Original subtitles

Lee Heeja (62, Seoul, Korea)

As I watch my grandson playing all the worries disappear

Now, I often become retrospective

There is one thing I personally have to settle finally

Furukawa Masaki (43, Kobe, Japan)

I have lived in Kobe since I was born

I married my wife in 1989 and we live in this small apartment

We both have jobs

Kobe Earthquake, 1995

In 1995, for the first time in my life I experienced the fear of death

Kobe was hit by a devastating earthquake

Over 6,000 lives were lost

I worked at the City's Welfare Department at that time and

I protested the city which ignored people's needs

So I was demoted to the tax department

I fought to win back my position Citizens supported me

The Kobe earthquake gave me the chance to meet Lee Heeja who visited the shelter

In 1995, the year of the earthquake

I went to Japan to publicize the war victim's activities

Long time sorrow, sufferings and resentment become Han

when they get pent up

I lost my father due to the Pacific war

Japan killed my father

The hatred and anger toward Japan became Han in my heart

The day I visited Kobe, it rained

When I was asked how I felt, I said May it rest in peace but

Japan deserved this I added

This might be the scourge for the pains Japan caused to the neighboring people

My anger towards Japan seemed greater than my sympathy for the earthquake victims

Kobe Earthquake Memorial Center

I cannot forget Heeja's face when I first met her

Her facial expression was so rigid

It took me a long time to understand what made her so enraged

Annyong, Sayonara

My hobby is to film birds and flowers

As I watch a Kawasaemi which resembles the blue ocean of Okinawa, I feel peaceful

It's gone

Okinawa is a special place to me

In my 20's I met Gushi Yae at a peace rally

Gushi was one of the survivors from the Okinawa battle

The Okinawa Battle lasted from April to June, 1945

It was the largest of all the battles between US and Japan during the Pacific War

Cornerstone of Peace founded in 1995 The war victims' names of 239,801 are engraved

Numerous Okinawa residents including children were forcibly mobilized to the battle

Even Korean forced laborers were drafted and driven to a mass suicide

Japanese army recruited local female students to organize a student unit, Himeyuri

Many were forced to join the battle and the mass suicide in caves or at the beach

Gushi Yae Former Nurse, Okinawa Army Hospital

US navy ships completely surrounded Okinawa along the ocean

From the US side, they hollered Come over here, you will be safe

But in the back, defeated Japanese soldiers said "If you go, we'll kill you"

so we couldn't go anywhere

They thought that they would be killed So, they joined the mass suicide

They would have wanted to live if possible

But, the Japanese soldiers were ruthless and killed them all

Why did they kill?

They said we would become spies

For fear that we would tell on them

During the Pacific War girl students, innocent citizens

including Koreans were killed

I got to know the truth about the Pacific War through Okinawa

Korean Memorial Tower Monument for close to 10,000 Koreans victimized at Okinawa battle My heart aches thinking of those Koreans who were forced to die in a foreign land

My heart aches thinking of those Koreans who were forced to die in a foreign land

Why did the Japanese army drive the civilians and the foreigners into death?

We also had a belief that we would be enshrined in the Yasukuni shrine after death

Because we thought we die for the sake of the nation and the Emperor

Abuchira Gama Cave used for shelter and hospital during Okinawa battle

We are in this cave now

You have to know there is nothing as cruel as war

Nothing as tragic as war

We can still find a lot of human bones

Here they are

Human bones are saved in three places

We still find these kinds of human bones

If you die during a fight for the Emperor you will be enshrined at Yasukuni shrine

They might have been so brainwashed that

people did not fear dying for the Emperor

Even the people in the colony felt proud of such death in Okinawa 60 years ago

Kuniyoshi Village burnt down by U.S. bombs

Korea lost its sovereignty to Japan in 1910

And, I was born in the colonized land

Before I was born I lost my country and

at 13 months old, in 1944 my father was gone

Because he was taken for forced labor and forced to fight in the battle

My father left my mother and me at grandma's

and we waited there for my father

In 1945, Korea was liberated, but my father never returned

I don't know my father's face

Whenever I think of my father

I remember my maternal grandmother praying

outside whether it rained or snowed

Her sighs through the open door

and her wrinkled face in the smoke from her cigarette

My mother didn't even know if her husband was alive or not

and got remarried when I was 10

It was for survival

By then, I started to feel the emptiness of my father's presence

A fatherless child had to give up many things

and silently swallow the tears of the heart

My mother had to report the death of my father who had not returned

She had been in pain all her life

and passed away 10 years ago from stomach cancer

Ganghwa Gyeong-gi Province

I left Ganghwa when I got married

My lovingly supportive grandma has long gone

Now, there's not very many people who remember my childhood or my father

When I visit Ganghwa, I see my aunt

She is the only one who remembers my father clearly

Ko Jungsook(81) Heeja's Aunt If we didn't turn in rice to the Japanese

they would forcibly take us

We suffered so much because of the Japanese

I still hate them

No matter how nice they are I don't trust them

Those japs were atrocious

If anyone denies that he or she is a subhuman

What about my father, do you still remember the most, Aunt?

