All language subtitles for 你好，永别 안녕, 사요나라 (2005)

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...