General Iwane Matsui, commander of the Japanese expeditionary force in China, is shown entering Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China, on December 17, 1937. At the postwar Tokyo Tribunal, Matsui testified, "I never received any official reports (about the massacre). And I only learned about it through broadcasts by the US military after the war." (December 1937)
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The film Nanjing Zhaoxiangguan, a war story about the occupation of Nanjing by the Japanese Imperial Army in 1937, is currently showing to large crowds in China. It has become a hot topic in the news. Although the official English title is "Dead to Rights," the Chinese literally means "Nanjing Photo Studio."
China normally holds events to commemorate the alleged "Nanjing Massacre" in December. That coincides with the period when the Japanese Imperial Army entered the city, which was then the capital of the Republic of China. However, this year, 80 years after the end of the war, the film was released to theaters months earlier. It was timed to come before the massive parade marking the end of World War II, scheduled for September 3 near Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
In fact, it is only one of many anti-Japan films and exhibitions inundating China in the buildup to September 3. Officially, the Chinese government has designated the date as "the Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War."
Made to Incite Hatred
The film tells the story of how a group of local residents attempted to smuggle the negatives of photos of "atrocities" out of the city. A Japanese military photographer has ordered them to develop the negatives, but they want to let the world know what was happening.
This contrived plot is a perfect example of China's predilection for prioritizing propaganda over facts.
Nanjing Zhaoxiangguan was released on July 25. Thereafter, the Japanese version of China Global Television Network (CGTN), the international division of China's state-run Central Television (CCTV), reported that the film had grossed over ¥1.5 billion RMB (approximately $219 million USD, or ¥30.86 billion JPY) during the first 10 days after its release.
After watching the film, a Chinese influencer posted on social media: "All that remains is hatred. There is absolutely no way we can coexist with the Japanese." That comment in itself caused a stir.
The Japanese Embassy in Beijing sent an email to Japanese residents in China, saying, "Due to rising anti-Japan sentiment, it is necessary to exercise special vigilance."
Photos of Unknown Origin
The plot of the film concerns 16 photographs. They are the same ones submitted when China applied to register "Documents of Nanjing Massacre" in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Memory of the World Register in 2015.
Installment 14 of The Sankei Shimbun's long-running series "History Wars" was devoted to questions surrounding these same 16 photographs. It appeared in December of that same year. It notes the background:
"One day in January 1938, 15-year-old Luo Jin, who was working at a photo shop in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, secretly made copies of film that a Japanese Army lieutenant had asked him to develop and pasted them into a notebook he then hid. The photo album was later lost, but was found and kept by an acquaintance, Wu Xuan, and was submitted to the postwar Nanjing Military Tribunal.
This story is an episode related to '16 photographs preserved by Luo Jin, a resident of Nanjing, at the risk of death.' [It is] one of the 'Documents of Nanjing Massacre' that China has registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World. The 16 photographs were also used as 'primary evidence' in the trial of former Army Lieutenant General Hisao Tani."
Analyzing the Chinese Deception
In the January 2018 issue of the monthly magazine Seiron, Takashi Nadata, a researcher at the Institute for the Humanities, College of Literature and Science, Nihon University, wrote: "Westerners are aware of the Japanese people's penchant for taking photographs. So the explanation that 'we obtained the photographs taken by a Japanese' increased the credibility of the photographs of unknown origin. This explains why the propaganda impact of photographs remains so strong."
That explanation also applies to the current Nanjing Zhaoxiangguan uproar. The problem is that these 16 photographs have already been registered as UNESCO Memory of the World artifacts.
Professor Nakada refuted their validity, writing: "Those 16 photographs were nothing more than propaganda photos used by the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) during the Second Sino-Japanese War… Other than being wartime propaganda, they cannot be considered as authentic historical documents that can withstand verification and are therefore not worthy of being included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register."
Pure Fabrication
The Japanese version of CGTN has posted the movie's trailer on its "X" account. The footage shows a scene of Japanese Imperial Army soldiers with rifles mowing down people standing by a river, with their dead bodies falling onto the riverbed.
However, Kenichi Ara, a researcher of modern history and representative of the private organization Nankin no Shinjitsu Kokumin Undo (National Movement for the Truth about Nanjing), offers the following rebuttal.
"In the final stages of the Battle of Nanking, the 45th Infantry Regiment fought a fierce battle with Chinese Nationalist forces between the west side of Nanking and the Yangtze River. After that, the Sasaki Brigade of the 16th Division, led by Major General Toichi Sasaki, cornered Chinese forces in the commercial district of Hsiakuan (Xiaguan), killing many of them. These (the bodies shown in the photos) were likely the corpses photographed by Japanese soldiers on the banks of the Yangtze River about a week later. I believe that China was well aware of the presence of bodies near the Yangtze River and made it look like civilians and others had been executed on the riverbank."
