TOKYO (AFP) — A Tokyo cinema has decided not to screen a controversial documentary by a Chinese director about Japan's Yasukuni war shrine, the movie's distributor said Tuesday.
"Yasukuni," by film-maker Li Ying, looks at the controversy surrounding the shrine, which was built in 1869 and now honours 2.5 million war dead -- including notorious war criminals from World War II.
The site has become a rallying point for Japan's far right, while in much of Asia it is seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
Wald9 Cinema in Shinjuku, one of Tokyo's major entertainment districts, was among four places in the Japanese capital that had planned to start showing the documentary on April 12.
But operator T-Joy Co. informed distributor Argo Pictures that Wald9 Cinema had dropped the plan.
"T-Joy told us that it was due to a problem in its screening schedule," said an official of Argo Pictures. "But the other three theatres still plan to show the movie."
A T-Joy official contacted by AFP declined to comment.
But Kyodo News quoted a T-Joy official as saying the film may cause 'trouble.'
"The film is talked about so much that it may create trouble and we don't want to cause inconvenience to building tenants," the official was quoted as saying.
A number of Japanese lawmakers took the rare step last week of holding a private advance screening of the film, which was made partially through an arts grant from the Japanese government, although they denied any attempt to censor it.
The film looks at the shrine through the viewpoint of an ageing maker of swords that were traditionally used by Japanese military officers.
"What I am hoping to do with this film is look at history and help people to realise that there are different sides to every story," Li told AFP last year at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea.
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