Nanjing, 1937
Do you know Chinese from Japanese? If not, then don't make the presumption either way, because neither will be very pleased if you make the mistake.
Daniel McNeill at Asia Times Online, "The Rape and Revision of Nanjing":
'A crop of new movies released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre is set to again dredge up the controversy about one of the 20th century's most notorious events. How will Japan react?
'One way to learn what happened in one of history's most noxious, but disputed, episodes is to ask Mizushima Satoru. After what he calls "exhaustive research" on the seizure of the then-Chinese capital by Japanese troops in 1937, estimated to have cost anywhere from 20,000 to 300,000 lives, Mizushima offers a very precise figure for the number of illegal deaths: zero.
'"The evidence for a massacre is faked," explains the president of right-wing webcast Channel Sakura. "It is Chinese communist propaganda." For support, he brandishes a book containing what he says are dozens of doctored photos. One shows a beheaded Chinese corpse with a cigarette stuck in its mouth. "Japanese people don't mistreat corpses like that," he says, stabbing the page for emphasis. "It is not in our culture."'
Also at Japan Focus: Daniel McNeill on the Japan culture wars and revisionist movement, and a detailed overview of the Nanjing "incident" by Fijiwara Akira.
Edit: The Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman directed documentary Nanking is now in cinemas in the US. GreenCine Daily has links to reviews and interviews. I watched it yesterday and bawled.
Daniel McNeill at Asia Times Online, "The Rape and Revision of Nanjing":
'A crop of new movies released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre is set to again dredge up the controversy about one of the 20th century's most notorious events. How will Japan react?
'One way to learn what happened in one of history's most noxious, but disputed, episodes is to ask Mizushima Satoru. After what he calls "exhaustive research" on the seizure of the then-Chinese capital by Japanese troops in 1937, estimated to have cost anywhere from 20,000 to 300,000 lives, Mizushima offers a very precise figure for the number of illegal deaths: zero.
'"The evidence for a massacre is faked," explains the president of right-wing webcast Channel Sakura. "It is Chinese communist propaganda." For support, he brandishes a book containing what he says are dozens of doctored photos. One shows a beheaded Chinese corpse with a cigarette stuck in its mouth. "Japanese people don't mistreat corpses like that," he says, stabbing the page for emphasis. "It is not in our culture."'
Also at Japan Focus: Daniel McNeill on the Japan culture wars and revisionist movement, and a detailed overview of the Nanjing "incident" by Fijiwara Akira.
Edit: The Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman directed documentary Nanking is now in cinemas in the US. GreenCine Daily has links to reviews and interviews. I watched it yesterday and bawled.