The following is from the February New Year issue of the monthly magazine WiLL.
It features a conversation between Mr. Sekihei and Mr. Kenichi Ara.
As I have already mentioned, Mr. Kenichi Ara is a senior student at my alma mater, which I will always love.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but also for people worldwide.
The Big Lie of the "Nanjing Incident" perpetrated by Jiang Zemin
The year 2022 marks the 85th anniversary of the Nanjing Incident.
On December 13, every year, a commemoration ceremony will be held in Nanjing.
Japan, how long will you remain silent!
Jiang Zemin's Anti-Japanese Policy
Criticized Textbook Examination
ARA
As mentioned in "The Nanking Incident Never Happened," it was in 1987 that the Japanese government officially recognized the Nanking Incident.
Newspapers covered the results of the examination of high school textbooks to be used from the next school year, which described the Nanking Incident as follows.
After the occupation of Nanking, the Japanese military killed, assaulted, looted, and set fire to many Chinese civilians, which drew international condemnation as the Nanking Massacre. The number of Chinese victims is estimated to be as high as 200,000."
In the certification test, the description "assault, looting, and arson" and the number of victims were erased, and "the incident began when the Japanese army suffered heavy losses due to the fierce resistance of the Chinese army" was added to emphasize the legitimacy of the Japanese army.
The Mainichi Shimbun took a bite out of the certification, saying, "Textbook control is being further strengthened.
Sekihei
The Mainichi Shimbun's criticism is misguided.
ARA
Four days later, however, the "People's Daily" reported from the Mainichi Shimbun.
The content of the report was critical of Japan's textbook examination and did not condemn the content of the examination.
However, this was the first time that the Chinese media mentioned the Nanking Incident.
On July 26, one month after the examination announcement, when it seemed that the criticism in the various newspapers had died down, Xiao Xiang, then Director General of the former First Asian Affairs Bureau of China, summoned Mr. Koji Watanabe. Minister to China suddenly ordered that Japanese textbooks replace "invasion" with "advance" and that the Nanjing Incident had also been changed.
Furthermore, "Workers' Daily" published a photo of the Nanking Incident.
It is the first time the Chinese media has used the Nanking Incident to criticize Japan.
Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto appears in the photo, but the photographer and location of the picture are unknown.
In fact, at the Battle of Nanking, Colonel Hashimoto was leading heavy artillery to march on Wuhu, about 100 km away from Nanking, and was not in Nanking.
He did not go to Nanjing, yet he is called responsible for the Nanjing Incident.
China tries to silence Japan with lies in time.
Sekihei
It shows how little interest they had in the Nanking Incident.
ARA.
However, when it was reported in the Chinese media, the issue of textbook certification was taken up in Japan, mainly by leftist media, and even in the Diet, mainly by the opposition parties, who blamed China for not being satisfied with the rewrite.
Eventually, Heiji Ogawa, Minister of Education (then in the cabinet of Yoshiyuki Suzuki), who was soundly rebuffed by the relentless attacks, came to recognize the war of aggression and even the Nanking Incident.
Sekihei
The weakness of Japanese diplomacy finally did so.
ARA
Yes, even more, puzzling is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They incessantly demand that the Ministry of Education rewrite the textbooks.
In response to the Foreign Ministry's strong insistence, the Ministry of Education decided to move up the three-yearly revision examination by one year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then asked to move it up two years.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Ogawa and Administrative Vice Minister Misumi Tetsuo even resigned from their posts in an attempt to resist.
At the time, Moriyuki Kato, Director of the General Affairs Division, told Minister Ogawa, "This is a matter of national sovereignty. Please reject this as a matter of national sovereignty and a case of internal politics! and somehow managed to keep refusing the rewriting.
Sekihei
Mr. Kato gave important testimony at the time of the Kake issue, including that "Kake was not a part of the plan."
He is a real elite bureaucrat with a spine.
ARA
When Prime Minister Suzuki saw that he could not bring down the Ministry of Education, he resorted to strong-arm tactics.
At the time, Prime Minister Suzuki consulted with Akitane Kiuchi, Director-General of the Asian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The contents of that consultation were written in a discussion by Hiroshi Hashimoto, Director-General of the Information and Culture Bureau.
It will be published as a statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Kiichi Miyazawa (August 26, 1982).
"In promoting friendship and goodwill with neighboring countries in Asia, we will listen carefully to these criticisms and take the government's responsibility to correct them."
The word "rectify" implies that the examination was wrong.
Prime Minister Suzuki took a hard-line approach because he was scheduled to step down from his post three months after the statement's release. He wanted to use his visit to China as a last floral tribute by putting Sino-Japanese friendship at the forefront.
However, the Ministry of Education, which wanted the word "improvement," could not accept it. Still, since the Ministry of Education only knew the content of the discourse after it was announced, there was nothing they could do about it.
Sekihei
It is also puzzling that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has gone to such lengths to flatter China.
The Evils of the "China School
ARA
China treats diplomats who agree with China's wishes with great hospitality and treats diplomats who do not do as it says with disdain.
It is genuinely blatant.
Koreshige Anan, a member of the China Section, called the Cultural Revolution the "Jali Revolution," and the Chinese Embassy in Japan protested, even revoking his job offer as embassy secretary.
Eventually, a career path was established within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Chief Secretary of the China Division - Chief of the China Staff - Director General of the Asian Affairs Bureau - Ambassador to China.
In order to follow that road, one must have good relations with China.
In short, self-preservation takes precedence over national interests.
It is unique to China relations, and they come to be known as the "China School."
Sekihei
Did such aiding and abetting of China benefit Japan in any way?
Japan has contributed approximately 3.66 trillion yen to China through ODA (Official Development Assistance) and has not received a single word of gratitude.
The more critical issue is that it concerns Japan's security.
If the Chinese government and the Chinese people recognized that the Japanese killed 300,000 citizens of Nanking, they would be willing to kill hundreds of thousands of Japanese, from the government to the people in general, in retaliation.
ARA.
So it is giving them something to attack.
Sekihei
It might even be possible for China to fire a single nuclear weapon at Tokyo.
None of the Chinese would oppose that.
Instead, they are in favor of it.
They say, "Japan massacred the citizens of Nanking, so this would be payback."
ARA
More than ten years ago, a Chinese national was arrested by the police after an incident in Japan.
During the interrogation, the Chinese man replied, "The Japanese killed 300,000 people in Nanking, so it's okay to do this."
Sekihei
If the Nanjing Incident is acknowledged, it will give China a justification for launching a military attack on Japan, no matter how many Japanese casualties it may cause.
That is why I resent the Foreign Ministry's approach.
What do they think the lives of the Japanese people are worth!
ARA
Not only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but in 2010, in the Japan-China Joint History Study, the Japanese side acknowledged the Nanking War Incident, and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama went to Nanking in 2003 to apologize.
It has become clear that the Nanking Incident was wartime propaganda, yet Japan continues to lose the information war.
As Mr. Ishihira says, this gives China an excuse to attack Japan, and we should firmly refute this, including politicians.
Sekihei
Under the Xi Jinping administration, December 13, the day the Japanese troops entered the city, has been designated as a national memorial day to commemorate the "victims" of the "Nanjing Massacre," and commemorative events are held every year.
In this way, anti-Japanese education continues.
As long as the CCP regime remains in power, even after Jiang Zemin and Xi Jinping are gone, Japan will continue to be blamed through the Nanking Incident.
Do you intend to keep bowing your head forever?
Since a line has been drawn on the comfort women issue, I hope that the Nanjing Incident will be dealt with in the same resolute manner.
