 version DVD if you were in Japan or through websites like Amazon Japan, but I suppose you are looking for something else.

Yes, I saw the movie at the theater and I loved it. If I didn't know that the director was Chinese, I would think that a right-winger made it. Strange that not many viewers think so. Tells you how biased people are.

Yeah, I can actually get the region 2 through my university but it doesn't have subtitles. Because the topic is so particular, I won't be able to understand it so well so I want to watch it with subtitles. I was thinking someone may have subbed it online and have it on a site to download Japanese films--non of which I know.

Could you explain a little more by your comment? I thought the right-wingers were the ones that were super anti on this film? Do I have this backwards?

You strongly recommend seeing it though, because I really want to learn more about social issues in Japan. And, there are not so many films about this. I just picked up "Sayonara CP," today, but I think there are not many more like it, unfortunately.

Come to think of it, are you sure the version you know of is not subtitled? Because they were already showing English subtitles in theaters in Japan.

I think the movie itself comes with subtitles, as opposed to the importing country adding them. Perhaps the DVD cover doesn't bother to mention that it's subtitled (the version in rental shops in Japan doesn't), because the subtitles are included in the master disc in the first place. It's part of the show.

As for comments, I highly recommend that you see it without reading any comments. See it and then go to the IMDB message board or something and you can talk about it, spoilers included.

But I can tell you this. Foreign viewers should keep in mind that, with the exception of one swordsmith, the people who appear on this movie are completely limited to those who came to Yasukuni Shrine on war memorial day. Those who aren't interested in the Shrine or wish to stay out of it for one reason or another do not appear in the film, and also the Shrine itself is not always like this.

So you shouldn't think that the movie represents the Yasukuni issue as a whole. It is a rare movie that deliberately limited itself to a unique day in the unique premises of Yasukuni.

I suppose you already know about the mixed feelings that lie between a lot of the Japanese and a lot of the Chinese. You are probably also aware that, when it comes to WW2 issues, what the Chinese are taught and what the Japanese are informed are very different, hense the mixed feelings.

So yes, when this movie came around, the Japanese right-wingers were quick enough to assume that this was an anti-Yasukuni movie, just because a Chinese had made it. Many theater entrances were literally violated by extreme right-wing groups trying to ban shows, and the news were reporting about them every night.

But it turns out that most of these protesters hadn't even watched the film. So finally, Shinjuku Loft, which was THE venue for leftist punk bands in the early 80s, held a premiere show exclusively for right-wing groups. TV showed some footage from the discussion after the premiere, and some of those right-winged viewers mentioned that they felt the movie wasn't anti-Yasukuni after all.

I watched the movie in one of the "courageous" mini-theaters in Yokohama, and the atmosphere was very peaceful. Patrol officers came around to the lobby once (as the theater is in the red light district), but there was no rioting whatsoever. I thought the movie was very objective and quite balanced. Probably the best a director could have done for a filming that had limited itself. Right-wingers didn't have to make all that fuss.

* Material Type: Videorecording
* Document Type: Visual Material
* Language Note: In Japanese, with occasional scenes in Chinese and English.
* Notes: Title from main menu. A documentary film that had its ''world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival'' in Oct. 2007; subsequently released in Japan in 2008.
* Description: 2 DVD-video (153 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in.
* Details: Region 2; NTSC; stereo.
* Contents: Disc 1. Honpen (123 min.) -- disc 2. Tokuten (30 min.). Mō hitotsu no Yasukuni; Ri In kantoku intabyū.
* Other Titles: Yasukuni Jinja
* Responsibility: Ri In sakuhin = Yasukuni / a Li Ying film.


Here's the info my school's library has on the flim, but it doesn't mention subtitles. It says some scenes occasionally in English.

But, I am thinking of just watching it anyway.

Thanks for all the input!

with occasional scenes in Chinese and English.


Yes, that's how the movie is made. In other words, that's probably how the movie-maker wanted it to be, so be it.

The parts without foreign language translations are scenes like big speeches. Some internet posters seem to think that these scenes should have had translations as well. If you wish to know the translations of a particular scene, you may want to post a question somewhere. Generally I think fansub may often ruin the intention of the original version, but by that time I might buy a copy of the DVD myself :)