In 2005, a Japanese female reporter interviewed a Nanjing Massacre veteran and asked,"When is the happiest day in my life?" The veteran grinned: "I occupied Nanjing for one month." Ask again,"What is the most painful thing?" He lowered his face: "The day the Americans surrendered."
Reporter Matsuoka was stunned. She didn't expect this person to say such words with a smile. This matter has to start from the beginning. Matsuoka is not in history or the government. She was originally a primary school teacher.
In 1988, she first heard about "Nanjing" in Nanjing, China, and listened to an elderly man telling her about the blood and fire she had seen in 1988.
She wasn't trying to settle old scores. She said, "I just want our children to know what war is like." But here's the question. She wants to find out the truth. Are those veterans willing to tell it? Can they tell the truth?
At first, no one took care of her.She knocked on the door of a family, and some called her “traitor,” and directed the police.But she bitten her teeth and kept on. Ten years later, she interviewed more than 250 old soldiers in total.
One of them was the old man who said that he was "the happiest person in Nanjing" who was interviewed that day.The old man was the 16th division of the Japanese Army, the "Kyoto Division", one of the main forces of the Nanjing massacre.
At the beginning of his twenty years, he was an ordinary soldier, but after hearing about what he did in Nanjing, nobody could sleep.
Matsumoto ring asked him, "Which day is the happiest day in your life?" he said, "It took up that month in Nanjing." she asked, "Where is your most painful day?" he said, "The day of surrender."
Speaking of which, you may think that this old man is crazy. But he's actually sober. He remembers how those Japanese soldiers "dealt with prisoners" in Nanjing. He said "deal with it", but Matsuoka knew that it was a mass murder.
This morning I was the chief of their division, clearly written in the diary, captured 100,000 people, "all dealt with".
In a competition between hundreds of people, two officers cut faster; they were buried alive and pushed people in rows into pits and then covered with soil; they were stabbed with bayonets on anyone they saw on the street; women were dragged into the military camp, and those who came out died.
The Qinhuai River is red, and the air is burning. Even the Japanese soldiers themselves said: "I'm tired of killing people every day." But this old man actually said that it was his "happiest" day.
You say it's not crazy, what? but he's not a crazy person. After the interview, Matsumoto ring arranged the video and published it in China.
Some say, “His happiness is the hell of our ancestors,” others say, “This is not a loss of memory, it is a deliberate forgetfulness.”
In Japan, almost no one cares about this matter. Matsuoka played the video during the lecture, and right-wing activists drove propaganda trucks to block her school, saying she was "smearing Japan."
Someone harassed her by telephone, someone sent a pamphlet at the place where her children went to school, and even someone threatened her “Don’t check anymore.” she didn’t stop. she said, “I’m not Chinese, and I’m not to condemn anyone.
Over the years, she has traveled to Nanjing dozens of times and found more than 180 survivors. Everyone's memories are like knives. Some watched their family members be killed, some were raped, some were buried alive and climbed out, surrounded by corpses.
She matched these testimonies one by one with the veterans' statements. The results were surprisingly consistent. Some veterans said that they fired machine guns on villages, killing 1,200 people at a time; Some say they burned the whole street; Some say they even bet on who can rape more women.
These testimonies, like a mirror, on one side are the "glorious memories" of the perpetrators, on the other side are the tears of the victims.
In fact, the year the war ended, the old man was only over thirty. he said that the day when he heard Japan surrender, he cried for a day. he was not afraid, but felt "Japan lost."
But from the beginning to the end, he did not mention those dead Chinese. in his eyes only "empire" and "glory". but this "glory" was exchanged for three hundred thousand lives.
From 1988 to 2005, and to this day, the Matsumoto Ring has been doing the same thing, she said, “We Japanese should not forget those who died under our guns.”
Her investigation has led many Chinese to see the truth, and many Japanese to no longer pretend to be deaf, but she is also clear that this war cannot be won by one person.
After 2005, Chinese netizens launched online memorial activities, and more and more people began to pay attention to the Nanjing Holocaust.In 2014, the country established the "National Holocaust Day", on December 13, each year, a minute of silence across the country.
The whole world is remembering this history, and only a fraction of the Japanese are still choosing to forget.In 2021, there are only 61 survivors of the Nanjing Holocaust.
The world’s worst fear is not war, but forgetting war.Because forgetting is possible, it can come back.Mongogam Ring said: “I’m not going to let you hate anyone.I just want you to know what war is.”
