pbs-Japan: Military Academy (July 8), Campaign for local elections (July 29)

intro blurb, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/japans-about-face/introduction/746/
In the aftermath of World War II, Japan's new American-authored constitution renounced the right to wage war and maintain military forces.
 
In recent years, though, the line between defense and offense has blurred. In 2004, Japan sent its Ground Self-Defense Forces to Iraq — the first deployment of Japanese soldiers in an active combat zone in 60 years.
 
With China's economy and military expanding and North Korea test-launching ballistic missiles into the Japan Sea, Japan has started reconsidering its regional strategy.
Today, Japan has a $40 billion military budget, the fifth largest in the world.

About the Film:
Japan's About-Face is a remarkable window into the shifting role of the military in post-war Japanese society.
WIDE ANGLE has acquired rare access to the National Defense Academy, Japan's "West Point." We follow Defense Academy cadets preparing for a future that may involve overseas deployment, and meet with a group of peace activists — some of them atom bomb survivors — on a grueling two month, 750-mile protest march from Hiroshima to Tokyo. We also witness joint maneuvers with the U.S. Marine Corps, surveillance flights over the Sea of Japan, and the DDH Hyuga — the first Japanese aircraft carrier built since WWII.
Japan's About-Face offers unprecedented insight into the future of Asian geopolitics.
 
VIDEO PREVIEW, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/japans-about-face/preview/1272/
 
 
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Campaign
by Kazuhiro Soda Broadcast Date: July 29, 2008 at 10 PM (1 hour) Check local listings
This is democracy — Japanese style. "Campaign" provides a startling insider's view of Japanese electoral politics in this portrait of a man plucked from obscurity by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to run for a critical seat on a suburban city council. Kazuhiko "Yama-san" Yamauchi's LDP handlers are unconcerned that he has zero political experience, no charisma, no supporters and no time to prepare. What he does have is the institutional power of Japan's modern version of Tammany Hall pushing him forward. Yama-san allows his life to be turned upside down as he pursues the rituals of Japanese electioneering — with both tragic and comic results. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

 
FILM PREVIEW, http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2008/campaign/index.html