He would work very hard when he visited

So, I thought he was very earnest person

The face in this fuzzy photograph is all I know of my father's image

I began trying to find my father after all my three children grew up

In 1989, I heard that a Pacific War victims organization was

receiving information about the forcibly drafted victims

I became a member and remained active since then

Three years later in the Spring of 1992, I found my father's name on the list of the killed

I kept myself busy finding some clues about his death

In February 1997 I discovered a new record

It said that my father was enshrined in the Yasukuni together with war criminals

I didn't even know what the enshrinement meant

but a Japanese person taught me

I learned that my father was enshrined as a war hero in the Yasukuni Shrine

In front of the Yasukuni Shrine, Aug. 2001

In 2001 , I met Lee Heeja again

and I was preparing a lawsuit to terminate the enshrinement

Yasukuni shrine is a sacred place to the people

who blocked Lee Heeja at least

Koreans, go back, go back!

No, we can't

Go back, go back!

Why the hell did you enshrine the Koreans who supposed to return?

Lee Heeja delivered the message

demanding termination of joint enshrinement

and filed a lawsuit at Japan's court

I want to go straight I don't want to go around

National Mang-Hyang Cemetery Cheonan, Korea Garden of nostalgia for Korean dead in overseas

I can't engrave my father's name on his tombstone

Because my father's soul is still captured in the Yasukuni Shrine

The Pacific War has not yet ended in my life

Tokyo, Asakusa Matsuri

To the Japanese, the Matsuri is a very important festival

The shrine is a place of Matsuri

It is also a place of exorcism and prayer

Ujikami rides on palanquin and makes a round around the village

I believe it is meaningful

for everyone to become one by wishing for good health

I visit the shrine when I have a wish to pray for

wishing my children to pass school exam

or for a good health, for example

Prayer may be essential to human beings

Have the shrines in Japan developed for the same purpose?

Seeking the existence of god from the nature has existed

in Japan as well as in Korea

Takahashi Tetsuya Prof. of Philosophy. Tokyo Univ. This religious practice existed throughout the world in history

Japan's Shinto also started this way

Hishiki Masaharu Prof. of Religion. Doho Univ. Being grateful and wishing for good harvest or good haul of fish

and preventing disaster praying for disease-free years

these are the basics

Grand Spring Festival of Yasukuni

Japan accomplished her modernization the earliest in Asia

During Meiji Restoration, Japan established a modern state with the emperor as its head

The history of Yasukuni shrine coincides with the modern emperor system

Oe Shinobu Emeritus Professor of Ibaraki Univ. Yasukuni shrine is a militaristic shrine established by the new ideas

during Meiji era

In a sense, it could be said

that the Yasukuni was formed as a military institution

Since its establishment during Meiji era

the shrine has been used only for enshrining the Emperor's Army

So, to this day the Yasukuni shrine is

integrated completely with the Emperor System

As I started learning about the war

I came to hear the grievances of the victims of Pacific War

I began to have doubts as I heard their stories

How can Japanese soldiers perpetrate such heinous atrocities

in China and Korea?

They would have been good fathers to their children at home

Without resolving these questions

I thought that the peaceful relationship

with the victims could not be restored

Yushukan Museum of War

"Let's meet again at the Yasukuni shrine"

This phrase appears in all the soldier's wills displayed at Yushukan

20 million Asians and 3 million Japanese

died in the War to Liberate Asia according to Yasukuni

Yasukuni Shrine, Aug. 15, 2004

Today, we pay a respect to the souls of fallen heroes at Yasukuni

We owe what we are to the 2.13 million heroes

who sacrificed themselves at young age

for the nation and the East Asia during the Great East Asia War

Nakata Kiyoyasu Association to Defend Japan This is a map of Showa Year 1(1926)

More than half the world was ruled by the whites

If you know history right you could not say that Japan was the invader

Kamiya Chikao Great East Asia Youth Association It is the Emperor's word that ended World War ll

That is how 100 million Japanese were able to escape from death

Japan almost became burning rubble of land

It was the Showa Emperor who decided

that the war had to end whatever happened to him

Tojo Hideki A-Class war criminal executed in 1948 and enshrined at Yasukuni in 1978 They say Mr. Tojo is a war criminal but it was decided by the United States

