TOKYO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- A number of Japanese history scholars and peace activists held a symposium in Tokyo on Wednesday to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the September 18 Incident, which marked the start of Japan's 14-year invasion of China.
Under the theme "Historical Memory and Inheritance," participants shared views on war memory, accountability for wartime aggression, and the passing down of ideals of peace.
The symposium was held simultaneously at venues in Tokyo and Changchun in northeast China via video link. In their remarks, several participants pointed out that Japanese militarist aggression inflicted enormous suffering on the Chinese people, and that Japan should confront its history of aggression, reflect on its responsibility for the war, uphold the pacifist constitution, and ensure that memories of Japan's history as an aggressor are passed on to future generations.
In his address, Takakage Fujita, secretary-general of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement, said the September 18 Incident had been concealed by the Japanese government for a long period during the war and only gradually became known to Japanese society through the Tokyo Trials, which came as a shock to many Japanese people.
Speaking about the inheritance of war memory in Japanese society, Miyuki Endo, a member of the Fushun's Miracles Inheritance Association, said it has long focused primarily on Japan's own suffering, such as the atomic bombings and air raids, while insufficient attention has been paid to the country's history as an aggressor.
She said the root cause of Japan's own suffering was its decision to wage the war of aggression. "Only by understanding what the Japanese military did in China, seriously confronting the facts of Japan's aggression and deeply reflecting on them can genuine friendship between Japan and China be achieved," Endo said.
Teruaki Okayama, a member of the Sino-Japanese Oral History and Culture Research Association, spoke about reflection and apology from the perspective of a descendant of a war participant.
Okayama said an apology must be accompanied by genuine reflection, arguing that what Japan truly needs to reflect on is not only the more than decade-long war that started with the September 18 Incident, but the kind of modern state Japan had become -- one that began with the invasion of the Korean Peninsula and China, eventually set itself against the world, and brought immense catastrophe both at home and abroad.
In his view, unless Japan fundamentally examines why the war occurred in the first place, any apology risks remaining nothing more than words.
Some participants also drew on history to voice concern about the direction of Japan's current security policy. Yoshikatsu Ueda, secretary-general of a Japanese association for peace and war-bereaved families, said the Japanese government should reflect on its war of aggression, apologize to the victims and countries and regions that suffered from it, uphold the spirit of the pacifist constitution, and promote peace through sustained diplomatic efforts and dialogue. ■