from:www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20051223a3.htm

This one's for the home crowd

By MARK SCHILLING


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Otokotachi no Yamato

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Rating: * * * (out of 5)
Director: Junya Sato
Running time: 145 minutes
Language: Japanese
Currently showing
[See Japan Times movie listings]  

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Japanese nationalism is reviving and so is the Japanese war-movie genre, though it's more accurate to describe films like "Lorelei," "Bokoku no Aegis (Aegis)" and "Sengoku Jieitai (Samurai Commando)" as war fantasies that are closer in spirit to shoot-'em-up arcade games than revisionist histories.



A scene from Junya Sato's "Otokotachi no Yamato."


Then there is "Otokotachi no Yamato (Yamato: The Last Battle)," director Junya Sato and uber-producer Haruki Kadokawa's film version of a real ship's last battle in the closing days of World War II. That ship, the Yamato, has become a symbol of Japanese national pride -- and folly. The biggest battleship in the Japanese navy, with a crew of 3,300, the Yamato was built to rule the Asian waves, but by the time of its completion in December 1941, air power had trumped conventional sea power. By the time the battle of Leyte Gulf was fought, in October 1944, the United States had far more of the former than Japan, and U.S. warplanes sent most of the Japanese navy to the bottom, while badly mauling the Yamato.

When the Yamato sailed from her home port of Kure on April 6, 1945, to bring supplies to Japanese forces fighting in the Battle of Okinawa, it had no air protection whatsoever. U.S. carrier-based planes attacked on April 7 in the East China Sea -- and the Yamato went down, guns blazing, taking nearly 3,000 lives went with her. It was a suicide mission from start to finish, and the officers and crew knew it.

The film's depiction of this tragedy is very much in a cultural tradition: Japanese have been celebrating glorious losers for centuries, from Yoshitsune and Saigo Takamori to the tokkotai (kamikaze) pilots who were the Yamato crew's spiritual brothers. It is also intended strictly for domestic consumption. The likelihood of foreign sales or festival screenings is next to zero.

Which is unfortunate, since the film offers a remarkably explicit, if highly colored, account of life and death aboard the Yamato, while validating attitudes that are not in the rightist script for noble warriors of Dai-Nippon. Yes, there are plenty of clenched jaws, burning looks and fervent speeches about "saving the motherland," but there are also plenty of voices raised in protest against the coming debacle -- and not all from the weak reeds either. Even the ship's captain, played by macho screen icon Tetsuya Watari, objects to sending his men to certain death, until he is overruled by his die-hard superiors

Also, stoic masks slip in unexpected ways. Just before the climatic battle, an officer gives his teenaged sailors a talk on "preparing to die." "Say goodbye to the folks back home," he says. "Shout out to them, cry your heart out to them." And that's what they do, hanging over the rails and sobbing uncontrollably. Not a scene you'd see in "Saving Private Ryan."

Finally, the battle itself has a brutal intensity reminiscent of the famed Omaha Beach sequence in "Ryan." For all the outbursts of manga-esque heroics, the main images are of ruthless, stroboscoped slaughter, with bodies ripped by bullets and blown to bits by explosions. Meanwhile, under relentless bombing by American planes, the Yamato itself is quickly reduced to a helpless, dying hulk. The jingos in the audience will feel more like squirming than cheering.

The film is framed with a present-day story that begins with Makiko Uchida (Kyoka Suzuki), the adopted daughter of a Yamato survivor, asking an old fisherman named Kamio (Tatsuya Nakadai) to take her to the place where the Yamato sank 60 years before. He is reluctant at first, but when he hears that her father was Petty Officer Uchida (Shidou Nakamura), who was his superior on the Yamato, he agrees -- and begins to remember.

The films segues into a brief history of the Pacific War (the Japanese, naturally, were forced into it by the Allied oil embargo), followed by the arrival, in spring of 1944, of fresh-faced recruits aboard the Yamato, docked at Kure Harbor. Among them are the gangly, good-natured Kamio (Kenichi Matsuyama), and the short, bumbling Nishi (Kenta Uchino). Among their superiors are the gruff, kindly Moriwaki (Takashi Sorimachi), who is in charge of the kitchen, and the rakish, fearless Uchida, who is in charge of an anti-aircraft battery.