U.S. held an unjust trial and made him a war criminal

He is an honorable man

He believes that Japan did the right thing

Japan did not perpetrate atrocious things

Yasukuni Shrine, Aug. 15, 2004

Memorial day for the souls of the war dead. August 15

Nagoshi Futaranosuke Former Prof. of Takachiho Business Admin Uni. When I visit the Yasukuni shrine I never forget

21 ,000 Koreans and 28,000 Taiwanese are enshrined even though they are foreigners

They sacrificed their precious lives for the holy Great East Asia War

I say Thank you! and I bow because they are enshrined in it

The entire nation honored the Yasukuni

And the Emperor who is the symbol of Japan paid a visit

and bowed his head

This shrine is in such a high standing

This is why it is honorable to be enshrined there

To Japanese, Let's meet at Yasukuni after we die

is a very proud thing

Yasukuni Shrine, Aug. 15, 2004

Long Live the Emperor! Long Live the Emperor!

Ikeda Koichi Siberia Legislation Committee The soldiers enshrined in Yasukuni are victims

But actually they are perpetrators

I know it so well, Japanese soldiers in China were so atrocious

They were devils and murderers

Uesugi Satoshi Center for Research and Documentation on Japan's War Responsibility There is no way that the perpetrators repent their own the crimes

They can realize the severity of their crimes

only when they meet the victims face-to-face

If needed, they must be punished and put into jail

They must feel the weight of their crimes

Otherwise, human beings cannot change

Japan needed young people who were not afraid of dying in a war

Those who give life to the Emperor will be enshrined as gods in Yasukuni

This provided proud justification

This inspiring patriotism is still valid in Japan

Former Prime Minister Nakasone If there is no place to honor the dead who gave their lives for the country then who will sacrifice their lives for the country?

Prime Minister Koizumi It is the government's responsibility to provide legal foundation and social environment to respect those who ready to sacrifice their lives in case of state's emergency

How would Europeans react

if German chancellor paid a respect to a place where Hitler is enshrined?

Koizumi is doing exactly the same thing This cannot be forgiven

Takahashi Tetsuya Prof. of Philosophy. Tokyo Uni. Paying respect to the Yasukuni shrine by the Prime Minister or Cabinet members

is a justification of the national politics

To them, the nation means the one with the military to go to war, in peril

and the one with the people armed with the spirit to wage war

No to Koizumi's Visit to Yasukuni Shrine

Hishiki Masaharu Association to Support Lawsuit against Unconstitutional Visit to Yasukuni The Japanese enshrined in Yasukuni believe They did the honorable thing

Their death is glorified as honorable one

Your fathers and grandfathers died honorably in the war

So it is an act that you must emulate

The next generation is taught to

go to Iraqi war and die as your fathers did

It would also be too cruel

Zushi Minoru Tokyo Plaintiffs Suing over Unconstitutional Visit to Yasukuni Yasukuni is the shrine for invasion and war

It gives moral support for possible future wars

We cannot approve its existence

It can never be a shrine for peace

We, working for peace, must continuously say NO to Yasukuni

Yasukuni Shrine, Aug. 15, 2004

If you are grateful to the special forces who sacrificed themselves

I think it is ok for anyone to pay respect

I cannot understand the mind set of other people who are offended by it

Visiting here makes me aware of what their thoughts were

So, I come here every year to ascertain

And I want to pass it on to the children That is why I am here with my child

Many of my comrades died

shouting Peace to Japan Take care of our country

Japan owes economic growth to their sacrifices

I bow my head naturally when I think about it

I burst with tears when I think about that time

Only a few Japanese recognize Yasukuni

as the symbol of militarism and inspiration of the Pacific War

And most Japanese are not aware of

the people across the ocean still suffering 60 years after the war

The Monument of Great East Asia Holy War Kanazawa, founded in Aug. 2000

The Great East Asia Holy War will become the Mirror lighting up the whole world in history

I think this Monument is an insult to all Asians

It is contemptuous toward Asians

Yamaguchi Takashi Association to Withdraw The Monument of the Great East Asia Holy War Japan forced colonized people to use Japanese Names

Korean names are used here

in order to show that Koreans agreed with the monument

They are already dead and we cannot ask each family member for their approval

Nakata Kiyoyasu Association to Defend Japan They are already dead and we cannot ask each family member for their approval

People with anti-Japanese sentiment

won't let you put the names up there

We put up their names there since we respect them

It is admirable that Koreans went to the Military Academy for the Imperial Army

Park Chung Hee, former President Korea graduated from the Academy

In order to let others know that there are others who do not think the same way

we must continue our activities for the removal of the monument

We need to show that all Kanazawa citizens

do not agree with the purpose of the monument

The Monument of the Great East Asia Holy War is to teach historical truth to young generation

