Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

I saw this movie on HBO channel at the hotel in Beijing.

The movie was with Chinese subtitle. The movie reminded me of one horrific history between China and Japan. That was biological and chemical experiments on real human bodies done by Japanese army's special unit called Unit 731. Maybe because I was in Beijing and anti-Japan riot was about to begin, I got into this story very seriously.

The story is New York's ER doctor named Guy (Hue Grant) met with a strange patient. After the patient died, he searches for the mystery of the patient's death. Then he discovered the secret experiments going on that uses homeless people's bodies. The project aims to find new way to create nerve for disabled people. So the motive was not to create biological and chemical weapons. But both of the experiments use human bodies without examinees' consent.

I used to meet with ex-Unit 731 soldier. His name was Mr. SHINOZUKA Shiro. He made a speech of his experience. He said he has been trained to be militaristic man that can give up humanistic mind. He and his collegues called the examinees "Log." The people called "Log" included Koreans, Chinese. After the war, he was captured but by Chinese government's generous policy he was released. He realised how horrible what he has done was.

Strangely ex-Unit 731 soldiers were never prosecuted even by US occupational force.
Why?
You can find a reason for that by seeing the last scene of the movie.

In the last part, Guy met with wife of the leader of the experiment. The leader died by gun shot of the quarrel between Guy and the leader's friends. She says to Guy that her husband's measure was wrong but the motive was right. She gave her late husband's corrected data of the experiment. Guy received that.

Japanese people including me should know such thing has happened in China. This week Tokyo high court rejected the compensation demand by victims and ex-victims of Nanjin atrocities and Unit 731 experiments.

I feel very sad these days.

Do you know Robert S. McNamara?

This is the documentary film based on the interview recently conducted with of Robert McNamara who was Secretary of Defense during Kennedy and Johnson administration. He is now nearly 90 years old.

He is also important for Japanese history.

Exactly 60 years of today, the city I live, which is the capital of Japan, Tokyo was bombed by US air force. 100,000 civilians including children were killed by B-29 airplanes over one night. At that time, Mr. McNamara was under the command of Colonel LeMay, who directed the bombing of Tokyo on March 10, 1945. McNamara was part of this bombing project as a statistical analyst.

He seemed regretted what he did. He also mentioned his supervisor LeMay said if the US lost the war, he would have been convicted as war criminal.
Then, McNamara said “Can we get away with this immorality because we won the war?”

Again, I wouldn’t want to blame him for what the US army has done to our country. Yes, US has done too much for its objective. But Japan started the war by bombing Pearl Harbor and we’ve done as brutal things in China as Hiroshima and Tokyo.

There are many other important messages in this film. I recommend you to see it.

Have you seen the movie "Guess who's coming to dinner?"

I saw it last week on TV. The story is one woman took her fiance to her home. Her family were rich and liberal. The problem was her fiance was Afro-American. Sidney Poitier acted as the fiance. Katherin Hepburn was mother of the woman.

Although her parents were liberal and not racist, they were shocked. They were not prejudiced against the fiance but they were worried about hardship the couple and their prospected grandchildren would face.

Finally, the parents approved their marriage. The father (acted by Spencer Tracy) said, "The worst thing is knowing what you are, knowing what you feel about each other, you didn't get married."

I liked the movie a lot. The story took place almost 40 years ago, but it seems interracial marriage is still difficult in US, especially between Black and white. When I was studying in US, 90's, it was very rare to see Black and white couple. Asian and white couples were seen so often.

I've heard prejudice against Afro-Americans does not come only from skin color difference but also historical and cultural aspects. But there are many Americans who are breaking such barriers to change the society better. I think that is one of the good things about America.

How would you react if your child or brother or sister introduces you his or her fiance who happens to have different skin color?