There was a Battle of Nanking but no “Nanking Massacre”

Summary

There was a Battle of Nanking but no “Nanking Massacre”
(summary)
On December 13, 1937, Nanking, capital of the Chinese Nationalist Government, fell and Japanese people were ecstatically jubilant throughout the country, celebrating with lantern parades everywhere. As many as one hundred and fifty reporters and photographers rushed to Nanking, competing with each other for coverage of the event, sending home on-the-spot articles one after another.
The conditions of Nanking were, as typically illustrated by the photographic feature titled Peace Restored in Nanking from The Tokyo Asahi Newspaper dated December 20, that tranquil citizens were busy working to restore the City in cooperation with the Japanese Army and the Nanking Autonomous Committee. In five days after the occupation, street venders opened their stalls and soldiers enjoyed shopping without carrying their guns.
No doubt, this was exactly what Nanking was like right after the occupation. Nanking is not a large place, its space being nearly a half of Manhattan island. Furthermore, nearly all citizens, following the strict order of Commander Tang Shengzhi of the Chinese Defense Corps, gathered within the “Safety Zone” controlled by the International Committee. A letter written by the Chairman of the International Committee on December 17 and addressed to the Japanese Embassy told exactly the same story.
The “Safety Zone” had the area of nearly four square kilometers or just the same space of Central Park in New York and 200,000 citizens were packed like sardines within this small area. I can definitely say that it was “absolutely” impossible for a massacre to take place, in view of 400,000 “eyes” in such a narrow space. Moreover, there were 150 reporters and photographers in full throttle who were covering what was going on. Under these circumstances, there was practically no room at all for the press to make up staged pictures. In postwar years, even when accusations against the Japanese Army reached its height, not one reporter came forward saying that he actually witnessed a massacre or had photographic evidence.
Nevertheless, out of the blue, the accusation that a massacre involving the unprecedented number of 300,000 victims was in fact committed in Nanking arose at the Tokyo Trials, which began a year after Japan lost the War.
Then, why and how this unbelievable story was made up by Allied forces at Tokyo Trials? This investigation is fully presented in this book and the conclusion is so called Nanking Massacre is only a matter of propaganda, not a matter of fact.