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China hails 'the conscience' of Japan
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-04 20:04
Chinese officials have expressed condolences over the death of a Japanese
veteran, calling him "the conscience" of his country for speaking out about
Japan's wartime atrocities in China.
 Azuma Shiro served in the invading Japanese army during its notorious
massacre of residents of Nanjing, then China's capital, in 1937. Fifty years
later he published a diary of those events to show his remorse and rebut
Japanese doubts about the scale of the atrocities.
China says more than 300,000 residents died in the attacks.
After his diary appeared, Shiro suffered harassment and threats from Japanese
right-wing groups who denounced him as a traitor for his criticisms of Japan's
past.
Shiro died in Kyoto on Tuesday at the age of 94. In his final years, he
revisited China, including Nanjing, and his diary was also published in China.
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