Three months since its worldwide release, Christopher Nolan¡¯s film about the creator of the atomic bomb, ¡°Oppenheimer,¡± has yet to be seen in the only country where the weapons were dropped: Japan.
Neither Universal Studios, which rolled out the movie in the United States and other countries on July 21, nor Toho-Towa, Universal¡¯s local distributor, have commented on its fate in the world¡¯s third-largest cinema market; Toho-Towa tersely referred all queries regarding ¡°Oppenheimer¡± to Universal and said it has yet to even receive any promotional materials from the company. Meanwhile, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, which represents Japan¡¯s hibakusha (victims of the World War II bombings), also declined to comment. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen the movie,¡± said a spokeswoman.
Hollywood movies are typically released without incident in Japan, though there are exceptions. ¡°Unbroken,¡± a 2014 film depicting the real-life story of Louis Zamperini, a prisoner of war tortured by a sadistic Japanese camp commander, was stopped in its tracks by a campaign by the Japanese right-wing media. It was eventually screened at art house cinemas.
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