Japanese civil groups mark 81st anniversary of Nanjing Massacre

A series of commemorative activities have been held by Japanese civil groups in various cities to mark the 81st anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

Chang Xiaomei, daughter of a Nanjing Massacre survivor, shared her father’s story at a testimony meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday at the invitation of a few local civil groups. About 100 people attended the meeting.

Her father Chang Zhiqiang saw with his own eyes how his parents and his four little brothers were brutally killed by the invading Japanese soldiers during the 1937 massacre.

Now 90 years old, he is not strong enough to come to Japan himself to tell the story, but he sent his daughter.

“I feel that I have a responsibility to share my father’s story with the Japanese people. I hope that the younger generations of the Japanese people could also remember and learn from the history,” said Chang Xiaomei.

Chang said that to remember the history is not aimed to remember the hatred but to create a future of peace and friendship between the two countries.

Similar testimony meetings were also held in Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagoya and Hamamatsu.

“The atrocities committed by the Japanese troops at that time, as evidenced by the testimony of survivors and the historical records, were so shocking,” said Youji Tanaka, a local resident at the testimony meeting in Osaka.

“It’s important that such historical truth be passed on to the future generations,” he added.

Ryohei Hirayama, member of another civil group “No More Nanjing Nagoya Association,” said that Japan should learn from Germany and admit to the historical truth, and that only by doing that could Japan learn from history and look toward the future.

Noboru Takemoto, member of the Liaison Group to Think About Peace Osaka’s Crisis, said that although Japan’s younger generations were not directly involved in the atrocities, they are still obligated to remember the history.

On Dec. 13, 1937, the Japanese army bombed Nanjing and went on a murderous rampage through the city — then China’s capital. The Nanjing Massacre, or Rape of Nanjing, was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing.