first, historian rana mitter visits tokyo to explore how japan remembers the conflict — through its moviesapan's never ending war. 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. hiroshima was completely hidden by an impenetrable cloud of smoke and dust. in east asia, the second world war is still so raw it dominate 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 literary 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 the 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.

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