Beyond Yasukuni: Where war crimes are recast as glory

Why does the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, remain so controversial? Among the millions of war dead it honors are 14 who were convicted as Class-A war criminals by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East following World War II. So, who gets remembered as a "hero," and whose suffering is forgotten? From the Yasukuni Shrine's distorted portrayal of the war to the memories of Nanjing Massacre survivors; from Iris Chang's pursuit of historical truth to the cross-border legal battle pursued by victims of Japan's wartime biological warfare; from the testimonies of Japanese veterans to the efforts of those Japanese citizens who are determined to prevent the distortion of history, the documentary Beyond Yasukuni examines the war through the eyes of both perpetrators and victims. Behind the "glory" and the "Shrine for Japanese War Criminals" attempts to commemorate, it seeks to confront the suffering of the victims that must not be forgotten and to convey the message that, although we cannot change the past, how we remember it can shape the future we build.