Uwajima mourners spared 'Pearl Harbor' screenings
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By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hollywood movie "The Mummy Returns" is showing in Uwajima, Japan. So are "Planet of the Apes" and "A.I."
But Disney's romanticized war movie, "Pearl Harbor," is banned from this harbor town 430 miles southwest of Tokyo.
That's because emotions are still raw six months after a U.S. Navy submarine from Pearl Harbor collided with a Japanese fisheries training ship nine miles off O'ahu. The accident killed nine people aboard the Ehime Maru, including boys from Uwajima Fisheries High School.
Out of respect for the victims, film promoters consulted with Uwajima Mayor Hirohisa Ishibashi and decided to keep "Pearl Harbor" out of the town theater, the mayor said.
"We don't talk so much about the Ehime Maru," he said. "But in our heart, we are always thinking about the situation."
The cinema chain that operates in Uwajima is showing "Pearl Harbor" a half-hour's drive away in Ozu and up the coast in Matsuyama on the largely rural island of Shikoku.
With tickets prices that run twice the American fare, most people find it too expensive to keep on top of Hollywood's latest anyway, said Andrew Lowry, a Briton who runs an Uwajima Internet cafe with his Japanese wife.
"'Pearl Harbor' is showing practically everywhere except in Uwajima," Lowry said. "I don't think it's really a big issue. It's more of a statement."
Reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.
