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In August 1993, four years after the demise of Emperor Hirohito, a significant transformation took place in Japan's official stance on the nation's role during World War II. That month, Hosokawa Morihiro became the first prime minister who did not represent the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 38 years. Immediately after he took office, Hosokawa formally announced, "It [the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War] was a war of aggression, and it was wrong."211 On August 23, in his maiden policy speech to the Diet, Hosokawa apologized for Japan's past aggression and colonial rule for the third time. "I would thus like to take this opportunity to express anew our profound remorse and apologies for the fact that past Japanese actions, including aggression and colonial rule, caused unbearable suffering and sorrow for so many people," said Hosokawa.212 In 1995, the Diet passed a resolution on Japan's responsibility for World War II that acknowledged the nation's guilt for "acts of aggression" and "colonial rule." However, the compromise statement was criticized in some Asian countries due to its lack of the word "apology" and of any reference to specific brutal acts committed by Japanese troops during the war.213 The same year on August 15, the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII, Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi went much further than the resolution by stating: During a certain period in the not-too-distant past, Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly those of Asia. In the hope that no such mistake will be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humanity, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.214 "Such a conciliatory domestic environment," writes historian Yoshida Takashi, the co-author of The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography, "provoked intense challenges" from Japanese conservatives and nationalists. Senior LDP politicians such as environmental agency chief Sakurai Shin and education minister Shimamura Yoshinobu continued to make statements that played down Japan's wartime aggression between 1994 and 1995.215
When interviewed by a national newspaper, Mainichi, in May 1994, newly appointed justice minister Nagano Shigeto told the paper that the Pacific War was a war of liberation and the Nanjing Massacre was a mere "fabrication."216 His perception of Japan's involvement in WWII and his remarks on this specific historical incident infuriated the Japanese people as well as people in China and South Korea. Two national newspapers, Asahi and Yomiuri, criticized Prime Minister Hata Tsutomu for not taking immediate action. Consequently, Nagano was forced to resign only ten days after taking office. Hata subsequently sent a letter of apology to his Chinese counterpart, Li Peng, and telephoned South Korean President Kim Young Sam.217 At this point in the mid-1990s, the Nanking Atrocities once again came forward in the political arena, creating a foundation for another phase of ongoing polemic. The vanguard was a professor of education at Tokyo University, Fujioka Nobukatsu. Frustrated by the "pervasive Tokyo War Crimes Trial view of history" and "masochistic" descriptions of Japan's imperial past in school textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education, Fujioka and his collaborators co-founded Jiyushugi Shikan Kenkyukai, or the Association for the Advancement of A Liberalist View of History, in January 1995, and Atarashi Kyokasho wo Tsukuru Kai, or the Society for Creating New History Textbooks, in December 1996, aiming to revise what he dubbed Japan's "masochistic education" in history. Fujioka and the two groups enjoyed large support from a variety of individuals including 62 lawmakers from the LDP, academics and novelists.218 Among other things, Fujioka questioned the death tolls of the Nanking Atrocities in the textbooks. He indicated the figures of hundreds of thousands were "groundless" and criticized especially those textbooks that quoted the number of "200,000" or "over 100,000" without attribution.219 Claiming to have been persuaded by "thorough and innovative" research on the topic by Higashinakano Shudo, a professor of intellectual history at Asia University, Fujioka later concluded that there was no massacre in 1937 Nanking.220 Throughout 1999, Fujioka and Higashinakano continued to contribute articles and essays to magazines and newspapers that sternly condemned other historians and reckoned the Nanjing Massacre as a latter-day fabrication. Meanwhile, the two organizations founded by Fujioka also cooperated in disseminating Fujioka and Higashinakano's view on the Nanking Atrocities. For instance, on July 31, 1999, the Association hosted a symposium in Tokyo that called the Nanjing Massacre "the biggest lie of the 20th century."221
