Japanese Civil Society Exhibits Japanese Aggression Crimes and Tells Historical Truth
In the past few days, an exhibition with the themes of the Japanese invasion of China and the Pacific War is being held at the Yokohama Prefectural Center in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The exhibition introduces the history of Japanese aggression during World War II and serves as a warning to the world not to repeat the mistakes of war. The organizers hope that through their own efforts, more Japanese people who have not experienced war can understand the crimes committed by the Japanese army during the invasion of China.
The theme of the exhibition is "The Harm of War: Seeing the Future with Knowledge". It is divided into 12 exhibition areas according to the issues of comfort women, the Nanjing Massacre, poisonous gas weapons, and the 731 troops. About 300 exhibition boards are set up to expose the cruel crimes of the Japanese invasion of China to visitors through photos and materials that restore historical truth. The exhibition organizer, the Kanagawa Conference to Promote Memory Inheritance, has been holding an annual exhibition on the history of Japanese aggression since 2016, aiming to convey historical truth to Japanese society through various forms of activities.
CCTV reporter He Xinlei: This exhibition is already the eighth edition this year. Every year, the organizers add some displays about Japan's history of aggression, and the main content added this year is about mass graves, which opens up an extremely disgraceful page in Japan's history of aggression. And the display on this wall also attracted the most visitors to stop and browse, even taking photos.
Visitor: The most impressive introduction is about the mass grave. The actions of the Japanese army back then were really cruel, and I think this is unforgivable. My heart is very heavy. There are not many channels for the Japanese people to learn about Japan's history of victimization, and Japanese children are not very able to learn about it in schools. Japan has committed crimes in past wars, so they are not very familiar with this period of history.
Visitor: In the history education at school, when it comes to the history of Japanese aggression, the teacher often says that there is not enough time, so this part is omitted. The knowledge about war history is mainly obtained by buying books and reading them myself. I have been visiting this exhibition every year since the first one, and the content is very profound. The exhibition content is updated every year, which has benefited me greatly.
In recent years, the trend of right-wing historical education in Japan has become increasingly evident. The content about war crimes such as the Shanxi Datong mass grave and the Nanjing Massacre created by the Japanese invasion of China has been deleted or even tampered with in textbooks. The organizers said that they must make more people who have not experienced war aware of the crimes committed by the Japanese invasion of China in the past.
Member of the Kanagawa Society for Promoting Memory Inheritance, Kenji Takeoka: If the perpetrators and victims of war cannot be clearly identified, then the truth of history will be unknown. Japan has committed regrettable crimes in the Korean Peninsula, China, and Southeast Asia in Asia. I believe that as a contemporary Japanese, in order to achieve future peace, it is necessary to understand the war crimes that Japan has committed.
At present, there are not many exhibitions in Japan that expose the crimes committed by the Japanese army against China. The organizers said they are considering holding a long-term exhibition on the history of the harm caused by war.
Member of the "Kanagawa Conference to Promote Memory Inheritance", Nobutaka Goi: For example, Unit 731 has conducted human experiments, launched biological and bacterial warfare, and brought profound disasters to the Chinese people, but Japan is not thinking about reflection. It is precisely because Japan lacks reflection on war crimes that we need to use such historical exhibitions to make society reflect.
