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(★)(´TO-0096´ es mismo libro.)(A Play in Two Parts by Kinoshita Junji)(An attempt to establish legal responsibility for war, and for crimes committed during war, was made before two military tribunals following the last world war : one in Nuremberg and the other in Tokyo. In the Tokyo Trial, 28 Japanese military and government leaders were tried on 55 counts of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and murder and conventional war crimes, by 11 judges representing the Allied nations. The TokyoTrial, overshadowed as it has been by its German counterpart, has received little serious attention. Because of the great popularity of the MacArthur administration, the American view has generally been to accept the trial as impartial, while the Japanese view has been to ignore or dismiss it as something best forgotten. Inviting his countrymen to take a new look at the trial and the larger questions of guilt and responsibility that it poses, Kinoshita Junji has written a thought-provoking play. The play itself is presented in two parts : the first, ´The Judgement,´ is a realistic re-creation of parts of the trial, based on the actual proceedings, but with subtle and significant changes in wording, order, and speaker. ´The Judgement,´ while questioning the legitimacy of the court, the credibility of the evidence presented, and the definition of the term ´war crime,´ focuses on the ethical responses of each of the participants of the trial. Part two, ´Summer : A Romance of the South Seas,´ concerns a Japanese army private and his struggle with his own war guilt. The private, Kanohara, is tried for war crimes committed against the natives of a South Seas island and is sentenced to death. Although he is innocent of the charges brought against him, he accepts the guilt he sees as ultimately lying within himself. The play brings back forgotten fears, anxieties, and guilt, and forces its audience to deal with them on a public, concious level. In a drama that at first seemingly asks the victors to judge themselves, we find that we are asked to judge ourselves. ◆Kinoshita Junji [1914-] is a major Japanese contemporary playwright. Underlying his dramas, which are often based on folklore or on historical themes, is a concern for human fate, of the way in which man struggles with and responds to forces beyond his control. His ´Twilight Crane´, a play based on a popular Japanese folktale, has been published in English. Eric J. Gangloff is Assistant Professor of Japanese Language and Literature at the University of Tennessee.) |
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