Overview of Eight Year’s Scholarly Achievements by the Japan “Nanking” Society

Summary

Summary
Overview of Eight Year’s Scholarly Achievements
by the Japan “Nanking” Society
The English translation of this essay has been made available to researchers outside
Japan on the “Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact” website. This is
significant for the following reasons:
The ongoing debate about historical fact in Japan is conducted, not surprisingly, in the
Japanese language. Unfortunately Japanese is not in common usage throughout the
world, therefore the views aired in this ongoing discussion seldom reach those outside
Japan. It is clear though that people all over the world should be made aware of many
of the findings of historical fact arising from this lively Japanese debate.
This linguistic barrier prevents people outside Japan learning about the
aforementioned historical facts, and this phenomenon is not only detrimental to the
Japanese people, but also a great loss for the people of the world. This is why the
“Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact” was formed, so that research in
Japan on historical fact could be translated and spread around the world.
The Japan “Nanking” Society was founded in 2000 to advance research into the socalled
“Nanking Incident” of 1937, and the Society actively pursued this research
until 2007. The Society’s annual report was titled “The Frontline of Research on the
Nanking Incident,” and its final installment came out in 2008. I was charged with the
task of writing the afterword for this final report, and this took the form of an
overview of eight years of research achievements by the Japan “Nanking” Society. I
believe it represents a condensed rendering of these research achievements, and as
such is suitable for transmission around the world. This English translation has
incorporated minor changes to the text, as well as the addition of background
information for the benefit of readers outside Japan, but in principle the content
remains unchanged.
In other words, these eight years of research achievements by the Japan “Nanking”
Society have comprehensively proven that, in 1937 when the Japanese military
attacked the Chinese capital of Nanking, there are no facts which substantiate any
large scale massacre in violation of international law committed by the Japanese
army. Despite this though, the present Chinese government continues as before to
criticize the Japanese military for committing such acts of cruelty, and we must ask
why it continues to make such groundless accusations. Upon reflection, the Chinese
government would appear to be under the sway of the political principle of
“revolution through dynastic change” (ekisei kakumei) which from ancient times
assured that whoever was victorious in the most brutal of wars would become
emperor; and it is understandable that the Chinese government, who may very well
have engaged in such brutality had Chinese troops attacked Nanking, would launch
similar criticism against Japanese troops. This condemnation of the Japanese military
from a perspective on warfare based on the principle of “revolution through dynastic
change” must be eliminated, not only for the benefit of the people of Japan, but also
for those of China, and ultimately for the advancement of human civilization.
These eight years of research achievements have been collated into the following six
annual reports:
• The Japan “Nanking” Society Annual Report, “The Front-line of Research on the
Nanking ‘Massacre’” Heisei 14 (Tendensha 2002)
• The Japan “Nanking” Society Annual Report, “The Front-line of Research on the
Nanking ‘Massacre’” Heisei 15 (Tendensha 2003)
• The Japan “Nanking” Society Annual Report, “The Front-line of Research on the
Nanking ‘Massacre’” Heisei 16 (Tendensha 2004)
• The Japan “Nanking” Society Annual Report, “The Front-line of Research on the
Nanking ‘Incident’” Heisei 17-18 (Tendensha 2005) (Note: change to title from
“Massacre” to “Incident”.)
• The Japan “Nanking” Society Annual Report, “The Front-line of Research on the
Nanking ‘Incident’” Heisei 19 (Tendensha 2007)
• The Japan “Nanking” Society Annual Report, “The Front-line of Research on the
Nanking ‘Incident’” Heisei 20 (Final Edition) (Tendensha 2008) (See “Afterword” on
pp. 287-317 for the original Japanese text of this essay by Sugihara Seishiro:
“Overview of Eight Year’s Scholarly Achievements by the Japan ‘Nanking’
Society.”)