Japanese embassy ‘Tried to Stop French Documentary Over Dokdo’
The Chosun Ilbo, a Korean newspaper that can always be relied on for fair and accurate reporting about Japan and the Dokdo/Takeshima issue, recently printed this article about a Japanese attempt to stop a documentary about Japan from airing:
Japan has struggled in vain to stop a documentary from airing on French TV that among other things exposes the island country’s claims to Korea’s Dokdo islets. The French daily Libération reports that officials from the Japanese Embassy to Paris for a month and a half worked “most discreetly” to stop the film, which covers resurgent nationalism and moves toward rearmament in Japan. But the public channel France 5 went ahead and on Aug. 18 aired the 52-minute documentary titled “Japon, les ombres du passé (Japan: Shadows of the Past).”
In the documentary, the filmmakers refer to Dokdo as a Korean island when discussing the ongoing controversy between Korean and Japan over the East Sea rocks Tokyo insists on calling “Takeshima.” The documentary highlights a recent trend in Japan to deny imperial and wartime abuses. A summary of the contents can be found on the Cannel 5 website.
There, the channel puts “Takeshima” in brackets when referring to Dokdo and points out the omission of the Rape of Nanking and other wartime atrocities from Japanese history textbooks. It also draws attention to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s persistent visits to the militarist Yasukuni Shrine, where he pays tribute to convicted war criminals among his country’s fallen. It highlights a rearmament trend in attempts to revise Article 9 of Japan’s pacifist postwar Constitution.
Libération reports that Japanese diplomats repeatedly called the broadcaster and also wrote a letter pointing out what they said were errors regarding the Dokdo islets, the Yasukuni Shrine, and the revision of Japanese textbooks. An insider with the Korean Embassy in France was quoted as saying it took no action since it felt France 5 had reported accurately on the Dokdo issue and the current situation in Japan.
While I haven’t any details about the actual contents of the documentary, judging from the fact that they sided with Korea in the Dokdo issue doesn’t really say much for their journalistic abilities. A simple examination of existing evidence clearly shows that the Japanese have a strong claim for the islets, but I’m guessing that didn’t fit into the image of a documentary about the evil right-wing neo-imperialist empire image the filmmakers were going for. I really can’t condemn the Japanese embassy for complaining about such a documentary.
Update: AndyM has pointed out that the article in the Chosun Ilbo is likely inaccurate, as a French news source claims that the Japanese embassy’s complaints were resolved after a discussion with the writers of the film.
