DATE=6/8/99
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-43605
TITLE=JAPAN/BOOK CONTROVERSY
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: THE JAPANESE PUBLISHER OF A BOOK ON JAPAN'S WARTIME
ACTIVITIES IN OCCUPIED CHINA HAS CANCELLED PUBLICATION OF THE
WORK, A WORLDWIDE BEST-SELLER CALLED "THE RAPE OF NANKING." AS
MIKE O'SULLIVAN REPORTS, THE ACTION HAS RAISED QUESTIONS ABOUT
JAPAN'S WILLINGNESS TO ACKNOWLEDGE WARTIME ATROCITIES, WHICH
HISTORIANS SAY RANGE FROM MASS KILLINGS TO BIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS
ON LIVING SUBJECTS.
TEXT:CHINESE SCHOLARS SAY 350-THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE KILLED BY
JAPAN'S IMPERIAL ARMY IN 1937, IN THE SO-CALLED RAPE OF NANJING
(OR NANKING, AS SOME PEOPLE CALL IT). SOME JAPANESE
ULTRA-NATIONALISTS, SUCH AS TOKYO UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR NOBUKATSU
FUJIOKA [PRON: NOH-BOO-'KAH-TZU FOO-JEE-'OH-KAH], SAY THE MASS
KILLING OF CIVILIANS NEVER HAPPENED.
ULTRA-NATIONALISTS IN JAPAN HAVE APPLAUDED CANCELLATION OF THE
JAPANESE-LANGUAGE VERSION OF THE BOOK BY IRIS CHANG, WHO IS A
CHINESE-AMERICAN JOURNALIST. HER JAPANESE PUBLISHER, KASHIWA
SHOBO [PRON: 'KAH-SHEE-WAH 'SHOH-BOH], SAYS THE BOOK WAS
CANCELLED BECAUSE SHE REFUSED TO CORRECT ITS FACTUAL ERRORS.
THE AUTHOR ACCUSES OF KASHIWA SHOBO OF CENSORSHIP AND OF GIVING
IN TO THREATS BY RIGHT-WING CRITICS.
ONE ASIA ANALYST DEFENDS THE PUBLISHER. FRANK GIBNEY OF THE
PACIFIC BASIN INSTITUTE SAYS MANY JAPANESE ARE AWARE OF THEIR
COUNTRY'S WARTIME BEHAVIOR.
/// GIBNEY ACT ///
THINKING JAPANESE, AS THE SAYING GOES, KNOW WHAT
HAPPENED. THEY DON'T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT IT, AND THEY'D
LIKE TO SWEEP IT UNDER THE RUG. BUT IN POINT OF FACT,
THERE HAVE BEEN ABOUT 10 OR 15 BOOKS WRITTEN BY JAPANESE
DENOUNCING THE NANJING MASSACRE, IN NO UNCERTAIN
TERMS, AND EXPOSING IT FOR WHAT IT WAS, OVER THE LAST 10
OR 15 YEARS. SO WHEN PEOPLE LIKE IRIS CHANG WRITE AND
SAY THAT EVERYONE IN JAPAN IS AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT THIS,
THEY'RE WRONG.
/// END ACT ///
IN FACT, MR. GIBNEY HAS WRITTEN THE FOREWORD TO AN
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BOOK BY JAPANESE WRITER KATSUISHI HONDA [PRON:
KAHT-SOO-'EE-SHEE 'HOHN-DAH], CALLED "THE NANJING MASSACRE."
THAT WRITER SAYS BETWEEN 100-THOUSAND AND 200-THOUSAND CHINESE
CIVILIANS DIED AT NANJING, AND THAT THEY WERE VICTIMS OF A
SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN OF TERROR BY JAPAN'S ARMY. (THE BOOK WILL BE
RELEASED LATER THIS MONTH BY THE PUBLISHER M-E SHARPE.)
THE PROBLEM, SAYS MR. GIBNEY, IS THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT, WHICH
HAS NOT HONESTLY ADMITTED TO THE COUNTRY'S WARTIME RECORD.
ANOTHER RESEARCHER, SHELDON HARRIS, HAS STUDIED A JAPANESE ARMY
UNIT -- UNIT 731 -- THAT CONDUCTED EXPERIMENTS WITH BIOLOGICAL
AGENTS ON CHINESE AND KOREAN CIVILIANS AND ALLIED PRISONERS OF
WAR. HE SAYS ITS RECORD OF ATROCITIES RIVALS THAT OF THE GERMAN
NAZIS, BUT THAT GERMANY HAS ADMITTED ITS WARTIME ACTIONS.
/// HARRIS ACT ///
IT'S A VERY SAD SITUATION, WHEN ONE COMPARES THE
OPEN-NESS OF THE GERMANS, THE RECEPTIVENESS TO ADMISSION
OF GUILT, AND OF CONTRITION, WHEREAS THE JAPANESE RULING
ELITE WILL SIMPLY NOT ADMIT GUILT AND CERTAINLY WILL
NOT OFFER A SINCERE APOLOGY. IT'S GOING TO TAKE
ANOTHER GENERATION.
/// END ACT ///
MR. HARRIS SAYS FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR, WORKERS IN FORCED LABOR
CAMPS, AND THE SO-CALLED COMFORT WOMEN WHO SERVED JAPANESE TROOPS
AS SEX SLAVES SELDOM FIND REDRESS IN JAPANESE COURTS.
STILL, HE SAYS THERE IS DISCUSSION IN JAPAN OF THE COUNTRY'S
WARTIME RECORD. HIS OWN BOOK, CALLED "FACTORIES OF DEATH," IS
BEING PUBLISHED IN JAPANESE THIS MONTH BY KASHIWA SHOBO, THE SAME
PUBLISHER THAT CANCELLED IRIS CHANG'S "RAPE OF NANKING."
MR. HARRIS EXPECTS A WHIRLWIND OF CONTROVERSY WILL EMERGE AROUND
HIS BOOK. BUT HE SAYS IT IS BASED ON SOUND SCHOLARSHIP, AND HE
IS CONFIDENT IT CAN WITHSTAND THE SCRUTINY OF ITS RIGHT-WING
JAPANESE CRITICS. (THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE VERSION OF "FACTORIES OF
DEATH" BY SHELDON HARRIS IS PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE.) (SIGNED)
NEB/MOS/WTW
08-Jun-99 5:45 PM EDT (2145 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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