Letter Opposed to Proposed Bill 79, Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day Act,

April 3, 2017
Hon Shafiq Qaadri, Chair, Standing Committee on Justice Policy
Cc: Vice-Chair and all Members of the Standing Committee on Justice Policy
Re: Private Members Bill 79 Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day Act
This is a follow up to my previous letter dated February 15 also attached herewith for your reference. Since then, I have read through the transcript of the Second Reading which I found to be filled with unverified claims totally lacking balance.
I find it particularly disturbing to see a political campaign infiltrating Ontario’s educational institutions. I don’t doubt the sincerity of belief on part of the students who, under their teachers’ guidance and perhaps encouragement, decided to take their political activism to the Ontario legislature. However, adult educators ought to protect students from being exploited. How did the teaching materials on the unit manage to receive approval by the Ministry of Education for classroom use?
Thanks to the time elapsed since the end of the WW2 and de-classified documents, there is now vast amount of open sourced materials available to the public as research and debates continue to this day, at least in Japan and other countries that allow their citizens academic freedom.
Ontario students should likewise benefit from inquiry and opportunity to exercise critical thinking by being exposed to opposing or alternative views rather than regurgitating the old narrative. For example, they might consider the following:
 Japan in the 30’s and 40’s was not a Fascist state like Italy under Mussolini or Hitler in Nazi Germany. Neither Showa Emperor nor Tojo Hideki, Japan’s 40th Prime Minister (October 1941 – July 1944) had the centralized executive or military authority.
 Japan at that time was governed by parliamentary system modelled after Prussia and Britain albeit in turmoil. There were two elections held and subsequent changes in the government even during the war. There was no secret police equivalent of Gestapo under NAZI Germany, KGB in the Soviet Union, or the 601 Office under the current one-party communist dictatorship of China, to enforce and maintain totalitarian control.
 There was no reason or motivation for Japan to commit “Asian Holocaust”, the image Japan’s accusers have been aggressively promoting through repetitions of recycled photographs and sensational Hollywood style films that litter the cyber space.
 The real Holocaust was the product of centuries old antisemitism mixed with social Darwinism popularly known as Eugenics prevalent at the time among European and
North American intellectuals, political and religious leaders some of whom actively facilitated or turned a blind eye to the systematic “cleansing” of the Jews as well as others deemed undesirable while the creation of “the Aryan master race” was pursued by the Nazi.
 What Japan did envision was the “Asian co prosperity sphere” for its economic development and political influence through stability in the region. Rightly or wrongly, Japan also sought to free Asia from the European and American colonial rules by aiding them in their struggle for independence. Many of the leaders including Chiang Kai-shek and Subhas Chandra Bose spent time with their supporters and sympathizers in Japan.
 Japan’s early policy in China was containment and keeping peace with locals. Army was dispatched to protect the Japanese residents and businesses in an otherwise lawless land, and its size was initially dwarfed by the German trained and equipped Nationalist army by approximately 20 to 1.
 A series of guerilla terror attacks upon the unarmed Japanese residents – the most horrific and well known incident being Tongzhou massacre on July 29, 1937 – apparently instigated by the Comintern infiltrators, mobilized the Japanese forces to pour into China and move southward, while forcing Chiang Kai-shek to form an alliance with Mao Zedong’s Communist group. The full-scale war erupted between Japan and the Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces while Mao established his bases in the countryside.
 Chiang Kai-shek considered propaganda to be of primary importance in fighting the war to solicit western aids, mainly from the United States, so the Propaganda Bureau was formed. The Bureau’s complex organization chart shows internal and external divisions that included branches in New York, London, Montreal, Sydney, and other international cities. Two of the foreign key witnesses supposedly impartial third party to the “Nanjing Massacre” at the Tokyo Trial were later found to have worked as advisers to the Bureau.
