Here are recommendations for one manga and one movie related to the Philippines.
Manga: Yongo
This is a Japanese manga.
The protagonist, Yongo, works as a negotiator, handling various negotiations and collecting fees as part of his job.
One day, an old man asks Yongo to find a person and bring them to Japan.
This person is an officer who was stationed in the Philippines during World War II. Although the war ended a long time ago, the man has not returned home.
Around the same time, Japan and the Philippines are in negotiations to purchase a large tract of land in a certain region of the Philippines, and the indigenous people are being displaced, leading to anti-Japanese protests. Yongo secretly investigates the area at night and discovers Self-Defense Force personnel in a new type of protective suit, not yet officially released, searching for something. What they are looking for is actually biochemical weapons. Japan had buried and abandoned these weapons in the ground when they hastily retreated after being defeated by the US in the Philippines, in exchange for massive loans and land compensation. If this were revealed, Japan's diplomatic influence and prestige, built up over years of substantial aid to Southeast Asia, would be irreversibly damaged, so they intended to retrieve them secretly. The man they want to bring to Japan was staying behind to protect the land because he knew about this. The story is excellent.
This manga is a fun and natural way to learn about international affairs. There's also a Korean arc about North Korean drugs.
Movie: Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle (Source: Namu Wiki)
World War II has ended, and all Japanese soldiers in the Philippines have surrendered, but newly appointed Second Lieutenant Hiro Onoda, who had just arrived in the Philippines at the time, refuses to believe in the Imperial Army's defeat. He believes it's a US deception and that the war is not over, so he continues to fight in the Philippine jungle with his two subordinates.
In the process, he kills many Filipino civilians to obtain food, and the government sends search parties, but his subordinates are killed, and only Onoda survives, continuing his solitary struggle. The following is a quote from Namu Wiki.
If things had continued as they were, Onoda would not have become widely known and would have died fighting like other defeated soldiers. However, in 1974, the situation changed dramatically with the appearance of a young man named Norio Suzuki ([8]). Suzuki was intrigued by rumors that "surviving remnants of the former Japanese army were still alive in the southern islands and fighting alone," and he ventured into the Philippine jungle. According to one account, the strategy Suzuki used to find Onoda, who had evaded capture for decades, was to shout "His Majesty the Emperor is worried about you" into the jungle. And it worked! [9] Suzuki succeeded in meeting Onoda in just four days. With calm demeanor and speech, he explained the situation and, after much effort, managed to persuade Onoda. However, even as Onoda finally accepted the reality of Japan's defeat and ceased hostilities, he refused to leave his post, stating, "I cannot leave my post until my direct superior comes and personally orders me to surrender." The Japanese government, realizing this would become a major problem if left unaddressed, painstakingly tracked down one of Onoda's direct superiors from the war, Yoshimi Taniguchi, and through him, delivered a surrender order. [10] This finally brought his solitary war to an end.
As described above, Onoda lived in hiding in the mountains, committing looting and murder. While his killings of the Philippine army can be understood as him believing he was still at war, he was a heinous criminal who killed many civilians and caused harm. Therefore, the then-President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, considered punishment. However, considering the relationship with Japan, to which the Philippines owed a large amount of loans, all his crimes were pardoned by presidential decree and he was repatriated to Japan. Of course, this was not a blanket pardon for killing people indiscriminately; he made the excuse that he believed he was in a state of war.
The film, made by a French director who depicted his life, was recognized for its artistic merit, winning an award for its screenplay and being screened as the opening film at the Cannes Film Festival.
