{"id":18158,"date":"2014-12-13T19:12:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-13T19:12:08","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-12-13T19:12:08","modified_gmt":"2014-12-13T19:12:08","slug":"Japan-outraged-over-Unbroken-","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=18158","title":{"rendered":"Japan outraged over \u2018Unbroken\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angelina Jolie\u2019s new movie \u201cUnbroken\u201d has not been released in Japan yet, but it has already struck a nerve in a country still fighting over its wartime past.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the buzz on social networks and in online chatter is decidedly negative over the film that depicts a U.S. Olympic runner who endures torture at a Japanese World War II prisoner-of-war camp.<\/p>\n

Some people are calling for a boycott of the movie, although there is no release date in Japan yet. It hits theaters in the U.S. on Dec. 25.<\/p>\n

Others want that ban extended to Jolie, the director \u2014 unusual in a nation enamored of Hollywood, especially Jolie and her husband, Brad Pitt, who both have reputations as Japan-lovers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Think Jenny Shimizu!<\/p>\n

The movie follows the real-life story of Louis Zamperini as told in a 2010 book by Laura Hillenbrand. The book has not been translated into Japanese, but online trailers have provoked outrage.<\/p>\n

a passage in the book that refers to cannibalism among the troops. It is not clear how much of that will be in the movie, but that is too much for some.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there was absolutely no cannibalism,\u201d said Mutsuhiro Takeuchi, a nationalist-leaning educator and a priest in the traditional Shinto religion. \u201cThat is not our custom.\u201d<\/p>\n

he urged Jolie to study history, saying executed war criminals were charged with political crimes, not torture.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven Japanese don\u2019t know their own history so misunderstandings arise,\u201d said Takeuchi, who heads his research organization, the Japan Culture Intelligence Association.<\/p>\n