JAPANESE PROTESTS AGAINST KOREAN FILM

[Anchor Lead]

A movie about Japanese people who waged a campaign of terrorism on Japanese war crime companies in the 1970s was recently released in Japan. The movie was directed by a Korean director. But Japanese right wing groups are trying to block the film's screening, calling it anti-Japanese.

[Pkg]

[Soundbite] "Stop the movie immediately."

In front of a movie theater in Yokohama, Japan, Japanese right wing groups stage a noisy protest on board trucks with loudspeakers.

[Soundbite] "This is a movie that collects funds for the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, which has repeatedly carried out terrorist bombings."

It is an effort to halt the screening of a movie released in March. The film is about a group of Japanese people who detonated bombs in the 1970s against Japanese companies accused of war crimes.

[Soundbite] "(‘The East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front’): Living on Japan's imperialism, war crime companies participated in colonialism and grew on the blood of colonized people."

The series of bombings shocked Japanese society that was trying to delete the history of aggression. This is why the conservative activists are strongly protesting against the film.

[Soundbite] (Movie theater official) : "They even got into the theater. We were terrified, since we didn't know what would happen to us. We felt threatened and escaped through an emergency exit."

Some 30 Japanese movie theaters are showing the movie. But one cinema decided to stop its screening, saying it felt distressed for causing noise and other inconveniences in the community. The movie's distributor is considering taking legal action against the suspension.

[Soundbite] Izutaro Managi(Lawyer for movie distributor) : "It is an act of forcible obstruction of business. It is a criminal case. We are planning to ask the authorities to investigate it."

Three years ago, Japanese far-right groups tried to stop the screening of a movie about victims of Tokyo's wartime sexual slavery. But a court ruling put the brakes on their campaign.