The veteran lived for a few years and later died in a nursing home. Some people say that he lived a good life in his later years, that he could eat and sleep soundly. But you know what? The month when he was happy was the most painful month for Nanjing people.
Reporter Matsuoka was stunned. She didn't expect this person to say such words with a smile. This matter has to start from the beginning. Matsuoka is not in history or the government. She was originally a primary school teacher.
In 1988, she first heard about "Nanjing" in Nanjing, China, and listened to an elderly man telling her about the blood and fire she had seen in 1988.
She wasn't trying to settle old scores. She said, "I just want our children to know what war is like." But here's the question. She wants to find out the truth. Are those veterans willing to tell it? Can they tell the truth?
At first, no one took care of her.She knocked on the door of a family, and some called her “traitor,” and directed the police.But she bitten her teeth and kept on. Ten years later, she interviewed more than 250 old soldiers in total.
One of them was the old man who said that he was "the happiest person in Nanjing" who was interviewed that day.The old man was the 16th division of the Japanese Army, the "Kyoto Division", one of the main forces of the Nanjing massacre.
At the beginning of his twenty years, he was an ordinary soldier, but after hearing about what he did in Nanjing, nobody could sleep.
Matsumoto ring asked him, "Which day is the happiest day in your life?" he said, "It took up that month in Nanjing." she asked, "Where is your most painful day?" he said, "The day of surrender."
Speaking of which, you may think that this old man is crazy. But he's actually sober. He remembers how those Japanese soldiers "dealt with prisoners" in Nanjing. He said "deal with it", but Matsuoka knew that it was a mass murder.
This morning I was the chief of their division, clearly written in the diary, captured 100,000 people, "all dealt with".
In a competition between hundreds of people, two officers cut faster; they were buried alive and pushed people in rows into pits and then covered with soil; they were stabbed with bayonets on anyone they saw on the street; women were dragged into the military camp, and those who came out died.
The Qinhuai River is red, and the air is burning. Even the Japanese soldiers themselves said: "I'm tired of killing people every day." But this old man actually said that it was his "happiest" day.
You say it's not crazy, what? but he's not a crazy person. After the interview, Matsumoto ring arranged the video and published it in China.
Some say, “His happiness is the hell of our ancestors,” others say, “This is not a loss of memory, it is a deliberate forgetfulness.”
In Japan, almost no one cares about this matter. Matsuoka played the video during the lecture, and right-wing activists drove propaganda trucks to block her school, saying she was "smearing Japan."
Someone harassed her by telephone, someone sent a pamphlet at the place where her children went to school, and even someone threatened her “Don’t check anymore.” she didn’t stop. she said, “I’m not Chinese, and I’m not to condemn anyone.
Over the years, she has traveled to Nanjing dozens of times and found more than 180 survivors. Everyone's memories are like knives. Some watched their family members be killed, some were raped, some were buried alive and climbed out, surrounded by corpses.
She matched these testimonies one by one with the veterans' statements. The results were surprisingly consistent. Some veterans said that they fired machine guns on villages, killing 1,200 people at a time; Some say they burned the whole street; Some say they even bet on who can rape more women.
These testimonies, like a mirror, on one side are the "glorious memories" of the perpetrators, on the other side are the tears of the victims.
In fact, the year the war ended, the old man was only over thirty. he said that the day when he heard Japan surrender, he cried for a day. he was not afraid, but felt "Japan lost."
But from the beginning to the end, he did not mention those dead Chinese. in his eyes only "empire" and "glory". but this "glory" was exchanged for three hundred thousand lives.
From 1988 to 2005, and to this day, the Matsumoto Ring has been doing the same thing, she said, “We Japanese should not forget those who died under our guns.”
Her investigation has led many Chinese to see the truth, and many Japanese to no longer pretend to be deaf, but she is also clear that this war cannot be won by one person.
After 2005, Chinese netizens launched online memorial activities, and more and more people began to pay attention to the Nanjing Holocaust.In 2014, the country established the "National Holocaust Day", on December 13, each year, a minute of silence across the country.
The whole world is remembering this history, and only a fraction of the Japanese are still choosing to forget.In 2021, there are only 61 survivors of the Nanjing Holocaust.
The world’s worst fear is not war, but forgetting war.Because forgetting is possible, it can come back.Mongogam Ring said: “I’m not going to let you hate anyone.I just want you to know what war is.”
The veteran lived for a few years and later died in a nursing home. Some people say that he lived a good life in his later years, that he could eat and sleep soundly. But you know what? The month when he was happy was the most painful month for Nanjing people.