From Beirut to Tokyo: A shared silence on the disappeared

From across the sea, Japan has long observed the devastation of the Lebanese Civil War, which marks 50 years since its outbreak in 1975. More than 20 books on the conflict have been published in Japanese. Mostly written by journalists who covered the war from Beirut’s iconic hotels. In 1983, in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Japanese intellectuals, journalists and activists launched an International People’s Tribunal in Tokyo, later published in both Japanese and English. Although the war did not receive the same level of attention as the Vietnam War, Japanese readers and viewers were certainly informed of the human toll through consistent press coverage and wartime reporting.

On July 19, 2025, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) hosted a special screening of "The Soil and the Sea" as part of its Arab Film Series. The event drew over 140 attendees, including students, local resident and Middle East scholars based in Japan. The documentary, which excavates the enduring trauma of families whose loved ones disappeared during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), deeply resonated with Japanese audiences — particularly given Japan’s own unresolved legacy of enforced disappearances.

The film opens with a haunting, self-narrated poem by the late Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury (1948–2024), set against the backdrop of Beirut’s Mediterranean corniche and sea — portrayed as a silent mass grave containing the traces of thousands. Without ever showing faces, the documentary overlays everyday landscapes with disembodied voices, evoking the invisible violence of abduction and forced disappearance. These testimonies — delivered by relatives, survivors and witnesses — illuminate the absence of justice and memory in post-war Lebanon, a void perpetuated by a culture of political amnesia and the failure to enact transitional justice.

Before the screening, directors Daniele Rugo and Carmen Hassoun Abou Jaoude offered recorded messages. Rugo encouraged viewers to reflect on “the gap between the ordinary and the violent past” — a space the film deliberately explores. Abou Jaoude stressed that the issues of enforced disappearance and unmarked mass graves are not unique to Lebanon but resonate in other parts of the world, including Japan.

Indeed, Japan’s own experience with the disappearance of citizens — especially the abductions by North Korea since the 1970s — offers a poignant point of comparison. In both Lebanon and Japan, the families of the missing confront not only personal grief but also political stagnation, state silence, and an enduring lack of closure. In both contexts, civil society continues to push for truth, recognition and accountability.

Following the screening, commentary was provided by me and Dr. Emi Kodama (JSPS Research Fellow, Senshu University). I offered an overview of the complex political roots and consequences of the Lebanese Civil War, including how various forms of violence were justified through sectarian and ideological narratives. Dr. Kodama analyzed the film’s testimonial structure, arguing that these personal voices resist state-led erasure and restore memory by narrating the lives — and deaths — of the disappeared.

Audience raised thoughtful questions on Lebanon’s 1991 General Amnesty Law, the ethical implications of exhuming mass graves, the post-war political order and the challenges and value of trilingual subtitling (Arabic, English and Japanese). Many attendees expressed how deeply the film connected with unresolved questions of war memory, justice and invisible violence — issues that remain relevant far beyond Lebanon.

In both countries, the stories of the disappeared remain incomplete. "The Soil and the Sea" reminds us that reclaiming these silenced voices is not only an act of mourning but also a quiet form of resistance.

Yuki Okabe is a Project Assistant Professor at the Global Education Center in Kobe University, Japan

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