The boys undergo harsh training -- and punishment. Nishi gets whacked for fumbling a shell, Kamio for taking the blame when a porthole is left open (he is not the guilty party, but steps forward so his entire squad won't be punished). Moriwaki and Uchida prove to be decent types, however, who win the affection and respect of their young charges.

They are first bloodied at Leyte, where they nearly dissolve into panic under the ferocious American assault. Uchida takes a bullet to his eye, but miraculously survives. The Yamato limps back to port, but the war situation worsens and, following the fall of Saipan in the spring of 1945, grows desperate. The Yamato's crew is given a last leave to visit friends and family and, then, on April 6, they embark on their fatal voyage to Okinawa.

Veteran Sato ("Tonko," "Ningen no Shomei"), delivers taut, high-impact action, while pumping up the theatrics to at times absurd extremes. Even the normally excellent Suzuki and Shinobu Terashima, playing Uchida's geisha lover, overdo the facial twitches, while Nakamura becomes positively piratical once he dons an eye patch as the half-blinded Uchida.

The young actors playing the recruits are, by contrast, refreshingly unaffected. Matsuyama is particularly good as the young Kamio, reacting naturally (that is, boyishly) to each challenge and crisis -- and reminding us why, despite all the flag waving, on screen and off, the Yamato's end was a human disaster.

Is "Yamato" an antiwar film in disguise? Not really. The Japanese mainstream has mixed emotions about the war and the film reflects that ambiguity. Rightists may play it at their meetings to pump up morale, but I'm sure they'd prefer an edited version.

An interview with "Yamato" producer Haruki Kadokawa will appear on the Sunday Timeout page, Dec. 25.

The Japan Times: Dec. 23, 2005
(C) All rights reserved

I'd love to see it.

I just read the US Naval historian's story of Leyte, and for all the air power we tossed at them, it was probably the last ship-of-the line sea battle, as well.  

Might be an interesting rental.

Same here.  I'm a battleship buff and would love to see it too.

Let's see, which movie do I want to see... a film about the battleship YAMATO, the greatest battleship ever built, or "Brokeback Mountain"?

Yeah, Hollywood has their shit together

Going to see it tomorrow

I hope its not a japanese sympathizer type movie with the evil americans and such.

Damn I thought you were talking about Space Battleship Yamato

Man I loved that show.

That's the sequel.

NTM

Quoted: Let's see, which movie do I want to see... a film about the battleship YAMATO, the greatest battleship ever built, or "Brokeback Mountain"? Yeah, Hollywood has their shit together

No shit   +1 brazillion

Quoted: Damn I thought you were talking about Space Battleship Yamato Man I loved that show. www.godzillamonstermusic.com/COCX31162.jpg

There is a sequle to the Space Battleship Yamato, the YAMATO 2520.
Never seen it, but it didn't catch on in Japan, so I expect that it isn't vey good.

Quoted: Let's see, which movie do I want to see... a film about the battleship YAMATO, the greatest battleship ever built, or "Brokeback Mountain"? Yeah, Hollywood has their shit together

Well I don't know which one your going to see......but Otokotachi no Yamato would be the one I would pick of the two.

Looks interesting..........wonder how long till a boot leg comes out.....Arfcom rental?!

Her magazine has just exploded!!!!!

Quoted: Going to see it tomorrow

I'm going to say it for everybody here:

I Hate You!

Well, here's theofficial HP for the movie.

Clicking skip twice will bring you to the main bit.
Some English words are used so it is navigable for an non-English speaker.

Quoted: Quoted: Going to see it tomorrow I'm going to say it for everybody here: I Hate You!

