Documentary shines light on Yangtze River

The documentary film The Yangtze River, supervised by Japanese documentary director Ryo Takeuchi, will be released in Japan starting on Friday.

From 2010 to 2011, Takeuchi filmed a documentary about the Yangtze River for the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. Ten years later, starting in 2021, he spent about two years retracing the 6,300-kilometer-long river and revisiting some of the people living along the river whom he filmed 10 years ago.

“The portrayal of China in the Japanese media is not objective. I want to show real China to Japanese audiences, neither exaggerating nor criticizing China,” said Takeuchi at a screening and media exchange event jointly hosted by his culture communication company and the Chinese embassy in Japan in Tokyo on Sunday.

Most Japanese who have been to China will like China, and most Chinese who have been to Japan will also like Japan, he said. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the past few years and the state of Sino-Japanese relations, fewer and fewer Japanese people are going to China now. Takeuchi said he hopes that exchanges between the two peoples will increase.

“After watching this movie, I’m sure many Japanese will want to visit China. I hope my movie will be the first step for them to understand China, providing them with an opportunity to visit the country in person. Don’t blindly criticize China without ever having been there,” he said.

Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao also expressed hope that more Japanese people could visit China and that people-to-people exchanges between the two countries would be further promoted.

Takeuchi, 45, was born in Chiba Prefecture. His family moved to China in 2013 and settled in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, his wife’s hometown.

Sentimental attachment

“I live in Nanjing and have a sentimental attachment to the Yangtze River. I like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (by 14th-century Chinese writer Luo Guanzhong). There are many places along the Yangtze River related to the Three Kingdoms. … Along the river, there are also cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Chongqing, which are relatively familiar to Japanese people,” he said.

He had filmed the Yangtze River before but was not satisfied with the work because at that time, he could not speak Chinese and did not understand the real life of the Chinese people. He always had an obsession with learning Chinese and understanding China before filming the Yangtze River again.

“I’m very much looking forward to seeing the reaction of ordinary Japanese audiences to this film. Not only will Japanese people interested in China go to see it, but also those who like documentaries and movies,” Takeuchi said.

In addition, he has also made documentaries such as The Reason I Live Here, which introduces the lives and customs of Chinese people living overseas and foreigners living in China. His works also include Beyond the Mountain, Nanjing’s Anti-epidemic Scene, Long Time No See, Wuhan, and The Post-Pandemic Era.

He has now begun to film the stories of Japanese orphans left behind in China. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, they were abandoned by the Japanese and adopted by Chinese families. These people are now in their 80s, and he is filming their stories.

Next year marks the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat, and he expects this documentary to be broadcast in China and Japan then.