I saw the film night before last and have been recommending it to everyone ever since. It raises a bunch of interesting questions, but I hate to see everyone get sucked in by the emotional side and possibly miss the opportunity to really think about some of the larger issues. I realize that before you can get anybody to sign the petition you gotta fill seats in the movie house, but I could have done with a little less of the "Oceans 11 suspense thriller" side of it.
Also, it's no surprise that the Japanese people would not appreciate this film because, mostly, it portrays them as two-dimensional mindless automatons, whether it's the scheming bureaucrats, the evil fishermen, or the hapless everyday citizens. Now that I've seen the film, I'd be very interested to see a decent interview with one of the local fishermen, to let them express their side of the issue in a more articulate way than yelling "Go away!" at the camera. Not that I expect that I'd be swayed by their argument, but it's more that I find an argument more compelling when you give the other side a voice. I thought the lack of decent Japanese translation in the film was inexcusable, and it really added to the almost racist tone.
Having said that, even before I watched this film I've had trouble understanding the Japanese culture's relationship with the natural world. For instance, I always had this image of immaculate gardens and clean cityscapes, but was shocked by photos of Japanese people happily strolling along trash-strewn beaches, apparently oblivious to the garbage surrounding them. Also, for some reason I thought vegetarianism was common in Japan, but it seems to me that most Japanese people I've met not only eat meat and fish, but they don't seem to even understand the concept of vegetarianism. It could be just the language barrier, but I think there's a larger cultural barrier that's really hard to understand. And I think that, despite the good intentions, this film really only adds to that cultural barrier rather than working to break it down. And in the end, I think that will be the film's undoing.