fresh footage has been released of 12 boys trapped with their coach in a flooded cave in thailand. they are seen joking, a flooded cave in thailand. they are seenjoking, smiling, in good health. they have received the first food and medical supplies since their ordeal began ten days ago but with monsoon rains evident, i have to stay put for months. the thai military says it will not risk their safety with a hasty evacuation through flooded tunnels. paul and chiefjustice has insisted she will define a new war requiring just up —— judges retire at 65 and not 70. she says she will to work as usual. england are through to the world cup quarter—finals for the first time since 2006, beating colombia 11—3 on penalties. they face sweden on sunday who defeated switzerland 1—0. now on bbc news, the second world war is still controversial in east asia, even as it falls from living memory. so how is japanese cinema telling the story 70 years on? in conjunction with bbc radio 3,

historian rana mitter has visited tokyo to find out. japan's never—ending war contains some distressing scenes from the start. japan today is prosperous, lively, and enjoying the upside of 70 years of peace. but in the 1930s and early ‘40s, japanese forces swept across first china and then the pacific, until finally they were driven slowly back towards the japanese mainland and destruction. file: hiroshima was completely hidden by an impenetrable cloud of smoke and dust. in east asia, the second world war is still so raw, it dominates headlines.

so how the countries of the region tell themselves their war stories really matters. but, as memories of the war die away, what aspects of the conflict remain in focus and what's left out of the frame? i'm rana mitter, a historian of east asia. and i have come to tokyo to find out how japan tells itself the story of the war through its movies. movies that recreate an era of devastation that still shapes this country's relationship with the region and the world. this museum in central tokyo is a record of the everyday lives of wartime civilians. everything from preparing ever scarcer food to sheltering from american bombs. and it's that perspective on the fate of japanese civilians

that's at the heart of a recent surprise blockbuster. on its release in 2016, in this corner of the world seemed to catch some wider public mood and became a big hit. it's the story of a young woman called suzu, starting her married life near hiroshima. as the war comes closer to the islands, it brings food shortages, and worse. but at first, suzu responds with youthful creativity. have young people watched your film? how do they react to seeing the war period portrayed on screen? finally, suzu loses her drawing hand, and a niece who's holding it, to an american bomb. but do young people think about movies as a way

to understand the war? i went to meet up with three students — akame, yuri, and haruka. in this corner of the world stays focused on the suffering inflicted onjapanese people rather than by them, but it does include glimpses of the hard edge of the regime. in this scene, the military police, the kempeitai, accuse suzu of spying for drawing warships in the bay. arai harahiko‘s movie this country's sky also tells the story of a young woman trying to form her personality and ideas while surviving the dangers and deprivations during the last year of the war. amid the air raids, 19—year—old satoko begins a highly unconventional relationship with her married 30—something neighbour. we've heard quite a bit about films that mourn the japanese victims

of the war, but some films concentrate on the soldiers. and they're not just stories of condemnation. some recent movies have found aspects of the wartime effort to sympathise with. i'm going to a place where the spirits of japan's war dead are commemorated. the yasukuni shrine is a controversial site because it doesn'tjust commemorate the ordinary war dead but also leaders who were indicted as class a war criminals after japan's defeat. it's also the place where the souls of kamikaze pilots were inducted after their deaths. it has become difficult to film freely inside. but it is this place invoked in a film that makes those kamikaze pilots its heroes. in for those we love, the young men about to fly off and crash their planes into american warships, as japan struggled

desperately to stall the american advance, promised to meet each other after death at the yasukuni shrine. it was written by the then governor of tokyo, ishihara shintaro, well—known for his hardline nationalist views, and his script insists on the nobility of the pilots‘ sacrifice. for those we love was not a huge box office success but a more recent film about the kamikaze pilots proved a blockbuster hit. the kamikazes‘ plane was called the zero, and the eternal zero was adapted from a novel by the nationalist author hya kuta naoki. however, the film adaptation took the story in a new direction. in this electrifying aerial chase sequence, the protagonist, miabi, desperately tries to outmanoeuvre the american fighter plane on his tail. but when miabi is saved by one

of his pupils deliberately crashing into the american's plane, he chides the badly injured young man for risking his life in direct contradiction of japan's wartime insistence of self—sacrifice. some appreciated the film's take on the pilot's noble sacrifice. others, not least the director of the film, mr takashi, saw it as more critical. the director of the film sat down with me. we have known each other for years.