Considering the evidence, Ara concluded that Japanese forces "did not massacre civilians."
Abundant Inauthenticity
On his group's official website, Ara also raises several other doubts about the veracity of the movie Nanjing Zhaoxiangguan. His objections include:
"The uniforms worn by the Japanese soldiers are quite different from what they actually wore in Nanjing since it was winter."
"The photographs shown include one of a Japanese soldier holding a bayoneted infant in the air and another of a Japanese soldier holding a severed head, stamped 'unauthorized' by the military authorities. But the uniforms worn by the 'Japanese soldiers' are not actual Japanese issue."
Ara also writes, "The location where the photo was taken and who the photographer was are completely unknown."
General Iwane Matsui was the commander of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force in charge of the capture of Nanjing. Matsui was conscientious concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, Ara also contends. He forcefully asserts that China's claims of massacres of prisoners of war and civilians are "complete fabrications."
Lack Academic Credibility
In the January 2021 issue of the monthly Seiron, Ryosuke Nagatani analyzed 20 books and 114 documents were registered as memory heritage artifacts.
The Deputy Secretary-General of the Historical Awareness Research Committee concluded: "Only about one-tenth of the materials China provided as proof of its claim that a 'mass killings' of over 300,000 people had occurred in Nanjing were of any academic value whatsoever. Moreover, from what I have myself seen, none of them provides evidence that a 'major massacre' actually took place."
Nagatani echoes Nakada in saying: "If UNESCO finds that documents cannot prove that murders occurred, they should be promptly removed from the register."
In addition, he calls for the deregistration of the materials in question: "If materials that could lead to false accusations remain registered, it could shake the very foundations of democratic nations and states governed by the rule of law."
Facing Off against China's Anti-Japan Propaganda Campaign
How should the Japanese government respond to such historical distortions? Journalist Yoshiko Sakurai, whose new book Shinchuha 80 Nen no Uso (80 Years of Lies of the Pro-China Faction) was published by Sankei Shimbun Publications on July 28, questions the Japanese government's response to date.
"No matter how you look at it, in the face of China's vicious propaganda campaign, the foreign information strategies pursued by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been an abject failure. It is using a budget of ¥50 billion ($340 million) to build 'Japan Houses' abroad and promote anime and Japanese food. It claims it will also address issues like the 'comfort women' and the Nanjing Incident. But we cannot get through the ongoing 'history wars' by simply putting up facilities like a Japan House. It is time to go all-out in developing a national strategy regarding information.
"That is something I wrote back in January 2015. However, even looking at the implementation report on the Japan House initiative, I can see that although there have been events related to Japan-China relations and Japan-Russia relations, there have never been any events that dealt with the "Nanjing Massacre" or the 'comfort women' issue."
Xi's Longterm Anti-Japan Theme
Ten years ago, President Xi Jinping invited then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to attend the huge September 3rd ceremony in Beijing. At that time, China was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the so-called War of Resistance against Japan.
Xi insisted that the ceremony was not aimed at Japan. However, in the remarks he delivered that day, Xi condemned the "Japanese militarist aggressors" for having acted extremely cruelly, using unimaginably horrific means to try to colonize and enslave the Chinese people.
Ten years have passed since then. At their heart, the Chinese Communist Party's methods have not changed. Nevertheless, Chinese propagandists are now more skillfully instilling anti-Japanese sentiment both at home and abroad through films and other means.
Targeting Foreign Audiences
On August 7, Nanjing Zhaoxiangguan was released in Australia and New Zealand under the English title, "Dead to Rights." It is also due to be released in other foreign markets outside of Japan, including the United States, Canada, Russia, and South Korea.
In her book, Sakurai repeatedly calls for Japan to stand up and fight back against the international anti-Japan information war.
"What Japan should do is continue to refute China's propaganda campaign head-on with facts," she argues. "There is no need to be arrogant, but we should realize that the world supports Japan. We should present our views with confidence."
Japan should boldly assert that the "Nanjing Massacre," in which 300,000 people are alleged to have died, is a historical hoax devised by China.
RELATED:
- Nanjing Massacre: Where Did the 300,000 Death Toll Come From?
- Caution Advised as Beijing Rewrites History for its Japan-bashing Extravaganza
- Confront the CCP's Historical Lies and Seek Liberation
(For access to the article in Japanese)
Author: Takashi Arimoto, Deputy Managing Editor, The Sankei Shimbun.
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