'Oppenheimer' Film to Finally Get Release in Japan

I've written before about my travels in Japan, the time I've spent there, the beauty of the country, and my fondness for the culture. Understanding that culture, just a little bit, even as a gaijin I understand their sensitivity where nuclear weapons are concerned. As Japan is the only nation to suffer the use of a nuclear weapon in anger, even in a war they started, it's a touchy subject in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Knowing these things, I was interested in seeing the news on Friday that the Christopher Nolan film "Oppenheimer" getting a Japanese release.

“Oppenheimer ” will get a theatrical release in Japan, after all. The Japanese distributor Bitters End said Thursday that the Christopher Nolan film will play in the country’s theaters in 2024.
In a statement, Bitters End wrote that the decision was made, “following months of thoughtful dialogue associated with the subject matter and acknowledging the particular sensitivity for us Japanese.”

Some years back my wife had the opportunity to visit the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. My wife speaks and reads Japanese, so she has a better appreciation for that museum and its contents than I do; some things are always lost in translation. Her take on it was that it was limited to a statement of the facts of the event; "on this date, this happened with these effects," and so on, with little discussion of the ethics of using atomic weapons, and certainly no discussion of what an invasion of the main island in Japan might have looked like, with millions dead and the war dragging on for another year, maybe longer.

The Japanese film distributor releasing "Oppenheimer" seems to be adopting a similar outlook as the Nagasaki museum.

Earlier this year, the Japanese distributor of the Warner Bros. movie “Barbie” apologized for its U.S. parent company’s reaction to social media posts about the “Barbenheimer” blitz that combined images of Barbie and a mushroom cloud. The memes triggered criticisms in Japan for what many described as minimizing the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
Bitters End said that, after screening “Oppenheimer,” they felt it was “a singular cinematic experience that transcends traditional storytelling and must be seen on the big screen.”

The timing of the news about this release is interesting, coming the day after the 82nd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. It's also important to note that the use of the atomic bombs ended the Pacific war at a stroke, saving both the Japanese and Americans from what would have been a horrendous, bloody invasion that could have lasted years. In August of 1945, my Dad was in California checking out in the B-29 Superfortress bomber, the plane that dropped both atomic bombs, and as long as he lived he approved of President Truman's decision.

The topic of nuclear weapons and their possible use has been the subject of discussion ever since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, even in our recent, post-Cold War history, but in Japan, the topic has always been discussed in a circuitous manner, even to using giant monsters as avatars for, or the result of, use of nuclear weapons.

A theatrical release of "Oppenheimer" in Japan may be a sign of a change in Japan's outlook. We neglect history at our peril, after all. Acceptance of what has happened, with all of its implications, may help us deter such a necessity in the future.