To the world of the 1930s, Japan’s brutal policies in China during which millions were killed, were most prominently highlighted by the infamous “Rape of Nanking.” A Japanese nationalist film has been produced entitled, “The Truth About Nanking” which endeavors to argue that no such incident ever occurred. According to director, Satoru Mzushima,”there is one indisputable fact there was no massacre at nanking. We don’t want our children to grow up thinking Japan is a barbarous country.” There is overwhelming eye witness plus documentary evidence that about 300,000 people died in Nanking including the raping of thousands of Chinese women by Japanese soldiers.
There is a remarkable difference in the approach to war time crimes between Germany and Japan. The German government and people have confronted the reality of what happened during the rule of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party including the death of six million Jews as well as millions of other Europeans. The Japanese government and people prefer the route of denial. Historians essentially accept that thousands were killed in Nanking, and the debate is over the exact number, not the fact it happened. It would be beneficial for Japanese educators and political leaders to learn from Germany’s honest confrontation with evil in their past. Mr.Mizushma says he doesn’t want today’s children to grow up believing their ancestors did barbaric acts. He misses the point, children today are NOT responsible for the actions of ancestors, but children today have a right to know the truth. Americans schools deal with the existence of slavery and the brutality inflicted upon Native Americans. Hopefully, the Japanese one day can deal with evil in their past, because only in so doing are people today free to teach history in an honest manner.