Japan Will See Different Version of Pearl Harbor

May 23 -- When Disney unveils its World War II epic Pearl Harbor in Japan and Germany, foreign audiences will hear a slightly different version than American audiences will.

Instead of American soldiers promising "a few less dirty Japs," Tokyo audiences will hear "a few less Japs."

Disney, which has already faced protests by Japanese-Americans who fear that the movie will inflame racial tensions, announced Tuesday that it is toning down the war epic for foreign markets. (Mr. Showbiz is owned by the Walt Disney Company.)

"There are a few, slight modifications in the German and Japanese versions of the picture," a Disney insider tells Variety. "Most of the changes have been made with an eye for consideration for those countries." Another source said, "Words that would be culturally insensitive to the country where the film is playing have been altered or deleted."

Overseas, the marketing emphasis is on the film's Titanic-like love story; the international poster features stars Kate Beckinsale and Ben Affleck in an embrace.

Affleck told reporters at the film's extravagant junket in Hawaii this week, "I think the message is not one about the United States or Japan or the second World War, right or wrong. It's about what a terrible cost it is for people to have to go to war and what a terrible thing it is."

In the Japanese version, another edit was made to show the correct date of the Pearl Harbor attack as Dec. 8, 1941, since when the attack occurred on Dec. 7 in the United States, it was already the next day in Japan.

Pearl Harbor opens nationwide in more than 3,000 theaters this Friday, and it's predicted that the film may debut with more than $100 million. It will open in Germany on June 7 and in Japan on July 14.

Reuters contributed to this story.