 The propaganda campaign continued well after the war ended developing multiple tentacles one of which involved re-education centres. Almost one thousand Japanese POW’s who were held (illegally) in Siberian labour camps post war, were sent to China bearing the new designation of “war criminals”. They were held in re-education camps for six years during which they produced recorded testimonies and confessions, in both oral and written forms, of their “war crimes”. When the survivors of the programme were finally allowed to return to Japan, they formed a group and many of them continued to provide confessions.
 Students should have access to the following sites available in English:
 https://youtu.be/Vi6F1YJ-q64?list=PLQcWKBPp8Hijq3mzYFGQfDrH4r28ZjGLR The old film released in February of 1938, in Japanese with English captions
provided by Matsuo Ichiro, originally shot in Nanking by Toho Cultural Affairs Department. It captured the city from December 13, 1937 to mid January of 1938 when the atrocities were allegedly being committed. You can see the large areas of the city inside and outside of the Safety Zone with hospitals and historical sites mostly intact. The film also shows the residents returning to the city, vendors setting up shops, and children freely mixing with Japanese soldiers seemingly without fear, and ceremonies being held for the fallen soldiers, etc.
 https://www.sdh-fact.com/CLo2_1/26_S4.pdf “Analyzing the Photographic Evidence of the Nanking Massacre” by Higashinakano Shudo
 https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/27_S4.pdf “Top secret Chinese Nationalist Documents Reveal the Truth about the Nanking Incident” by Higashinakano Shudo
 https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/7_S4.pdf “What really happened in Nanking: The Refutation of a Common Myth” by Tanaka Masaaki
 https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_3/17_S1.pdf “Why PRC President Cannot respond to open questions concerning Nanking Massacre” by Moteki Hiromichi
 http://www2.biglobe.ne.jp/remnant/nankingm.htm “The So-Called Nanking Massacre was a Fabrication” by Reverend Arimasa Kubo
Alternatively, students can write to the Society for Disseminating Historical Facts, to the attention of Mr. Hiromichi Moteki, its acting Chairman at moteki@sdh-fact.com with their questions.
Two weekends ago, I came across a campaign booth inside a shopping mall in Markham where signatures were being collected in support of the Bill 79. I spoke to a young campaigner who told me she was from China. I asked her when she first learned about the “Nanjing Massacre”. She answered in halting English, “in grade 3”. I came away wondering if the activists had their way, they would have our middle school or even elementary age children to be similarly brainwashed.
A grocery store in my own neighbourhood is still carrying on with signature collection with a banner installed inside the store all except for “Bill 79” written in Chinese. Is this Canada and Canadian diversity we are supposed to celebrate?
Realistically, there is little hope that the governments of China and Japan will ever come to agreement over the history controversy, as only the politically correct version of history is accepted by the Chinese officials – facts be dammed – and the Japanese government seems to stay out of the controversy deferring the matter to scholars.
Why, then, should the Ontario government be involved in the dispute at Ontario taxpayers’ expense?
I believe your committee has the power to stop this bizarre course of action.
Sincerely,
Sharon Isac
33 Eaglestone Rd.
Scarborough, ON M1T 2J7
416-356-5249
Sharon.isac@gmail.com
Attachment: My letter dated February 15, 2017 to Hon. Kathleen Wynne and Ms. Soo Wong, copied to all Ontario MPP’s

February 15, 2017
Honourable Kathleen Wynne and MPP Ms. Soo Wong
Re: Bill 79 Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day Act
I am an Ontario resident of over 40 years, writing to strongly condemn this proposed Bill.
Please consider the following:
 This is a politically motivated propaganda campaign, over 70 years old, that was originated in the 1930’s by Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist (KMT) Party, was elaborated and legitimized by the WW2 Allies in the International Military Tribunal of the Far East known as the Tokyo Trials. The story was imprinted in Japanese people’s minds during the seven-year U.S. occupation of post war Japan by imposing, among other things, strict censorship of all forms of media and communication, as well as a new curriculum in education. Now the campaign seems to ever keep extending its global reach thanks to the effort of the Global Alliance for the Preservation of History of WW2 which, in turn, is under the influence of the one-party dictatorship of the People’s Republic of China established by Mao Tse-Tung in 1949.
