Dramatization
Japan Airlines Flight 123 is featured in the TV series Mayday (called Air Emergency in the U.S. and Air Crash Investigation in other countries outside Canada) 3rd season episode 3 "Out of Control (Japanese title "Osutaka-no-One (御巣鷹の尾根?)")". The crash also featured in the second series of Aircrash Confidential in programme 5 about 'Poor Maintenance' first aired on 15 March 2012 on the Discovery Channel in the United Kingdom.
The crash is also the subject of a BBC television documentary (Disaster: JAL 123 – A Japanese Tragedy) first shown in 1999. The documentary highlights Japan's alleged refusal for a US military helicopter to provide assistance two hours after the crash and concludes by drawing parallels with Japan's reluctance to accept foreign help in the wake of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.
To date three films have been made about Japan Airlines Flight 123. Osutakayama, directed by Fumiki Watanabe (渡辺文樹, Watanabe Fumiki?), was released in 2005. The central theme of this film is that the plane was shot down following orders from Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. Climber's High (クライマーズ・ハイ, Climber's High?) was released in 2008. This film is based on the novel by Hideo Yokoyama. The novel and film revolve around the reporting of the crash at the fictional Kita-Kanto Shimbun. Yokoyama was a journalist at the Jōmō Shimbun at the time of the crash.
In 2009, Shizumanu Taiyō, starring Ken Watanabe, was released to national distribution in Japan. The film, which does not mention JAL by name, instead using the name "National Airlines", gives a semi-fictional account of internal airline corporate disputes and politics surrounding the crash. JAL did not cooperate with the making of the film. JAL criticized the film, saying that it, "not only damages public trust in the company but could lead to a loss of customers."
The cockpit voice recording of the incident also became part of the script of a play called Charlie Victor Romeo.
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