Young people would not have a pride in Japan

if they learn erroneous history

The nation would fail if you do not have pride in your own nation

That was the purpose of The Monument of the Great East Asia Holy War

Whenever I walk down this alley my heart always starts aching

Wednesday assembly assembly being held by Japanese military sexual slavery victims on Wednesdays from 1992

Unresolved past history unrecovered sufferings still persist today

At the age of sweet 18, former Comfort Women were forcibly taken and lost their youth to the war

and they had to endure long painful years all by themselves

Lee Oksun(79) Former Comfort Woman I was taken to China at the age of 16 and lived there for 58 years

And I return to Korea in 2000

How can I undo my resentment against Japan?

We have survived until now after being beaten and stabbed

because our lives were so resilient

They crushed the flowers that were just beginning to bloom we survived until now

Park Oksun(82) Former Comfort Woman And yet, we don't hear about Japan's apology and reparation

Our pains are beyond description

During 35 years of Japanese occupation

Koreans forcibly drafted and taken for forced labor

There was nothing ordinary people could do in the face of armed Japanese

Resistance was out of question

Basically, colonialism itself has a coercive nature

Kim Minchul Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities In total, about 7 million people were mobilized

At that time, the total population was 28 million and it means

one from each family was taken away, right?

Great part of them was taken to overseas

Hwang Geumjoo(82) Former Comfort Woman There was a quota for young women to be filled

So I had to serve the Japanese military for 2 years

From the day one, I had to suffer from those bastards

After 5, 6 years, I finally came home alive after liberation on August 15

But I came home with disease I had a surgery on my tummy

I have no the womb, or waist either There is this big hole here

There were 6,200 eligible volunteers but less than 10 % volunteered

Chung Geeyoung(85) Former student soldier Therefore hometown people and even police were to be mobilized

And (they) even would go to Tokyo and visit each school and would carry on

If you do not go, there would be no future for Korea

What can we, the ones who will not go to war

But work hard in our farm

The Japanese militarists call the Pacific War

a holy war and not an invasion

If they listen to the victims of neighboring nations

they could not have done so

They must strive to promote peace in the Far East

We need to show that

The Holy War of Great East Asia implied numerous people's blood

In other words

more than 10 million common people died

or suffered due to Japan's war of aggression

We must help them realize this by showing the vivid images

When they perceive the war's true meaning

then the young people can get away from the shameful past history

The bereaved families of the victims of the Pacific War still have no idea

where their parents died or not

The bereaved families were heartbroken for not to find a basic data

It looks just like me only a few years ago

Your father's remains returned to Korea

Is it there?

It came back as of May 30,1948

Bastards

Yoon Okjoong Korean The bereaved of The Pacific War I have one more task to find the remains

My father's remains returned to Korea but I have not been found yet

and I should find them to give him a decent burial sight before I die

Sorok Island Goheung, Chunnam Province

Sorok Island isolated in the southern part of the Korean peninsula

Here, people with leprosy are living in a community

It is one of place where the remnants of Japanese colonialism still exist

The only Japanese shrine existing in Korea founded in 1935

Imperial Japan considered leprosy contagious

Japan built segregated wards

and did not even allow the patients to meet their own children

Japan even tried to sterilize them and subjected them to harsh forced labor

I heard that there were a few shrines back then. Have you ever visit them for worship?

Park Hyongwoo(83) lived in Sorok Island from 1930 The Japanese carried the list and check out those who didn't participate

They would take us to the office and beat us by the buttocks

We were forced to visit the shrines

We had to start working when the stars were still

out and came back when stars reappeared

It was a very hard labor But they did not feed us well

We all were very hungry and miserable

As a result many committed suicide

While weaving straw bags, people would use straw rope to kill themselves in the bathroom

and went up to the hill to hang themselves at pine trees

I came to Sorok Island to find out

how much sufferings the victims had to go through

Since we suffered such horrendous conditions

we still cannot perceive the Japanese fairly

If the Japanese earnestly ask for forgiveness

it seems that their old wounds would just melt away

Is the Japanese government even aware of the pain

and sufferings of these people?

