Film director sued after man disappears

Press, 23 November 1983, Page 8

Film director sued after man disappears

From BRUCE ROSCOE in Tokyo The mysterious disappearance of a Japanese film technician on Rarotonga has led to a $73,000 suit against one of Japan’s most acclaimed film directors, Nagisa Oshima. The technician, Tsutomu Kato, aged 46, vanished in August, 1982. He had been staying at a hotel on Rarotonga to help film “Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence,” jointly produced by Japan and Britain with a cast made up largely of New

Zealanders and Australians and starring David Bowie, the celebrated British rock musician. A story of life in a Japanese concentration camp on Java, the film became controversial for its non-stop depiction of the sadistic excesses of Japanese soldiers towards Allied prisoners of war. Mr Kato has been unaccounted for since he was last seen in his hotel room on the night of August 19, 1982. On Monday his wife filed suit with the Tokyo

District Court, claiming that Mr Oshima failed to take appropriate action after it was learned that her husband was missing. She claims the production waited for six days after her husband was last seen before reporting his disappearance to the Rarotongan police. According to Japanese press reports, Mrs Kato visited Rarotonga in September last year and again last February to search for her husband, but could find no clue to his whereabouts.