+1

Quoted: Let's see, which movie do I want to see... a film about the battleship YAMATO, the greatest battleship ever built, or "Brokeback Mountain"? Yeah, Hollywood has their shit together packed

I'd love to see this movie in the theater. Hopefully they'll at least dub it in English and release it on DVD. I found out about it a few months ago. I think quite a few English speaking movie buffs have shown interest in Yamoto- not just anime dorks. If the marketing dept is on top of their game, we'll see an attempt to tap the Western market for DVD sales.

The last Japanese movie I saw was Battle Royale. It was cheesy but in an awesome way. It was a cult smash in Japan- the kind of movie our politically repressed Hollywood studios wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

Galland

I can't stand the Japanese.

No, it's not a racial thing (so don't dump in your pants, liberal wannabes).

I just...  hate them.   They murdered so many people that they make the germans look like amateurs in comparison.  Yet they are completely unrepentant and totally in denial.

Then they strip-mined our economy in the 1980's, helped out of course by the filthy whores in Washington.

Imagine what the world would be like if they had won?  

Fuck them.

Quoted: I can't stand the Japanese. No, it's not a racial thing (so don't dump in your pants, liberal wannabes). I just...  hate them.   They murdered so many people that they make the germans look like amateurs in comparison.  Yet they are completely unrepentant and totally in denial. Then they strip-mined our economy in the 1980's, helped out of course by the filthy whores in Washington. Imagine what the world would be like if they had won?   Fuck them.

I'm not sure about the unrepentant part.  There's still some krauts that think they were right.

As for the economy, American companies and unions did it to themselves.  The quality of most American made good in the 1970s and 1980s was fucking abyssmal, and American companies lived in a state of arrogance for which they are still paying dearly, particularly in the auto industry.

You must be some disgruntled auto worker or steel worker, still blaming everyone but those truly responsible.

BTW, my paycheck, and those of thousands of Ohio workers, come from Japanese companies.  Since the early 80s, Honda has opnened four major assembly and manufacturing plants in Ohio.  Honda engines and transmissions are MANUFACTURED, not just assembled, fully in Ohio.  Ohio assembled Hondas and Acuras have a higher domestic content than most "American" cars.  When was the last time the Big Three opened a new plant in Ohio?

Quoted: Quoted: I can't stand the Japanese. No, it's not a racial thing (so don't dump in your pants, liberal wannabes). I just...  hate them.   They murdered so many people that they make the germans look like amateurs in comparison.  Yet they are completely unrepentant and totally in denial. Then they strip-mined our economy in the 1980's, helped out of course by the filthy whores in Washington. Imagine what the world would be like if they had won?   Fuck them. I'm not sure about the unrepentant part.  There's still some krauts that think they were right. As for the economy, American companies and unions did it to themselves.  The quality of most American made good in the 1970s and 1980s was fucking abyssmal, and American companies lived in a state of arrogance for which they are still paying dearly, particularly in the auto industry. You must be some disgruntled auto worker or steel worker, still blaming everyone but those truly responsible. BTW, my paycheck, and those of thousands of Ohio workers, come from Japanese companies.  Since the early 80s, Honda has opnened four major assembly and manufacturing plants in Ohio.  Honda engines and transmissions are MANUFACTURED, not just assembled, fully in Ohio.  Ohio assembled Hondas and Acuras have a higher domestic content than most "American" cars.  When was the last time the Big Three opened a new plant in Ohio?

The historian Chalmers Johnson has written that:

It may be pointless to try to establish which World War Two Axis aggressor, Germany or Japan, was the more brutal to the peoples it victimised. The Germans killed six million Jews and 20 million Russians; the Japanese slaughtered as many as 30 million Filipinos, Malays, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Indonesians and Burmese, at least 23 million of them ethnic Chinese. Both nations looted the countries they conquered on a monumental scale, though Japan plundered more, over a longer period, than the Nazis. Both conquerors enslaved millions and exploited them as forced labourers — and, in the case of the Japanese, as [forced] prostitutes for front-line troops. If you were a Nazi prisoner of war from Britain, America, Australia, New Zealand or Canada (but not Russia) you faced a 4 per cent chance of not surviving the war; [by comparison] the death rate for Allied POWs held by the Japanese was nearly 30 per cent.[1]

Separation of war criminals 'will never happen': Yasukuni

Yasukuni Shrine will not separate Class-A war criminals from the ranks of Japan's war dead honored there, because the outcome of the Tokyo war crimes tribunal that convicted them remains controversial, officials from the Shinto shrine have said in a written statement.
"This is a matter of Japanese religious faith. . . . Their separate enshrinement will never happen," they said in response to questions from Kyodo News.