Shedding pure blood, he falls In faraway Burma, my son met the end

What could be more sad than this? Return the lost children to my hands

l feel the urge to shatter the flower vase Against the corner of the rock

- Poem written by Yoshiko's mother after hearing of her son's death

What could be more sad than this? Return the lost children to my hands

She told me she wrote this poem as a demand to

Furukawa Yoshiko(78) Two brothers killed during the Pacific War the emperor and country to return her sons

second brother's the last letter

Grandmother, father and mother

I've burdened you for twenty-some years

Rather than repaying you I only made you worry

I believe, by serving my country I'm repaying you for your kindness

first brother's the last letter Thanks for your letter dated 1 7th

Despite tumultuous surroundings

I'm lucky to stay alive

I'll keep on living so please don't worry

Hello to my sisters let's keep in touch

It must've been the last one

Received death notice, May 26, 5am I can't believe it is true

Mother's Diary Received death notice, May 26, 5am I can't believe it is true

I didn't worry because Keiske always had a way to comfort me

I'm sorry my prayers weren't strong enough

Keiske, my son so cheerful and full of love

Keiske will never come back to me

How many more years will I live?

In a world without Keiske or Hiroshi

My three daughters come to my mind

She wrote this on May 28

a year after my brother's death

Yoshiko lost two brothers during the war

I couldn't stop crying listening to her story

Sadness and pain is also deep for the Japanese who experienced the war

I got to understand my mother's heartbreak

and it led to the War Memorial lawsuit

I thought I just have to pour all of my mother's anger

and sadness into this lawsuit

We don't want my brothers enshrined there

we don't want any medal or honor

Who'd want to be praised by the Emperor

when you were killed because of him?

Japan started the Pacific War

But the soldiers who had to do the killings

were mostly ordinary people

Yoshiko has been enduring pains on top of the pain

of losing her brothers

That's why she started the War Memorial lawsuit

War Memorial Monument to the Loyal Dead Erected by meaning as Yasukuni Shrine

They made this because so many died during

the Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War

I started the fight believing

it's wrong to have a monument glorifying military country

to enshrine soldiers who carried out invasions

In 1976, Yoshiko sued arguing

it was unconstitutional for the city to pay for the relocation of War Memorial

In 1982, Osaka Regional Court ruled in her favor

There must be one in every town

It's nation worship and Yasukuni Shrine is at the center of it all

We should make proper apologies and promise never to do it again

When Japanese have that kind of attitude

we could hold hands with other countries

I want this for Japan because I love my country

Women's Democratic Club supported me with the War Memorial lawsuit

That's why I became a member

Majority of Women's Democratic Club members are mothers who experienced the war

But Japanese didn't appreciate their activism

Sasaki Yoshiko(85) Women's Democratic Club member People argue what's wrong with the country enshrining those

who died for the country?

We didn't know how to persuade them It's something we still have to solve

It's because embracing the issue of Yasukuni

or War Memorial is like disgracing the dead

Kamisaka Reiko(7 4) Women's Democratic Club member I was 13 when we lost the war I was still a child but I experienced it

I was educated to think that

we were liberating Asia invaded by the West

Hamuro Hiroko(70) Women's Democratic Club member There is nothing in question for the military education I received

and wrote letters to soldiers

I wrote Kill many enemies I'll nurse you if you get wounded

and got a perfect mark

I realized what war was only after it ended I think that's when I finally became a human

You must talk about the harms you committed not

just the harms done to you

Unless you say No war at any cost it would be a lie

It was good to hear conscious voices

saying Japan must apologize and take responsibility

Those who say we have no responsibility are

no different from those who started the war

Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery

Chidorigafuchi is a cemetery for unidentified soldiers and civilians

Japan still collects remains from Pacific War

and unidentified remains are laid here

Would these unidentified dead

really want to be memorialized by the country?

Hearing of Lee Heeja's visit Yoshiko and Yasuko came from afar

They participate in anti-Yasukuni Shrine activism in Japan

From different country and circumstances but their conviction on Yasukuni Shrine is same

Why do you turn the Chinese channel? Because your father passed away in China?

Yes

They say they're still excavating remains but

it's just Japanese remains not the foreigners

If I ask why my father was enshrined in Yasukuni

they say they enshrined him because he died as a Japanese

but it doesn't make any sense

because he's considered a foreigner now

Yasukuni itself doesn't make any sense

Most died in Philippines

Yoshiko's brother died on his way there on Taiwan shores

And Lee Heeja's father, Lee Sahyun was

It's right here

Bereaved family groups collect remains from former battlegrounds

They've brought some but they couldn't have brought everything

But I don't think it matters where my brother's remains are

Their souls are in their graves, in my heart

and of course in the hearts of my parents

Dead people are far away and at the same time, always near us

I'm doing all that I can for my father

But I don't know what I really have to do for my father

It's the least I can do as his child

It breaks my heart that I can't even

engrave his name on his tombstone

I wonder sometimes if this is the right thing I'm doing for my father

I believe my father will finally lie in peace

only when his name is taken out of Yasukuni

Through Lee Heeja and Yoshiko

I could feel in my heart the problem of Yasukuni Shrine

Rather than repenting the past through victims of the war

Yasukuni glorifies the war

It was Japan that brought us pain

At the President's Official Residence, Aug. 2003 We were liberated on August 15, 1945 as citizens of Republic of Korea

we had joy of liberation but were the victims liberated?

