Japan, Germany to See Altered ‘Pearl Harbor’

Japanese and German audiences will see a slightly different version of Disney’s “Pearl Harbor” than American audiences, a studio executive confirmed Wednesday.

Disney would only say that “minor dialogue changes” were made for Germany and Japan. But Andrea Marozas, a senior vice president of communications for Walt Disney Studios would not elaborate on what those changes were.

“We made these changes out of consideration for the international audiences,” Marozas said. Before filming, the studio held meetings and discussions in Japan to get input there on the film. She said the film was edited so as not to offend people in either Japan or Germany. The $140-million film premiered Monday night on a battleship in Pearl Harbor at a gala costing more than $5 million. The film opens Friday in the U.S. and will be released June 7 in Germany and July 14 in Japan.

Japanese American groups had asked the studio to edit out a scene of the American version of the film that could be interpreted as Japanese American collusion the day of the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing, but the studio refused.

John Tateishi, national executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, said he was upset to learn the studio would alter the film for the lucrative Japanese and German markets but not to quell fears among Japanese Americans of an anti-Asian backlash.

“It makes me think further discussions need to be made with them [Disney],” Tateishi said.