Yasukuni's flat rejection of a proposal to separate 14 Class-A war criminals -- including wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo -- from Japan's 2.5 million war dead comes as Japan's ties with China and South Korea remain tense due to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Tokyo shrine.

Japan's Asian neighbors see Yasukuni, particularly with the war criminals enshrined there, as symbolic of unrepentant nationalism and regard visits to it by government leaders as insensitive and insulting.

Removing the 14 people from the ranks of the war dead enshrined at Yasukuni has frequently been suggested by lawmakers as a possible solution to the diplomatic row.

The statement attributed the shrine's rejection to "lingering objections" voiced by some experts on international law over the validity of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East after World War II.

It also said the Diet unanimously adopted a resolution in 1953 denying the existence of "war criminals" in Japan in connection with World War II.

The shrine officials said that as a result of revisions from 1953 to 1955 to laws concerning government relief for families of the war dead, the government began treating convicted war criminals the same as the nation's war dead.

Noting that Nobusuke Kishi, once arrested as a Class-A war criminal but later released without indictment, went on to become prime minister from 1957 to 1960, the statement said, "There was no recognition of war criminals among the Japanese at all."



Boy, sure sounds like they don't give a shit to me...

The germans and japanese both commited gastly acts , but for sheer brutality the germans do not even come close to the japanese

The Japanese are completely unrepentant.  The war did beat the fighting spirit out of them, but they just DO NOT acknowledge any wrong doing in the war.

The stunning brutality of the Chinese and the Soviets over several decades makes the Axis powers look like flash in the pan wanna-be's.
Nobody is going after them for it

I have a friend that was stationed at MCAS Iwakune, and has been to Ground Zero at Hiroshima.  He says the museum there shows a lot of the destruction and human cost of the bomb, but really either didn't much mention the war, or glossed it over.

He says many young Japanese really do not even know that they attacked us.  His wife, who is half Japanese, half English (British) didn't know it until he was able to show her history books about it.  

The Japanese nowadays are being raised ignorant of Japan's brutality.  My friend over there says they had many protests from younger Japanese nationals that wanted the American military out of Japan.  They have no idea why we're there, for the most part.

The film could be interesting, granted, but it could also be a ' Look at how brutal the Americans were!  We were just trying to defend our home!'

As far as Japan today, I really hold no ill will to the nation as a whole.  I know that if shit were to happen, say with North Korea, Japan would be a valuable ally.  Yeah, they penetrated our nation like it was a cheap $2 whore, but we were asking for it.  American products went from great to pretty damn shitty, and the Japanese, in their traditional efforts to do everything as good as they can, have taken advantage of the desire for good inexpensive products.  Now most of the top automobile makers are Japanese.   American auto makers are playing catch up, and are making progress, but honestly, I still wouldn't buy an American car over an import, Japanese or European.  Heck, I'd even buy a Korean car (again... I have Hyundai, and two Porsches)

So anyway... it might be interesting...

Quoted: The stunning brutality of the Chinese and the Soviets over several decades makes the Axis powers look like flash in the pan wanna-be's. Nobody is going after them for it

The difference is that the Soviets and ChiComs were our allies in WWII.

Quoted: The Japanese are completely unrepentant.  The war did beat the fighting spirit out of them, but they just DO NOT acknowledge any wrong doing in the war.

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165719,00.html

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (search) expressed "deep reflections and heartfelt apology" for the Tokyo's wartime colonization and pledged that his country would never forget the "terrible lessons" of the war, which ended Aug. 15, 1945. "Our country has caused great damages and pain to people in many countries, especially our Asian neighbors, through colonization and invasion," Koizumi said in a statement.

