Japan war shrine film prompts death threats
Saturday, April 12th, 2008Justin Norrie; 12/4/08
Its title means “peaceful country”, but the award-winning documentary film Yasukuni — about Japan’s notorious shrine for war dead — is expected to draw a furious response from ultra-nationalists at its big-screen premiere. Militant groups have already sent death threats to the Chinese-born director, Li Ying, and vowed to attack cinemas, where management and police are preparing for protests. All five cinemas in Tokyo and Osaka that had planned to show the film about the Yasukuni shrine from today cancelled the sessions amid a campaign of intimidation by the ultra-nationalists, who have a track record of violently avenging “anti-Japanese” sentiment.
