Home>News Center>China
       
 

Nanjing pays tribute to 'Conscience of Japan'
By Wu Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-06 06:01

NANJING: As a city closely connected to Japanese war veteran Shiro Azuma who is often referred to as the Conscience of Japan, Nanjing will send a delegation to his funeral today.

"The three will on behalf of both our government and citizens pay homage to the memory of Mr Azuma," said Lin Yi of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Nanjing Municipal Government.

NANJING: As a city closely connected to Japanese war veteran Shiro Azuma who is often referred to as the Conscience of Japan, Nanjing will send a delegation to his funeral today.
Shiro Azuma: Warrior fighting for justice
The team includes Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Nanjing Memorial Hall of Compatriots Murdered in the Nanjing Massacre, said Sun Wenxue, vice-chairman of the Nanjing People's Association of Friendships with Foreign Countries.

Azuma died on Tuesday at the age of 93 in a Kyoto hospital.

He served in the Japanese Imperial Army in 1937, when invading troops occupied Nanjing, then the capital of China, and launched a six-week massacre. More than 300,000 Chinese, mostly civilians, were slaughtered.

Ridden by guilt, Azuma published his wartime diary in 1987 to make public the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers.

Azuma was constantly threatened by Japanese rightists and sued for libel charges in 1993. He lost the case but kept telling the truth about the war.

He visited China seven times since 1987 to apologize and help Chinese scholars find evidence of the Japanese soldiers' brutality.

His diary was translated and published in China in 1999.

"He was a warrior fighting for justice. He was a sincere friend of Chinese people," Jing Shenghong, a history professor at Nanjing Normal University who had close contact with Azuma during his research, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

"His death is a loss for both those in Japan who dared to acknowledge the truth of history and all righteous people," said Zhu Chengshan.

"I used to hate the Japanese so much," said 78-year-old massacre survivor Jiang Fugen. "But when I saw the old Azuma in tears, bowing and kneeling before us in repentance, I couldn't hold back my tears," he told China Daily.

Five of Jiang's family members were killed by the Japanese soldiers during the massacre.

Yin Yueping, the former vice-curator of the Nanjing memorial hall, recalled that during Azuma's first trip to China in December 1987, he was silent most of the time.

"He seldom talked and his eyes were always full of tears. He told me that he felt so guilty while returning to Nanjing, a city where his fellow soldiers killed, looted, raped and burnt 50 years ago," said Yin, who accompanied Azuma during his visits to Nanjing.

"He was really fragile then. But the deep remorse and sense of guilt compelled him to come and apologize time and again. His sincerity would have moved anyone. If most people in Japan were as righteous as Azuma, there would not be any unpleasantness between the two countries," said Yin.

Yin said that Azuma was preparing for his eighth trip to Nanjing before he fell ill last November.
Page: 12



Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival opens
Giangt pandas enjoy snowfall in Sichuan
Preparing the graduate programs
  Today's Top News     Top China News
 

Report ranks China 6th in overall strength

 

   
 

Nanjing pays tribute to 'Conscience of Japan'

 

   
 

Israeli leader Sharon fights for his life

 

   
 

2007 moon rocket production kicks off

 

   
 

Work safety key in assessing development

 

   
 

Be more generous, firms and millionares told

 

   
  Report ranks China 6th in overall strength
   
  More progress expected in forex reform in '06
   
  Work safety key in assessing development
   
  2007 moon rocket production kicks off
   
  Nanjing pays tribute to 'Conscience of Japan'
   
  IPR protection to be improved
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  It is time to prepare for Beijing - 2008  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement