Video accounts of Nanjing Massacre survivors donated to memorial hall

That the interviews were conducted when survivors had better memories increases their value, Zhang said.

Matsuoka, who has made nearly 100 trips to Nanjing since 1988, made great efforts to gain the trust of the survivors.

"At first, the survivors were afraid to be interviewed by a Japanese. My interpreter had to repeatedly assured them that I am not 'a bad Japanese' before they began to trust me," Matsuoka recalled.

The memorial hall plans to digitalize the videotapes.