Japan's Denial of The Rape of Nanking

Japan's Attempts to Erase the History of the Nanking Massacre

Apr 18, 2009

Even before the full extent of the Nanking massacre was known, Japan was seeking to cover up or marginalize what had happened in the Chinese capital of nanking, but why?

History reads that for a six week period after the Japanese captured the Chinese city, Japanese forces engaged in the rape and murder of civilians, and the wholesale slaughter of Chinese POWs. Estimates range from 140,000 to 300,000 civilians murdered, and 20,000 to 80,000 women raped. However, even before the full extent of the slaughter was known, Japan was already trying to deny and cover up what had happened at Nanking.

Even to this day, despite eyewitness testimony from journalists, and even Japanese soldiers confirming the atrocities, right wing political parties and Japanese nationalists still consider the “Rape of Nanking” as nothing more than an elaborate hoax. But what evidence do they have to support their argument? Why were the Japanese trying to cover up what had happened in the city? Why were they in China in the first place? A quick glance at history does much to explain why Japan would want such an event erased from the pages of history.

A History of Conflict

Since the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, Japan and China had fought a series of major battles and skirmishes. By the 1930’s, Japan was seeking to expand its empire and acquire additional natural resources by colonizing areas throughout the Pacific. Manchuria, offered Japan vast natural resources, and in 1931 Japanese forces invaded and occupied the region.

On July 7, 1937, a skirmish between Japanese and Chinese forces occurred at Marco Polo Bridge. The Japanese government decided to use the incident as a reason to invade eastern China. After fierce and brutal fighting, Japanese forces captured the Chinese capitol, Nanking, in December of 1937.

Although, murders, rapes, and looting were common place throughout the campaign, the six week period after the fall of the city saw the slaughter and rape of the Chinese people on a much greater scale. Not only that, but the atrocities were witnessed by many foreign observers and journalists. However, even before word of the atrocities reached the outside world, Japan was seeking to cover up the atrocity.

Japanese Reasons for Denying the Atrocities at Nanking

Japan in the 1930’s was not an economically independent empire. Many of the resources it needed were shipped in from resource rich countries, such as the United States and other European countries. These countries did not approve of Japanese belligerence in China, and were seeking a treaty between Japan and China to end the conflict. Being seen as a brutal aggressor could potentially cause the West to cease all supply shipments to Japan, which would undermine Japan’s ability to maintain its empire.

Reports of what was happening at Nanking, however, slowly got out. The U.S. reaction at first was passive. As relations between the two countries deteriorated, however, the U.S. used the atrocities as one of its excuses for imposing an oil embargo on Japan in 1940. This caused Japanese imports of oil to fall by 90%, leading the Japanese towards war with the U.S.

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, thus entering WWII against the U.S. Throughout the war, U.S. propaganda films showed images of the atrocities committed at Nanking to rally public support. The American and Chinese people wanted justice, but it would have to wait until the war was over.

Erasing the Nanking Atrocity from Japanese History

After the allied victory in the Pacific, many called for trials to be held for the Japanese war criminals. However, only a few were ever brought to trial and most escaped justice, some even retaining their political posts in Japan. Even after being defeated, however, Japan continued to deny any human rights violations at Nanking.

In the 1950’s as the Japanese Education Ministry regained its power, it banned one-third of all Japanese textbooks, and omitted any reference to the Nanking atrocity in the remaining Japanese textbooks. This effectively erased the Nanking atrocity from Japanese history for almost 20 years. The Education Ministry legitimized their actions by saying that there was no evidence supporting the Chinese claim that 300,000 people were killed at Nanking.

In fact, Japan even went as far as denying that the invasion of China was to be considered a war, thus eliminating the need for the term, POW. Japan, already humiliated by its defeat in WWII, did not want to be further shamed by the accusation of being a dishonorable participant in war. However, many people, especially the Chinese, were not willing to let the Nanking atrocity disappear from history, and the issue was soon to face another round of heated debates.

Modern Japanese Revisionists Attempt to Re-Write History

The debate over what really happened at Nanking in December 1937 started again in the 1970’s when historians began challenging Japanese censorship of school textbooks regarding the incident. This also sparked a rise in the denial and revisionist movement in Japan. Right wing nationalists consider the “Rape of Nanking” a hoax, and a malicious lie being used in an “information war” against Japan and the world to discredit the Japanese army and its proud history.

The debate has its many proponents and opponents within Japan. The official stance of the Japanese government remains that Japan was wrong for what its soldiers did at Nanking. But many hard line nationalists believe that being accused of such an atrocity does too great a damage to the image of Japan and its honor. This is why many Japanese believe that the ‘Rape of Nanking” should be denied and omitted from the pages of history.

References

Richard Parry, Nationalists fight ‘lie’ of Rape of Nanking, Times Online, 1 March 2007

Yamamoto, Masahiro, Rape of Nanking: Separating Fact From Fiction (London, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000). 158-170.

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