Plus, you probably did not know....

quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&cid=pesek&sid=aXtcs0N8xfSQ

After 25 years of sizeable development assistance from Japan, its economy is now deemed stable enough to operate with less help. Just like South Korea and Singapore, which graduated from Japan's aid program, China is standing on its own feet.

Japan is cutting loans to China by a fifth this fiscal year to 96.7 billion yen ($873 million), while offering India 120 billion yen worth of assistance, 9 billion yen more than last year, to build power plants, roads and other infrastructure. China, last year's biggest recipient, also drops below Indonesia, now the second-largest recipient.

Take China, which began receiving such aid in 1979. At that time, Japanese loans accounted for about 20 percent of China's foreign investment.

I'm not totally defending them because many in Japan are still ignorant about WWII and their country's actions. I'm pointing out things....

Whether or not they still honor their Class A war criminals, they are simply honoring their dead.

Does that make them barbaric?  Just plain inhuman?  IMHO, no.......

Are they unrepenent?  Sure........but should we still hold anger to a generation that was NOT responsible for it?  No.

Reminds me of the Class Action suits against the US, in which some African American's want 10 Acres, and a Mule (?), and compensation of several trillion dollars.  They are going after a government now, that did not enslave them.  

I can't speak at all, for the the thousands of veterans who fought, and died in the Pacific Theatre, but many thousands have forgiven the Japanese for what they did.

Any hate anyone has, for a people they were never harmed by.........just makes me wonder who  you're really angry at.

Veterans/Victims I can understand......but fellow hating the Japanese, simply from reading history,......

Quoted: I hope its not a japanese sympathizer type movie with the evil americans and such.

Sounds like it to me.  We get the nice Japanese who waved to kids as they played softball before bombing the piss out of our boys, and the Japanese, they get "look at the carnage the Americans did to us!"  I've said it before and I'll say it again, fuck Japan and their nationalism.  We'd be singing a different tune if it was Germany who attempted to the do the same.

Quoted: Whether or not they still honor their Class A war criminals, they are simply honoring their dead. Does that make them barbaric?  Just plain inhuman?  IMHO, no....... Are they unrepenent?  Sure........but should we still hold anger to a generation that was NOT responsible for it?  No. Reminds me of the Class Action suits against the US, in which some African American's want 10 Acres, and a Mule (?), and compensation of several trillion dollars.  They are going after a government now, that did not enslave them.   I can't speak at all, for the the thousands of veterans who fought, and died in the Pacific Theatre, but many thousands have forgiven the Japanese for what they did. Any hate anyone has, for a people they were never harmed by.........just makes me wonder who  you're really angry at. Veterans/Victims I can understand......but fellow hating the Japanese, simply from reading history,......

BS.  I didn't see Gerhard Schroeder going to war shrines commemorating the deceased Heinrich Himmler or Adolf Eichman.  That is what they do when they refuse to acknowledge the babarism and attrocities they commited.  Do we need to look for the news links of just the past year pointing out their text books don't even acknowledge the war crimes they commited?  Their children don't even know they started the damned war against us!

Respecting our military dead, , is an honor in itself.

Would you be opposed if POTUS visited a Confederate Cemetary?

I'm sure you probably would......but they were Americans, and died for their cause......and I would have NO OBJECTIONS whatsoever, if our POTUS paid a visit, and honored them.

So what makes it any different with the Japanese?  

Its that PC BS you talk about........among the Japanese, its respect....to its Asian neighbors, its barbarism.

The only reason our POTUS does not visit any Confederate Cemetaries, is for that same PC BS you mention......as the NAACP/Nation of Islam, and all the Liberal Tards in the US, would have a fit.

Honoring your dead........is just that, Honor.  Last time I checked.....we don't run the world, and they're all entitled to do as they please.

So long as American lives are preserved........

