The Nanjing massacre : a Japanese journalist confronts Japan's national shame / Honda Katsuichi ; edited by Frank Gibney ; translated by Karen Sandness.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Honda, Katsuichi, 1933-

Contributor:

Gibney, Frank, 1924-2006.

Pacific Basin Institute.

Standardized Title:

Nankin e no michi. English

Language:

English

Japanese

Subjects (All):

Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945--Atrocities.

Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945.

Atrocities.

Atrocities--China--Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng).

China--Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng).

Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng, China)--History.

Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng, China).

Physical Description:

xxvii, 367 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Armonk, N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe, [1999]

Summary:

This book is based on four visits to China between 1971 and 1989 by Honda Katsuichi, an investigative journalist for Asahi Shimbun. His aim is to show in pitiless detail the horrors of the Japanese Army's march to and seizure and capture of Nanjing in December 1937. Unvarnished accounts of the testimony -- of Chinese victims and Japanese perpetrators -- to the rape and slaughter are juxtaposed with public relations announcements of the Japanese Army as printed in various Japanese newspapers of the time. The bland announcements of triumphant victories stand in bitter contrast to the atrocities that actually took place on the scene.

The story unfolds with horrible detail as we watch the progress of the Japanese army whose troops were bent on rape and killing in the so-called "heat of battle." Yet by recalling the testimony of Japanese soldiers and reporters who were on the scene, as well as reproducing dispatches by Japanese Army authorities at the time, Honda makes it clear that the atrocities were part of a studied effort directed by the Japanese high command to impress the Chinese people with the power of its army and the folly of resistance. The estimate of at least 100,000 killed in these "military operations" is no exaggeration. The Chinese side of the story is based on the author's interviews with dozens of survivors.

Honda, along with other Japanese journalists and scholars, aims to reveal the truth of the Nanjing massacre, provoked by the efforts of right-wing Japanese, including, sadly, many government officials, to whitewash the whole incident, even to the point of contending that a "massacre" never happened. This gripping account of the atrocities and cover-up joins otherrecent exposes in keeping alive the memory of this shameful event.

Contents:

1. "One Million Japanese Troops Land North of Hangzhou Bay" 5

2. "More of Our Troops Land at Shanghai" 25

3. "The City of Suzhou Has Finally Fallen" 37

4. "The Imperial Army Occupies Wuxi" 57

5. "The Rising Sun Flag Over the City Walls of Changzhou" 81

6. "Seizing Jurong, We Charge Onward" 91

7. "Zhenjiang Occupied" 109

8. "The Contest to Cut Down a Hundred Goes Over the Top" 123

9. "The Imperial Forces Make an All-Out Charge on Nanjing" 137

10. "A War of Annihilation Unfolds" 167

11. "Nanjing, Where Peace Has Been Restored" 257.

Notes:

"A Pacific Basin Institute Book"--P. [i].

"An East gate book."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0765603349

0765603357

OCLC:

39786798