Freedom Next Time: Japanese Neonationalists Seek to Silence Yasukuni Film

The documentary Yasukuni, directed by LI Ying, problematizes the enshrinement of war dead (including both Chinese and Koreans) in the Yasukuni shrine, formally a State Shinto shrine that became a private religious institution during the U.S. occupation period. It was screened in two dozen theatres in Tokyo in May 2008 but was soon removed due to enormous pressures from Japanese right-wing groups and a member of the Japanese legislature, the Diet. Li states that he did not intend to evoke anti-Japanese sentiment but was trying to explore conflicting feelings towards the shrine from ordinary people including families and relatives of dead soldiers as well as a 90-year-old sword-maker whose thousands of swords were used during the war. Nonetheless, the attacks from right-wing groups on the director as well as the theatres screening the film were threatening enough to prevent Li from producing any more films in Japan. Despite having spent nineteen years in Japan, after this controversy Li decided to move back to China where he continues his filmmaking to this day.In this article, David McNeill introduces the documentary, Yasukuni, and its controversies, followed by an interview with Li Ying conducted by John Junkerman a few weeks before the film's cancellation from theatres. In the interview, Li presents the ideas that he used in the film and shares his experience of filming it in Japan.