and i said people have this perception that this film is pro—war. i mean, rightists are coming out and saying this is our film. he said, how can they think that? the people in that film, the kamikaze pilots, are to be pitied, the way they died. it's so wasteful. how can they even think that? he was mad, offended. finally, miyabe sets out on a kamikaze mission and the film ends with a moment of emotional connection between kamikaze pilots and today's generation as he, in 1945, comes face to face with his grandson in today's japan. but in today's japan, some worry about how the war is portrayed now that almost no—one is left who remembers what it was really like, and that young japanese are dangerously unaware of the realities of war.

that's why in 2015, a movie called fires on the plain confronted audiences with a vision of the war as hell. half—crazed japanese soldiers commit atrocities as they struggle to survive. the lead, tamura, is played by the film's creator, tsukamoto shinya. but there is another aspect to what war movies focus on. the differing memories of the war in other parts of east asia. japanese movies tend to focus on the war in the pacific, rather than events like the massacre carried out by the invading japanese army in the then chinese capital in winter 1937 — an event known in the west as the rape of nanking. although japanese journalists and academics have worked extensively and honestly on this, it is not a subject that japanese film—makers have dealt with very much. but their chinese counterparts have certainly put the subject at the heart of their treatment of the war on screen. writer—director lu chuan's city

of life and death is a vision of unsparing cruelty as the japanese army forced chinese women into sexual slavery. and this film, the flowers of war, explores very similar themes through the eyes of a young american. in this scene, christian bale struggles to stop a cultivated japanese officer taking away the convent girls that he is protecting to a terrible fate. sir, they're very young. i'm not sure that it is appropriate for them to attend an adults party. as their guardian and protector that is my responsibility. but we thank you very much. i am sorry.

this is out of my power. the horrors visited on nanjing are also at the centre of the girl and the picture, a documentary out this year. it focuses on xia shuqin, who was bayoneted as an eight—year—old when the japanese came to power. the film shows the woman passing on her memories to her curious seven—year—old great—grandson. that moment, to me, is the defining special moment to me, because it is this visceral moment of literally him touching the past. she was passing on a very valuable lesson to her family and the grandchild: forgiveness. and that is the purpose of this

entire film and exercise — learn from history so that we can reduce the possibility of it happening again. but then to move on. there is a moment where he sort of flinches a little bit, and he's concerned about his grandmother. and what i really love is what she says. she notices his feeling and says, "but i survived." japanese leaders have repeatedly apologised, but many feel the country has never quite fully reckoned with its war crimes. some, though, do suggest that china uses the memory of war crimes to pressure japan and ignores its more positive role since the war. and then, few chinese films confront the horrors of the cultural revolution. what's more, a reluctance to confront difficult history is not just confined to east asia. there is no simple british equivalent to nanjing, but uk movies do often not tackle difficult subjects like the wartime

famines that british policies helped to cause in bengal. this is the legendary toho studios, fronted by a statue of their most famous star, godzilla. i'm here to meet harada masato, who is cutting his latest film, to ask him about his previous film, for shochiku studios, the emperor in august. most of the films we have been looking at have been about civilians or soldiers. but this one tries to grapple with the responsibility of the top leaders who were ruling japan at the end of world ii. and emperor hirohito's decision in 1945 thatjapan had to surrender. harada explained that one

of the reasons he wanted to tell the story afresh was because of his worry that prime minister abe's government wants radically to transform japan's constitution. article nine of the post—war constitution says that japan "will forever renounce war and the use of force to settle international disputes." mr abe and his supporters consider those words a humiliation forced onjapan by the american victors. it is a dangerous way that japan is heading. and shinzo abe's regime and administration, and i am afraid of that. why did did you think making a film about 1945 might address those issues? well, it is clearly telling how difficult it is to abandon the army once we had this organisation. the emperor had to come out and to speak out and it made such tremendous effort for everyone in the cabinet to finish the war, to end the war, and to abandon the army, to save the nation. and ifjapan moves that way again,