No!

Under the veil of economic development

Korean government has neglected the voices of victims

Reveal truth about Pacific War and Japan Government apologize

Kim Minchul Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities What's wrong with this country?

Kim Minchul Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities It's been 60 years since liberation from Japan

and yet, we don't know

how many were conscripted or how many were killed

How pathetic this is

Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization Under Japanese Imperialism

Finally, determination of the victims resulted

in Special Law to Investigate the Past

But after 60 years most of the victims are dead

Number of Koreans enshrined in Yasukuni and the reasons for it

everything found by the victims' groups

are attached as reference

Commission will do a better job than us

Chang Wanik Lawyer, Co-president of Korean Council for Redress and Reparations for the Victims of WW ll Atrocities There are many who couldn't provide evidence

to the Commission to be confirmed as victims

They don't have proof but they're real victims and victims' families

Their grief should be acknowledged

and we should work hard to set the history straight

If we keep looking at the forced mobilization as an economic issue

we'll meet a deadlock

I was always upset with Korean government's irresponsible attitude

It was actually conscious Japanese activists

who supported victims and victims' families

I got strength watching them trying to discuss the past

bring repentance and reconciliation

Act according to japan's conscience for the victims

Yano Hideki Japan Network for Forced Labor Litigations I understood that Japan's colonialism and invasions

hurt Chinese and Southeast Asians

but it was only in the 1990s when I actually heard the voices of the victims

They didn't provide direct aid for the Special Law

but helped us to keep raising the issue for last 15 years

Their commitment stimulated people in Korea

to start movement for the Special Law

Oguchi Akihiko Lawyer, The Legal Actions of Former Korean Members of Japan's Military Forces Koreans and Japanese worked together

during the process of the trials

I believe the solution for the problem

lies in the solidarity of both peoples

Yasukuni Shrine, Mar. 2005

What is the ultimate reason for my activism?

It's not to divide invaders and victims Rather

it's for peaceful world with no more wars

The first step might be to wipe the slate clean

We came Yasukuni Shrine to let

the Japanese society knows of our position

Sugahara Ryuken Shin-Buddhism War-Bereaved Association The Bereaved Families from Taiwan Korea, Japan, Okinawa

will submit request to terminate joint enshrinement

Shouldn't you think about the wishes of those

who gave their lives for the country and family?

My father died on June 1 1 , 1945 in China

But without notifying the family of the death

He was enshrined in Yasukuni in 1959

Why was he enshrined without even telling his family?

I think it's a terrible insult if you want keeping it on

Kinjo Minoru Okinawa delegate of Yasukuni lawsuit It's unacceptable they're enshrined here

when Okinawa has it's own way of enshrining

Let's be reasonable Enshrine those who want it

We are not going to prevent that

I don't want my brother enshrined in Yasukuni

I'm asking for his name to be taken out

because he's enshrined without permission

It was an imperialistic war

and I feel sad for my brothers who were forced to take part

At least, I want their names be terminated from this imperialistic shrine

This is the wishes of the families

If the Shrine doesn't accept it

it means the wishes of the families are ignored

Isn't that an illegal act? What do you think of that?

For religious reason, we cannot withdraw a god once we enshrine him

You enshrine him on your own and what's this you're doing?

What's this you're doing? Is this what Yasukuni does?

Kao Chin Su-mei Taiwan Legislator Souls of Taial people won't forgive you

Why don't you respect other cultures?

Then your religion is like a poop Person still has dignity when he dies

Tell your superiors of our opinion

We'll come back if this issue isn't resolved

Father in the photo is still a young man in his early 20s

I found out my father died in Liuzhou, China

so it's be my duty to perform rite there

To help Heeja looking for traces of her father

I, too, searched everywhere

Her father had died in Southern China

Could Heeja find her father's traces when she goes there?

Hoping to be a comfort to her I went to China with her

Nanjing Massacre Memorial Japanese Army Massacred 300,000 of prisoners and civilians in 1937

They killed all of 300,000 people?

More than 300,000

Most of gods in Yasukuni Shrine are

soldiers who died during the Pacific War

Japanese Army massacred 300,000 soldiers and civilians in Nanjing

My heart breaks

Looking at it, I thought my father's bones could be scattered like that

Zhu Chengshan Director of The Memorial of Nanjing Massacre With 200,000 soldiers Japan invaded Nanjing

and committed great massacres

In 6 weeks, they killed over 300,000 Nanjing citizens and soldiers

20,000 rapes were committed in a month

and 1/3 of Nanjing buildings were burned

This was clearly an act of invasion and crime

How could you call these people liberators?

