Journalist, Line Producer & Filmmaker based in Japan
Military exercise with a JSDF hovercraft – really impressive and incredibly loud © Sonja Blaschke
Military exercise with a JSDF hovercraft - really impressive and incredibly loud © Sonja Blaschke

Documentary:
How would a potential Taiwan crisis affect the region?

Working on this documentary was one of the highlights of my work as a line producer. Preparing the shoot was not easy, this being the first time I had to get permission for filming military exercises for example, but thanks to wonderful interview partners and collaborators and an equally wonderful crew it was a highly rewarding experience.

The power-political and geostrategic situation in East Asia has been changing rapidly for some time. The three economic giants Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are currently forming new alliances and trying to pull together economically and militarily.

For a 52-minute documentary in cooperation with ZDF, ARTE, DW (Deutsche Welle) and produced by NGLOW FILM (Munich), we travelled to the south of Japan, where over the course of six days we spoke with local people, decision makers, academics, and military personnel, both from the Japanese Self Defense Forces as well as the US Forces.

We witnessed several military exercises, a traditional local festival, and almost got stuck there due to a typhoon, which was one of the latest in the year in the region in several decades. It still caused quite a few headaches with regard to scheduling and logistics, but thanks to the kind cooperation of our interview partners and a good portion of journalistic luck in the end it all worked out perfectly.

Interview with Okinawa gouverneur Denny Tamaki © Sonja Blaschke
Interview with Okinawa gouverneur Denny Tamaki © Sonja Blaschke
Filming on a US Forces base in Okinawa © Sonja Blaschke
Filming on a US Forces base in Okinawa © Sonja Blaschke

The documentary, which is scheduled to be brodcast in spring 2025, describes how the relations between Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are changing under the increasing pressure of the Chinese military expansion, and what this means for regular people, who live in the region, for the stability of peace in the region, and thus for global peace and prosperity. One particular economic aspect plays a major role when it comes to Taiwan, which is the biggest producer of semiconductor technology in the world. How would any disruption of peace potentially destabilize the relationships in the region and in particular the semiconductor supply chains?

JSDF personnel training how to treat and evacuate patients from Okinoerabujima island © Sonja Blaschke
JSDF personnel training how to treat and evacuate patients from Okinoerabujima island © Sonja Blaschke
Training a hovercraft landing in the dark © Sonja Blaschke
Training a hovercraft landing in the dark © Sonja Blaschke

Genre: TV Documentary in cooperation with ZDF, ARTE, DW (Deutsche Welle) and NGLOW FILM
Length: 52 minutes

Director: Michael Mueller-Erdorf
Camera: Francisco Lopez

Producer: Nick Golüke, CEO NGLOW
Production: Silke Breidenbach, NGLOW FILM

Line Producer Japan: Sonja Blaschke
Line Producer South Korea: Anton Scholz

Dragonfruit from Tokunoshima © Sonja Blaschke
Dragonfruit from Tokunoshima © Sonja Blaschke
Interview with the mayor of Tokunoshima town © Sonja Blaschke
Interview with the mayor of Tokunoshima town © Sonja Blaschke