Giovanni Fazio : Last words on hell from the skies

Around Steven Okazaki, White Light/Black Rain, at The Japan Times (02.07.2007). Quotes :

In an interview with The Japan Times, Okazaki described how he was "tired of" the political debate surrounding the dropping of the atomic bombs. "The Japanese tell the story one way, which is: 'Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a completely separate incident from WWII,' " says Okazaki. "It was just this one day with no connection to the rest of the war. And the Americans tell it another way, a very defensive way, and they cite their statistics about why it was necessary. But this discussion doesn't get anywhere; neither side meets the other in any way. I needed to find a different way of approaching the subject, which was: leave the argument out, just tell the story."

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When asked whether being Japanese-American gave him a unique perspective to explore an issue that divides the two nations, such as the atomic bombings, Okazaki replied: "I feel very detached from Japanese culture — an observer more than part of it. And frankly I feel the same way as an American, because I grew up with a minority consciousness — both my parents were put in (wartime) internment camps. I know I'm not fully part of that culture either. I've always felt like I was floating in the Pacific, looking both ways."

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The effects of this neocon movement to deny the past are apparent right from the film's opening scene, where Okazaki stops youths in the teenage mecca of Takeshita-dori, in Tokyo's Harajuku district, and asks them the significance of Aug. 6, 1945 — none can answer. Says Okazaki: "I thought we'd interview 30 kids or so, and some would know, some wouldn't. I couldn't imagine worse than 60 percent getting it. So we went down the street, and the first eight kids I interviewed are all in the film. None of them knew. I stopped filming; I thought this is such a huge statement. I did not expect it at all. And I didn't cut anyone out — I'm not Michael Moore, I don't have a message that I'll cheat for." Admittedly, the kids who would know probably don't hang out on Takeshita-dori, but that's not to say the Harajuku kids aren't representative. Okazaki points to a recent poll in Nagasaki, where only about 30 percent of youths questioned could name the date that the city was nuked.