to form a new type of army, i feel fear of what we're doing, that we're going to harm's way. some think it is unnecessarily anxious view of the current japanese government. to bring about the surrender, hirohito had to face down resistance at the top of his government. and harada says portraying the emperor on screen today also involved taboos. while in preproduction, i checked about the safety of making

this film and asked mr hando, who wrote the book, and he asked some right—wingers and checked the situation, and maybe it is safe to show the emperor in that way. but to portray the family feud among the emperor's family, nobody tested that water yet. maybe japan, like britain, cannot leave world war ii behind, even though it is more than 70 years ago. there are so many interesting stories and plots not being exposed yet. because injapan, like i said before, there are so many taboos,

you cannot do this and do that and it existed — and it seems like now is the time to show some of those hidden truths. at the end of the war, the emperor was living in a secluded palace estate beyond this bridge, nijubashi. he then had to cross another bridge, from a warlike japan that had invaded large parts of asia, to a new country of peace and prosperity. but the legacy of the war years has never really faded. the relationship with china has remained formal and cool. that bridge has never really been crossed. both countries are still fighting one another on screen. both countries are still mourning the losses of more than seven decades ago. but they are doing so in relative isolation from one another. if the two countries are to overcome the enormous chasm between them, they will need to learn more about each other‘s histories. and perhaps film—makers can make that crossing a little easier. hello there.

the weather story across the uk of late has been pretty dull and boring — we had to go to the football for some excitement, haven't we? in fact, yesterday, hardly a cloud in the sky again actoss much of the country, as depicted by north wales, but some subtle differences as we go through the day today. there'll be a little more cloud around for many of us and there may even be a chance of a shower. why? well, the high pressure isjust weakening its grip a little and it's allowing this plume of showery rain to push up from the south—west. they'll be very hit and miss and not everywhere will see them, but there is a risk of a few of those, and at the same time the north—easterly breeze will drag in more cloud across northern england and eastern england throughout the day. so here, that could just

have an effect of this feel of the temperature, but let's take a look at these showers in a little more detail, circulating around that south—west area, but we might see one or two just pushing up into southern england as well. so that could be pretty tricky if you are heading off to wimbledon. there is a small chance — only a very small chance — of catching a shower but it is certainly worth bearing in mind. i suspect there will be a little more cloud around and that, for some of you, may come as welcome news. so this is sw19 with cloudy skies overhead. just an outside chance of a shower, perhaps this is over—reading it a little bit. you really will be unlucky if you do catch one, but it's worth bearing in mind, particularly in comparison to the weather that we've seen of late. but in terms of the feel of things, despite a little more cloud and the risk of a shower, temperatures are still slightly above the average for the time of year, with 21—24 degrees. now, look at this as we move out of wednesday into thursday, we have got a weather front showing its hand in the far north—west.

now, this will be interesting — not much in the way of rain on it but it is going to introduce a wind direction from a north—westerly and behind it, something a little bit fresher. so certainly on thursday, more cloud for northern ireland and for much of scotland, and a noticeable difference here to the feel of the weather. further south and east, we've still got that warmth and we lose the risk of few showers so temperatures are going to respond again back up to 29 degrees, as opposed to 15 or 19 degrees in the far north—west. now that weather front will drift out of the way and then high pressure building again from the south—west so things are going to quieten down as we move towards the weekend and if you do not believe me, let's have a look at the weekend story. friday and saturday, temperatures building and the sunshine set to return, highs of 29—30. take care. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: fresh footage of the boys trapped in a flooded cave system in thailand. they're seen to be joking, smiling and in good health. but rescue could be

weeks or months away. this is still a huge operation, with large numbers of people coming in to help an operation which has achieved a remarkable success, but still doesn't have an answer as to how they are going to get those boys out of the caves. poland's chief justice refuses to step down — as a row over forced retirement hits the country's judiciary. i'm 0lly foster in moscow at the world cup, where the quarterfinal line—up is now complete, england taking their place in the last eight with a penalty shootout win against colombia. and celebrating 100 years of the royal air force: the raf is preparing britain's biggest ever flypast.