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 A Courageous Japanese Journalist Tells The Truth About Japan's 1937 Crimes Against Humanity
In Japan Honda Katsuichi has been revered as among his country's finest journalists in print media. But sadly, his excellent journalism pertaining to the horrific acts committed by Imperial Japanese military forces against helpless Chinese prisoners of war and civilians during the three month-long campaign in late 1937 and early 1938 that led to the fall of Nanking (Nanjing) - then the Republic of China's capital - has been ignored or harshly criticized (or both) by his fellow Japanese, who still cling stubbornly to the historical fiction that they too, were victims, because of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (I have a question for those Japanese - including several previous Amazon.com reviewers who've demonstrated that they are delusional - who still deny the great, wanton crimes against humanity inflicted upon Asians, Americans and Europeans by the Empire of Japan in its ruthless attempt to create a "Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" in the 1930s and 1940s. Why do you think the United States felt compelled to use the atom bomb against Japan? Could one of the reasons be the savage, genocidal war which Japan's military forces waged against the Chinese from 1937 to 1945? In stark contrast, Germany, Austria, and Italy have atoned for their crimes against humanity. When will Japan's elected government make the same admission?).
Honda Katsuichi's "The Nanjing Massacre" isn't an easy book to read, since it is replete with many eyewitness accounts, by Chinese survivors whom Honda interviewed personally in the 1970s and 1980s, that provide clear, compelling evidence of countless acts of genocide by Japanese military forces against the Chinese, and especially, brutal treatment of civilians, including, most infamously, raping adult women and girls, and sexual molestation such as stabbing them in their vaginas with bayonets and swords. It is a better, far more accurate, book than Iris Chang's justly celebrated "The Rape of Nanking", since it shows that Japanese acts of genocidal brutality did not begin with the fall of Nanking in mid December, 1937, but instead, started as soon as Japanese troops waded ashore at Hangzhou Bay, more than a month before. This American edition also includes excerpts from previous and more recent books written by Honda on Japanese military atrocities during the campaign to take Nanking, as well as revealing excerpts from the diaries of Japanese soldiers who were guilty of committing these crimes. If nothing else, Honda's books ought to be required reading in Japanese classrooms, and the English translation of this book may one day compel the Japanese government to atone for the genocidal actions of its military forces - most notably the Imperial Japanese Army - in the 1930s and 1940s.
japanese= devil race
Japan has committed some of the world's worst atrocities in history (nanking massacre, unit 731, batton death march, comfort women, pearl harbor, ect..) and they still refuse to apologize, compensate, or make an accurate history in there textbooks. Why is Japan so cowardly and instead try to make their amends to their victims of the horrible crimes against humanity. No wonder people call Japan a "devil" race.
 Putting things into perspective
In response to the reviewer below, I must say that it isn't true that 99.9% of the Japanese do not know about the "rape of Nanjing," or that Japan has not apologized at all. We do know it and it's in our history textbooks as well, granted that we are not taught that part of history as much in detail as those in China or Korea. The Japanese government has also apologized on numerous occasions, the question of their sincerity aside. Partly abetted by the nationalist trend that is currently on the rise in Japan, a handful of historians are attempting to rewrite the history; however, it is absolutely wrong that the whole nation is completely ignorant of the matter. Any attempt to appeal to sensationalism or fervent patriotism just adds fuel to the fire.
As for the book in question, this is a pretty good traversal of the matter, though some call into question the impartiality of the evidence employed.
 Japanese does not apologize at all!
I have to tell you that I am Korean and as people know we hate Japanese! Japan still state that the Japanese have not killed any Korean and Chinese and 99.99% of the population does not know anything about the horrible torture they did on Korea and China! Also, the Japanese states that Dokdo is their land when it has been owned by Korea for more than 6 centuries! So stop pretending to be apologizing Japan! You guys did that 5 times already! We won't get fooled agaiN!
Detractors Blinded by Hate
This is one of several books detailing the atrocities Japan committed in China during WWII, atrocities the Japanese and their government have yet to face up to in a mature and honest manner. I suppose, for Japan, it's a matter of losing face, and if that's so, Japan has a lot face to lose. Those who deny the Nanjing butchery are so blinded by their hate of communism that any truth exposed by anyone who even minutely appears to support China's view is instantly shrugged off as a lie(s). The bottom line is, the Nanjing Massacre and other Japanese atrocities are about as untrue as the existence of the Comfort Women (Chinese and Korean women kidnapped by Japanese soldiers so as to whore themelves among the Japanese military), and the Bataan Death March where so many American and British military and civilians were murdered along the long walk to Japanese POW camps, none of which Japan has yet to come to terms with either. In fact, the Japanese government even refuses to discuss the Comfort Women.
Those who deny Japan's responsibilty are the same kind we in the west refer to as revisionists when they say the Holocaust never happened. They're not revisionsists; they're liars. A few of the reviews of this book are so full of philosophical and political claptrap that it reminds one of a cheap hamburger loaded with filler. Unfortunatley, the burger is so full of God-knows-what that instead of pleasing the customer with its juicy full rounded appearance, one distasteful bite and you instantly realize you're about to throw up.
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