Quoted: Respecting our military dead, , is an honor in itself. Would you be opposed if POTUS visited a Confederate Cemetary? I'm sure you probably would......but they were Americans, and died for their cause......and I would have NO OBJECTIONS whatsoever, if our POTUS paid a visit, and honored them. So what makes it any different with the Japanese?   Its that PC BS you talk about........among the Japanese, its respect....to its Asian neighbors, its barbarism. The only reason our POTUS does not visit any Confederate Cemetaries, is for that same PC BS you mention......as the NAACP/Nation of Islam, and all the Liberal Tards in the US, would have a fit. Honoring your dead........is just that, Honor.  Last time I checked.....we don't run the world, and they're all entitled to do as they please. So long as American lives are preserved........

You're comparing war criminals with the confederacy?  Are you on drugs?  We can and understand and are able to differentiate between the Wehrmacht and the SS, Japan does not, has not, and will not.  Enough with your BS games, you'll find no takers here Mr. Suzuki.  Last time I checked in this free world we're still allowed to form an opinion on the POS underhanded tactics and actions some of the Japanese commited and the governement refuses to acknowledge Mr. Suzuki.

Tens of millions of civilians murdered by the Japanese army in China and they were just doing their job as they continue to proclaim.  It was just part of war and yet you're trying to correlate it  to the CSA in the US?  Japan gets no sympathy from me.  Lemay did the right thing in firebombing the piss out of them.  You may be right though, I think I'll start celebrating August 6 & 9 every year like it was Christmas.

South Korea angered at history book changes

Japan refuses to change "their" version of history

Seperation of War Criminals will never happen

War criminals who were executed amongst those honored and this is truly disturbing because they actually make a comparison to Arlington National Cemetary.  I wonder how the Jewish survivors and family members (not to mention the sane world community) would think of the Germans honoring Adolf Hitler, Joachim Ribbentropp, Rudolph Hess, or Heinrich Himmler?

From the Wikpedia a brief outlook of the War crimes Japan commited

Okay.........no point in disagreeing with a world renowned Net historian.  

Anyways......here's some trailers I found on the web:
http://www.yamato-movie.jp/trailer/

Its in Japanese, since I can't read that, but I'm sure most saavy net folks can guess at the 4 trailers they have at the bottom.

I'd say its like a Saving Private Ryan/Titanic type history epic, with a personal take on Grandparents' memory of the past.

Either way....the gun scene's look a little lame, figured if they can make a good airsoft replica, they could have at least used a better, more realistic replica's of WWII guns.

Either way.....looks somewhat decent, anyone know where a bootleg can be found?


Actually....its the middle 4 trailers, all side by side.

I couldn't get the ones on the bottom to work.

My father in law experienced Japanese Occupation first hand, and then later had a first hand experience of what the Chicoms did to his family. (Summary Executions of his Father and Mother: Their Crime, one was a Teacher, the Other was a school principle and landlord.)

He just got his US Citizenship and is very proud. Everyone is extremely proud of the amount of work he put into passing his test and interview.

To be perfectly honest the KMT was pretty ugly too (just ask the Taiwanese). Sun-Yat-Sun would probably have been extremely sad were he to live to see what happened in China.

I would like to think that the only decent people in China were the European and American soldiers and diplomats stationed there.

Mao did murder far more people than either Stalin or Hitler or Imperial Japan.

I find it rather ludicrous that the Chinese keep harping about Japan re-writing History Books while the Chicoms do the exact same thing.

The Koreans however have a legitimate cause. Their last Emporess (Quenn Min) was brutally murdered and raped by Japanese Black Dragon Members.

(Or Rather I should say Dark Ocean Members, which the Black Dragon Society evolved from).

And to all fairness to the KMT and the Chicoms, the Qing Dynasty in China was not exactly a humane government either.

What can I say? The situation in Asia has been screwed up for centuries. And it took WWII to bring sanity to China, and (South) Korea.

Taiwan did NOT have multi-party elections until the 90's after Chang Kai Shek's son left the scene.

The Chicoms are nearly just as brutal as they were in "the old days" it's just that they are more circumspect and they have liberalized their economy somewhat.

Trailers in HD here:
www.apple.com/jp/quicktime/trailers/toei/yamato-movie2.html

Standalone (ie, without that crap-ass itunes shit) quicktime player: www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html