Meng Guoxiang Prof. of Social Science, Nanjing Medicine Uni. We could discuss the numbers but

Nanjing massacre itself cannot be denied

300,000 is great massacre and 200,000 isn't?

What about 100,000? 30,000 is still massacre

Wu Zhengxi Survivor from Nanjing Massacre They stabbed my grandfather to death and

burned my house so next door neighbor was killed in his house

My brother, three cousins and an uncle

I still haven't heard anything about them

There was so much atrocity

Emotionally or morally, we cannot accept worshiping in Yasukuni Shrine

because of war criminals are enshrined there

Far East Military Court convicted them

They used the word slaughter not massacre

It means people were killed like animals

This used to be a pond where Japanese soldiers threw in the corpses

Excavating corpses It became a memorial

Yellow tag denotes children

208 corpses were found here

Nails driven into child's hands and feet are rusted

Corpses don't talk but

quietly and clearly they tell us of the tragedy of that time

I'm sorry

This is too much

This is only a part

I'm sorry

I'm sorry, I'm sorry

I kept apologized to the child's remains

Those Japanese who say there was no Nanjing Massacre and

those who ask how many times do we have to apologize must come here

Those who blame China's education for anti-Japan protests should come here and see

What do you think of the rightist press arguing there was no Nanjing Massacre?

This is Japanese newspaper that glorified soldiers

Tang Fugi Nanjing Guide This is Japanese newspaper that glorified soldiers

who had a contest to kill 100 people

This shows that it's a lie when Japanese rightists say there was no massacre

Japan is lying right now

Liuzhou, China

In Liujiang, 20km south of Liuzhou there's a village called Liudaoxiang

This is where Lee Heeja's father was hit with bullets

An elderly man who had fought against Japanese appeared

What did Japanese Army look like?

We were attacked at night We fought to protect ourselves

We took the elderly man to the site

He said he shot Japanese soldiers with gun taken

from Japanese Army to protect village

Lee Heeja's father might have been there

Villagers created a defense force We'd shoot and then retreat

We never had all-out fights

I was always wondering how father died

and what he might have said on his deathbed

Did he think of his 13-month-old daughter?

Did he struggle to leave something to me?

Standing here, it feels as if he's standing right beside me

About 450,000 Japanese also died

It was a futile operation

Many Koreans died but about 450,000 Japanese also died

- From this operation? - Yes, died in battle

Lee Sahyun is included there

Record shows Lee Heeja's father dying on June 1 1 , 1945

at a military hospital #181

Quanzhou, China

All these look like buildings from that era

There's a good possibility

I wonder where my father was

Numbers are all erased so they colored this

This is probably the building number

My father died in building #181

Your father died in Quanzhou, actually

He was hospitalized to Yangshuo and

died of tetanus in Quanxians hospital #181

Quanxian is Quanzhou now so most likely it's here

Just today, June 1 1 is Lee Heeja's father's death day

Looking for a place of rite she cries

Lee Heeja, who looks strong all the time

couldn't control the longing for her father

All I can do at this moment is to only hold an umbrella

Father

Preparing an altar in a restaurant

Lee Heeja performs rites for the first time in 60 years

Lee Heeja's father, who was cannot help dying in unfamiliar place

Looking at Lee Heeja with her father's image overlapping, my heart broke

In Japan, voices calling for constitutional amendment

to have military is getting stronger

Nakao Seishuro Deputy President of Political Association 'Seiki-juku' Japan's Self-Defense Forces is third in the world with powerful equipments

And yet Defense Army isn't an army according to the constitution

That's why we're trying to change the army's status as national army

Nakata Kiyoyasu Association to Defend Japan Despite stupidity of Peace Constitution Section 9

a nation should protect itself

Without formal army we're toyed by China

Korea treats us like a fool and occupy Dokdo

They're looking down at Japan Japan can make nuclear bomb anytime

Takahashi Tetsuya Prof. of Philosophy, Tokyo Uni. I believe Japan's conservatives want to

become economic military and political power

In the past, Japan tried to do it alone and lost

but now, it's trying to do it with USA

I think it's trying to take military actions in the form of cooperation with the States

Chung Jomyo Prof. of Ancient Korean History, Ootani Uni. Showa Era was a terrible time for Asians because of Japanese