 Speaking of the Nanjing Massacre, between 1913 to 1949 there were in fact three other massacres in which rape, looting, arson, and murder were committed against Nanking residents, not by the Japanese Imperial Army, but by Chinese soldiers. One must appreciate that after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912 China entered another warlord-era, plunging society into chaos and lawlessness. Wholesale slaughter of all living things within the walled city of the vanquished was how the wars were traditionally fought, and a scorched-earth policy was a war tactic commonly found in the history of the continent from ancient times. However, “three All’s” or 三光is not found in the Japanese Islands’ history vocabulary.
 Casual disregard for life and the scale of destruction implicit in these policies and tactics is breathtaking. The Huang He Diversion or Yellow River Dyke explosion on June 9, 1938 considered the largest act of environmental warfare in modern history, is highly illustrative. It was ordered by Chiang Kai-Shek in order to block Japan’s advance. The desired effect was modest, but the cost was staggeringly disproportionate; 500,000 dead, by the most conservative estimate, out of 15 million affected, thousands of villages and fertile farmlands destroyed resulting in famine. Incidentally, this catastrophe too was at first blamed on Japan.
 Once Japan was defeated in 1945, China was again embroiled in civil war, this time between Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist Party backed by U.S. and Britain, and Mao’s Communist Party backed by the Soviet Union. The civil war ended with Mao’s victory in 1949, the year Nanking suffered another massacre, this time firstly by Chiang Kai-Shek’s army, then by Mao’s army which utterly ravaged the city.
 The battle of Nanking in December of 1937 was under the command of General Iwane Matsui, who was considered a China expert and admirer of its ancient culture. Fully conscious of Nanking as the ancient capital of China, he issued strict order to adhere to the international law – The Hague and Geneva Convention. The following is the main sequence of events from December the 9th, 1937 through to February the 8th, 1938:
1. Japanese troops reached the outskirts of Nanking city on December the 9th. Streets and buildings were deserted and soldiers noted eerie silence as a majority of the residents had already evacuated the city, and those left behind had taken refuge in the International Safety Zone set up by foreign nationals. Soldiers came across burning buildings, likely the result of a scorched earth policy.
2. On the 9th, flyers were dropped by the Japanese army promising protection upon surrender by a deadline of noon on the 10th.
3. At the 13th hour on the 10th, one hour past the deadline, surrender not forthcoming, Japan started their attack.
4. The Chinese troops were under General唐生智 who had sworn to defend the walled city to death. However, he and his entourage escaped the scene on the 12th, without giving his troops the order to surrender. Confusion and chaos ensued, with soldiers trying to escape being mowed down by a special task force behind them, also Chinese soldiers, whose job was to shoot the deserters. Of the 19 gates, only one was open for escape, prompting many soldiers to climb the walls 13-20 metres high while others took off their army uniforms and infiltrated the safety zone. Many of them carried their weapons and ammunitions and waged guerilla attacks, obliging Japan to conduct sweeping operations inside the safety zone.
5. Nanking officially fell on December the 13th.
6. On December 17th, the official entry parade took place with General Matsui leading the parade.
7. January 1, 1938, by Matsui’s order, Nanking self-governing committee was formed with Nanking residents.
8. Of special note, the population of the city at the time of the battle was 200,000, according to the records provided by the International Safety Committee. A month later it grew to 250,000 and continued to grow as order was restored and returning residents picked up their lives. Soldiers observed as early as December 16th many street vendors were already opening their shops. Film showing the city after the fall
is available online: https://youtu.be/W-Erp_T3kjI (recording of Nanking residents between December 13, 1937-mid February)
9. February 8, 1938 the safety zone was disbanded.
 When Matsui, during the Tokyo Trials, expressed regret over misconduct by some of his soldiers, orgies of mass rape, looting and murder vividly described in “The Rape of Nanking” by Iris Chang (1997) was not what he had in mind. He vehemently denied any large-scale atrocities committed by his troops, let alone ordering one. However, his expression of remorse typically Japanese, was exploited by the prosecution as an admission of guilt.
