Voices of justice piercing fog of history

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Amid ongoing efforts to confront historical truths in Japan, dedicated individuals have spent decades documenting wartime atrocities driven by conscience and justice.

Across Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and other cities, Japanese scholars, lawyers, journalists, and monks have spent decades piecing together archives, interviewing witnesses, and documenting war crimes committed by Japanese militarists during World War II.

For many years, Japanese scholar Makoto Matsuno has personally financed the collection of archives on Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare army during World War II, and materials on Japan's bacteriological warfare, donating them on several occasions to China. He has received little support in Japan, yet he has no regrets: "My goal is to reconstruct the historical truth as fully as possible and to prevent future tragedies."

Among those reckoning with history is Hideo Shimizu, conscripted into the notorious Unit 731 at age 14 in 1945. After participating in war crimes, he endured decades of poverty with only elementary education. In 2024, the 93-year-old traveled to China to publicly apologize for Japan's bacteriological warfare atrocities. "My life demonstrates how militarism destroys individuals," Shimizu reflects. "Now I implore the Japanese government to acknowledge the truth."

Ordinary citizens also bear witness. For nearly three decades, the Zijin Grass Choir from Japan has sung about the atrocities committed by the Japanese army during the Nanjing Massacre. Most members are elderly, some battling illnesses or confined to wheelchairs, yet they persist in conveying through songs their belief in peace and their call for justice. Like the resilient Zijin grass, often referred to as the "flower of peace" both in China and Japan, they bloom with unyielding hope, carrying the weight of memory through the years.

Yet their efforts starkly contrast with official evasion. For a long time, some Japanese officials have downplayed or distorted wartime record. On April 16, 2025, newly approved junior high school textbooks by publisher Nichibun and Kyoiku Shuppan reduced the 1937 - 1945 war of aggression against China to a single sanitized page, obscuring Japan's militarist aggression across Asia.

This denial persists despite historical milestones. In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of Japan's surrender, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued the landmark "Murayama Statement," acknowledging that Japan's colonial rule and aggression had caused "tremendous damage and suffering" to many countries, and expressed "deep remorse and heartfelt apology."

Thirty years later, new voices continue to call for acknowledgment of historical truth. "Japan must sincerely repent for aggression and uphold its promise of 'never again to wage war' to coexist peacefully with its neighbors," said Takakage Fujita, secretary-general of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement.

Yokichi Kobayashi, son of Kiyoshi Kobayashi, a captured Japanese soldier who joined the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party of China, said, "The repentance of one nation is more important than the forgiveness of another. Only a country that dares to reflect can truly earn the respect of the world."

Katsutoshi Takegami, a descendant of Japanese invaders from the wartime Unit 1644, affirmed with resolve: "In my lifetime, I will continue exposing the historical truth to the world to prevent history from repeating itself."

Japan can only transcend by confronting it. The courageous Japanese individuals embody the greatest reverence for history and a deep sense of responsibility for the future. Their voices may be faint, yet like sparks of light, they pierce through the fog of history, awakening more people to face the past and hold fast to peace.