They could just leave Emperor's birthday as Green Day

but they want to change it to Day of Showa

It shows their desire to relive that era

to become powerful Nothing changed

Yamaguchi Takashi Association to Withdraw The Monument of the Great East Asia Holy War If there's a person who believes the war was legitimate

we can't get along with Asia

If we want to live together with Asia we must change our view on history

Japanese society's leaning toward right means that rightist forces are getting stronger while

progressive forces are getting weaker with prolonged recession

Japan is changing

Even historical perspective is changing

Hokamura Kiyonori All Japan Student Cultural Conference I had a chance to visit Indonesia in March

Indonesian don't think Asia was invaded

They say Japan liberated Asia that had been oppressed by the West

There are many who are truly grateful to Japan

Yayoshi Hiroyuki Editor of Newest Japanese History At that time all Koreans were Japanese

They became citizens of Japanese Empire when Korea became Japan's colony

Forced mobilization is working at a factory

or for your country when the war breaks out

It's found in any other advanced nations

Lonnie Ding-Everson International NGO Japanese government has been ignoring this issue too long

For it's self-sake they need to listen to

the voices of Asians who were victimized

Murakami Mai Volunteer for War Victims' Compensation Thinking about the future we want to live in

forgetting past war lead to future wars

If I hadn't met Lee Heeja or Japanese activists

I might have never had the chance to seriously think about Japan's problem

I also learned how precious it is to prevent war and

make peace in our own ways of lives

Let's Make Peace Ordinance

Let's Make In Our Village Peace Non-Defended Locality Ordinance

Current Signature: 16796

Matsutani Takato Citizen's Group For Non-Defended Locality Ordinance In Nishinomiya Peaceful method a citizen with no weapon

could take is promoting peace in the world

We want to make a world where life won't be taken away

As a promise to children for peaceful future

we're getting signatures for the ordinance

Japan took my father away from me

But as I fought for my father for so many years

I got to know many Japanese friends

These peace-loving people truly love Japan

Watching them working so hard to create real peace and mutual understanding

hatred toward Japan slowly was disappearing

Because of them

I could find an outlet to let out anger and resentment that was in me

Kimura Ayako The Supporter of the Legal Actions of Former Korean Members of Japan's Military Forces I first met with the victims lightheartedly

But as I got to know how each one of them was insulted by my country

I decided to do what I can thinking I shouldn't let it be

Osachi Keiko The Supporter of the Legal Actions of Former Korean Members of Japan's Military Forces I have a job but I keep doing this because

though it's hard I feel free when I'm here

Knowing social significance of my actions

I feel, this is the reason for my life

Nakata Mitsunobu Citizens Supporting Legal Actions of Korean Forced Labor Survivors Human society can't be divided by borders

There's language gap but I don't think there's a wall between people

Our goal is to remove the wall blocking us

In front of Yasukuni Shrine, May, 2005

There'll be problems since rightists are taking signatures

- I agree - That's why we should go

Despite our hopes, tension and confrontation in East Asia is rising

From how we look at the war to Yasukuni worship

and issues on territory and textbook

if pain and death caused by war is glorified in the name of patriotism

key to solution may never be found

Hope the country that started the war could

hold hands with the country that was victimized

When Japan, Korea and other Asian citizens strengthen solidarity

it'll be the first step to prevent war and make peace

- Do it outside! Outside! - No Violence!

- I'm guarding Yasukuni - Do it outside. You can do it outside

Do you know what you're doing here?

What are you doing in front of Yasukuni Shrine?

- Stop the violence, stop the violence - Give it back

Please know that Yasukuni is deifying

those who died in the war and with Prime Minister visiting here

we're once again turning into a military nation encroaching Asia

Shut up! Go back!

Her father was enshrined here What do you think of that?

He was enshrined He was taken to the war and killed

Then enshrined here

She didn't even know he was alive or dead for 40, 50 years after the war

We study history, too

By domestic laws, no one war criminals enshrined in Yasukuni

Then why do you enshrine Koreans?

Whatever the country Yasukuni is world's...

Dirty Korean, get out of Japan

Korean insulting souls of Yasukuni get out of Japan

Go back! Go back!

Go back! Go back!

I visited MangHyang Cemetery again with Heeja

Tombstone without name is quietly pleading

Heeja says she'll engrave the name only

when the name is withdrawn from Yasukuni

I hope her voice unites Japanese to move

Japanese government and Yasukuni

Mr. Hurukawa

Let's work hard so I could engrave my father's name soon

As I visited Japan, the reason I thought I should forgive Japan wasn't because of

Japanese government but conscious citizens

who truly love and want to protect Japan

We'll continue our hard work to give young people

the bright future and not the pain

Way to go

Stir yourself

I'm sorry

Let's cheer up Let's work harder

I love you

My name is Murakami...