 Evidences presented to the court at the Tokyo Trials by the alleged victims of Nanking were mostly written reports which could not be verified or cross-examined. The only eye-witness to the actual killing testified, under cross examination, that he saw exactly one such incident of a man who refused to stop, was shot to death by a Japanese soldier, however this was lawful.
 It is one of history’s ironies that the man who so ardently hoped and worked, perhaps naively, throughout his life for the brighter Greater Asian alliance free from the shackle of colonial rule, was found guilty of committing the worst atrocities in Asia, equal to or greater than the Holocaust against the Jewish people, and was sentenced to death by hanging.
 Justice Radhabinod Pal from Bengal, India was the only judge among the twelve all representing the Allied countries, who was a qualified expert in international law. He found the trial’s proceedings deeply and fundamentally flawed and, therefore, its judgment illegitimate. In the last pages of his dissenting judgment attached herewith Justice Pal states the following:
“As a judicial tribunal, we cannot behave in any manner which may justify the feeling that the setting up of the tribunal was only for the attainment of an objective which was essentially political though cloaked by a juridical appearance.”
“It has been said that A VICTOR CAN DISPENSE TO THE VANQUISHED EVERYTHING FROM MERCY TO VINDICTIVENESS; BUT THE ONE THING THE VICTOR CANNOT GIVE TO THE VANQUISHED IS JUSTICE. At least, if a tribunal be rooted in politics as opposed to law, no matter what its form and pretenses, the apprehension thus expressed would be real, unless “JUSTICE IS REALLY NOTHING ELSE THAN THE INTEREST OF THE STRONGER:”
“Had we been openly called upon to decide such political issues, the entire proceedings would have assumed a different appearance altogether and the scope of our enquiry would have been much wider than what we allowed it to assume. The past conduct of the persons under trial in such a case would have simply furnished some evidentiary facts; the real ultimate probandum
would have been the future threat to the ‘public order and safety’ of the world. There is absolutely no material before us to judge of any such future menace.”
 Justice Pal found all 27 accused not guilty.
As an Ontarian, I am find it disturbing to see the Ontario legislature engaged in continuation of this “theatre of revenge” that was the real face of the Tokyo Trials which took place more than 70 years ago!
As a parent and hopefully a grandparent sometime in the future, I am very concerned about our students being programmed with political propaganda materials such as “The Rape of Nanking”, a book riddled with so many factual errors, for example ALL its 34 photographs have been proven to be photoshopped, misappropriated, with unknown origins, or otherwise forged, that even a ‘liberal’ Japanese publisher Kashiwa Shobo could not get it published in Japan.
As a person of Japanese descent, I am mortified to see the disinformation war continues unabated against my country of birth and its people.
Please also understand that, belonging to an infinitesimally smaller minority, some of us feel more than intimidated by the much greater group, and your proposed Bill seems to us like an extension of CCP’s aggressive policies and military actions that already took over Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Uyghurs regions since its founding.
I urge you to immediately stop this absurd Bill from passing the third reading.
Personally, I have great respect for the people of China who, not only survive, but emerge as ever resilient, resourceful, caring and high achieving individuals many of whom continue to fight for freedom which we, in Canada, sadly take for granted. Who can forget that haunting image of a young man standing alone in front of an army tank in Tiananmen Square on June the 4th, 1989? If you must take a political stand, ask yourselves this: Which side are you on?
Your response to my objection to the proposed Bill 79 is required.
Sincerely,
Sharon Isac
Scarborough-Agincourt
33 Eaglestone Rd.
Toronto, ON
M1T 2J7
Cc: All Ontario MPPs