This movie was on screening today at the cannes festival 2005.
It talks about japaneses hostages in Irak who are the shame of their country once they come back. Then They are physically and mentally abused by their own people because of being hostages during the war.
-= You only live once so Enjoy ! =-
To be honest, I just can't get my head round that. Why is it that Japanese people who were held hostage in Iraq are looked on as scum? It's not like they took sides with the enemy, is it?
Is just amazes me what a mad world we live in.
Maybe, Japanese don't hesitate to harass victims. and Japan's shame culture dislikes to unique principle.
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I just wonder how this so-called "shame culture" came about? Could it have something to do with the ancient samurai code of honour?
So this is how liberty dies-with thunderous applause?
It's simple : when the real three Japanese young people were kidnapped in Iraq (most of us have seen the images of insurgents holding knives close to their throats), the insurgents demanded the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Iraq. If not, they would have been burnt alive.
In Japan, there were people supporting the idea of meeting the demands (especially the families and friends). However, the Japanese government refused. They were released because of islamic clerics, who disagreed with the killing of these three themselves.
So there you have it : by going over there and being taken hostage, they have threatened the first military operation by Japan since the second World War.
Do I agree with this? No. But Japanese and Asian culture in general is different when it comes to this. The emphasis on the individual is a rather western thing.
I guess they are simply racist and nationalist [to an extreme sometimes]. Off course she got attacked in the japanese media, but you dont get to see that. So the media attack her. The populace then assumes the same attitude.
Imagine you're a muslim living in the west. And you dont follow the media at all. You would be very intrigued by the harsh hatred of common people against you. You dont do anything wrong. But most people get their image off you through the media that are attacking you.
Japanese women abroad are attacked alot in the media. Google the term 'yellow cab' for instance. It refers to Japanese women abroad. They are seen as sexually too easily available to foreign non-japanese. I think this is also an undercurrent in this movie.
I googled 'yellow cab'. all entries were for taxis :-) at least on the first page ( i didn't bother to check the others).
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