Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" has been chosen as the theme song for a TBS special program on war for the fourth consecutive year.

■ “Even now, bombs are being dropped on children all over the world. Why can’t we stop this?” (Ryuichi Sakamoto)

Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence-version 2020” has been chosen as the theme song for the TBS special program “Connecting, Connecting SP: The War That Changed Science 1945→2024,” which will be broadcast from 3:00 p.m. on August 11th (excluding some regions).

This marks the fourth consecutive year that the song will be the theme song for “Tsunagu, Tsunagu SP.”

Sakamoto made the following comment on the program “76 Years After the War: Connecting, Linking Special: Peace and War – Messages from the Battlefield,” which was broadcast in the summer of 2021 while he was battling his illness.

■ Comment from Ryuichi Sakamoto
I don’t want war to happen.
War only hurts and kills young soldiers and innocent people, regardless of whether the country is one of your own or the enemy.
Why does war never end?
Why do some people try to start a war?
Is there anyone who can ethically tolerate profiting from war?
Even now, bombs are being dropped on children all over the world.
Why can’t we stop?

In addition, the film “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” which recorded Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final piano solo concert, will be released worldwide as an audio recording “Opus” on August 9th. This is also worth checking out.

■ A special program that takes a fresh look at the reality of “developing technology that kills people”
The special program “Connecting, Connecting SP: How Science Changed War 1945→2024” will be broadcast on TBS as part of the “NO WAR Project Connecting, Connecting” which will run from August 7th to 15th.

The program will focus on “how science has changed war,” and will look back at the reality of “the development of lethal technology” by going back and forth between “modern war” in 2024 and “that war” in 1945.

The show is hosted by the two MCs, Sekiguchi Hiroshi and Zenba Takako, who are the old and new hosts of “Sunday Morning.”

The studio recording of “Sunday Morning” took place the other day, and on a studio set filled with sunflowers, Sekiguchi, Zenba, TBS announcer Komada Kengo, and reporter Sukagawa Taku (TBS News Department) discussed the role of science and technology in war.

Military drones are being developed all over the world, including in the US, Russia, the UK and China. Our correspondent visits Ukrainian soldiers who remotely control bomb-equipped suicide drones to attack Russian soldiers and bases, and a factory that mass-produces military drones using 3D printers. We also discuss the dangers of drone weapons that use AI to recognize whether the enemy is hostile. Sukagawa talks about the fear he felt from the “flying noise” of drones while reporting from the war zone in Gaza.

Announcer Komada also interviews a woman who experienced the Great Tokyo Air Raid when she was eight years old. She talks about the horror of the incendiary bombs that took the lives of approximately 100,000 people in one night on March 10, 1945, when the US military dropped incendiary bombs, saying, “Cylindrical objects burning red fell like rain.” The program also shows footage of experiments the US military conducted at the time with the aim of dropping incendiary bombs on Japanese houses. The history of how the US developed incendiary bombs after studying Japanese houses is revealed.

Moreover, such advanced technology also causes suffering to those who use it. The program interviewed a former soldier who, as a drone pilot, has taken over a thousand lives under the orders of the U.S. military. Even after he was discharged from the military, the memory of taking the life of a small child with a drone remained in his mind, and he continued to suffer from PTSD symptoms.

“That War” in 1945 and “Modern War” in 2024. This is a special program you cannot miss that makes you think about war while moving back and forth between the two eras.

■ Comment from Producer Takashi Kanetomi
This year’s theme is “War and Science and Technology.” Technology that is supposed to make people’s lives more convenient has been used in war and led to the massacre of many people. From poison gas to nuclear weapons, and even drone weapons in recent years. How has technological development changed war? What kind of future does it hold? We will consider this. Please take a look.

Program Information

TBS“Connecting, Connecting SP: How Science Changed War 1945 to 2024”
08/11 (Sunday, holiday) 15:00-16:24 *Excluding some areas
Cast: Hiroshi Sekiguchi, Takako Zenba (MC of “Sunday Morning”), Kengo Komada (TBS announcer), Taku Sukagawa (TBS News Department)
Theme song: Ryuichi Sakamoto “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence-version 2020”