i'm rana mitter, an historian of east asia. 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 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 young people react to seeing the war period portrayed on screen? finally, suzu loses her drawing hand, and her neice who's holding it, to an ameri

in conjunction with bbc radio 3, historian rana mitter has visited tokyo to find out.r 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. 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 was 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 live