On January 23, 2000, a citizens' group called "The Group to Rectify One-sided Wartime Exhibitions" organized a conference also dubbing the Rape of Nanking "the biggest lie of the 20th century" in the semi-public Osaka International Peace Center (commonly known as Peace Osaka in Japan). Unlike the previous symposium or any other comparable forums, this particular conference, which invited Higashinakano as one of the key panelists, engaged keen attention from the media worldwide, especially in China. About a week before the event took place, Chinese newspapers such as Renmin Ribao and China Youth Daily began reporting on the provocative title and the meeting's intention to play down the Atrocities.222 Beijing officially urged Tokyo to take action to stop the forum. While assuring China of the Japanese government's stance that the Nanjing Massacre was an undeniable fact, the Foreign Ministry said that it had no right to intervene in an event organized by citizens.223 In Nanking, one day after the conference was held, about 500 people gathered to protest at the Memorial Hall for Compatriot Victims of the Japanese Military's Nanjing Massacre. "The conference broke Chinese people's hearts," says Zhu Chengshan, the director of the Memorial Hall. "It was the worst in the recent controversy. They conspicuously denied the historical fact and even labeled it 'the biggest lie' in the 20th century. Does freedom of speech mean that you can say anything to hurt people?"224
In China the mass media harshly criticized the event in their newspaper articles, editorials, and TV programs. Many local newspapers reprinted the editorial piece in Renmin Ribao titled "Who's fabricating the 'lie'?" written by Zhu. In the headline for its editorial piece China Youth Daily even used the term, "riben guiji," a derogatory expression meaning Japanese devils.225 Shanghai TV made a lengthy news document titled "Wrath of Nanjing."226 In Japan there was a difference of opinion about the event. Some argued that as long as it is not illegal, anyone should be allowed to speak one's opinion freely. They said because Peace Osaka was a semi-public institution, the door must be open for everyone. Thus no one had the right to stop the event. Others argued that since the Peace Osaka was established "not to forget the tremendous damage inflicted by Japan on people in China and other Asia-Pacific countries as well as people in Korea and Taiwan under colonial rule," the administrators of the facility should have stopped any event that contradicted the principle. They said it was too harmful to be protected under freedom of speech and pointed out that if it had been in Germany, the conference would have been a punishable crime.227 About two and a half months later in Peace Osaka, those Japanese who were against the theme of the previous conference organized another meeting called "What the Nanjing Massacre calls for from Japan." This forum, which was held on April 8, 2000, also attracted media attention in Osaka and in Nanking. The forum was reported by the Chinese media as a rebuttal to the decision made by the Peace Osaka. The panel urged public officials to face Japan's past deeds squarely. Among the panelists were Zhu and Yoshida Yutaka of Hitotsubashi University.
Yoshida Yutaka is a historian at Hitotsubashi University. He has published various books and articles on the Imperial Army's involvement in wartime atrocities. He has done extensive research on the Army records and other historical evidence of the Nanking Atrocities in Japan. Q: In the United States the Nanking Atrocities are often typified in the context that Japan has never admitted the evildoings of their countrymen during World War II. It seems many people, including some newspapers and scholars, believe Japanese in general don't acknowledge the Rape of Nanking. Some even say the Japanese government has been trying to cover things up and gloss over the history. What do you think of that claim? Yoshida: It is not entirely groundless to claim that Japan has
been avoiding owing up to the past. But it is not like 1960s or 1970s
anymore. The society has gone through a major change. Q: But it is also true that in Japan there are still people who deny that the Nanking Atrocities ever happened, isn't it? Yoshida: Yes, but their argument is primarily based on an arbitrary
interpretation of international law, which even conservative scholars
wouldn't agree with. They say executing plain-clothes soldiers and stragglers
are not massacres.
But as I indicated in my research, it is indisputably unlawful to kill
them without any legal procedure. It seems even right-leaning scholars
are criticizing the interpretation of the law by the 'denying camp.' So
I think they will have to take it back soon. Q: In Japan, some people question the credibility of certain historical materials relating to the Nanking Atrocities. Do you think it is an attempt to downplay the atrocities or an academic inquiry? Yoshida: We should be aware of the limitation of historical material.
Any evidence does not reflect all the facts in one piece. So we should
put them together in perspective. Q: In your recent writing on this topic ["Did no one really know about the Nanjing Incident?"], you indicated the Emperor might have known what was going on in Nanking. Are there any new findings to suggest that?
Yoshida: I didn't mention this in that paper but I have known
for quite some time that Hallet Abend [New York Times correspondent
in Shanghai] wrote in his book [Pacific Charter (see Works
Cited)] that the Emperor knew about the Nanjing Massacre. It tells us that this official spent two hours on his knees at the Emperor's
feet, whispering into the Emperor's ear what had happened following the
capture of Nanjing. His feet became numb and he had to have assistants
massage his legs. It is hard to take at its face value, isn't it? The
story is too dramatic to be true.
© 2000. All Rights Reserved. |
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