China Exclusive: Japanese civilians recount childhood memories of killing, torture

Accounts of two Japanese civilians in China during World War II have shed light on the militaristic education system of the Japanese puppet state "Manchukuo."

Professor Qi Hongshen collected the accounts of more than 2,000 witnesses for his research on education in Manchukuo, the puppet state established by the Japanese to control northeast China from 1932 to 1945. He shared with Xinhua the memories of two Japanese citizens who lived under the regime.

Syo Nomura was born in 1926 to a doctor's family in northeast China's Dalian City, and the family soon moved to Shenyang. Nomura, who passed away in 1996, left a verbal account of his experiences in Manchukuo.

Nomura said he grew up listening to military songs as lullabies and the constant artillery roars of the Japanese troops. His education portrayed the Japanese invasion as a salvation mission that went awry.

"We had been told that Japan extended its helping hand when China suffered political and economic turbulence and its people lived miserably. Japan could not understand why the Chinese rose in revolt, and the Chinese were punished," according to Qi's transcript of Nomura's account.

Japan increased its military presence in northeast China after WWI and launched large-scale invasions to occupy the region after the Mukden Incident in 1931, when Japanese troops blew up a railway and accused Chinese troops of sabotage. Manchukuo was founded a year later, when Nomura was enrolled in primary school.

Though the emperor and cabinet were all Chinese, Nomura knew who was really in control. At a police station near his house, the inhumane treatment of the Chinese by Japanese police was a common scene, Nomura said.

"Some were dragged along by motorcycles with their hands tied. Some police interrogated Chinese by inserting a hose into their mouths and pouring water through it. They performed all sorts of torture in front of children without restraint, which left a very deep impression on us."

The tensions of war could also be felt at school. As the Chinese resistance forced the Japanese into a protracted war, local schools gave students pistols, bayonets and even grenades to use in training and to mimic battles during sporting events.

Nomura remembered one summer day when he and his middle school classmates performed an armed march in the countryside as part of their out-of-school curriculum. A tractor approached, and a "Manchukuo army" officer stepped down with a group of prisoners, chained and blindfolded.

The officer herded the prisoners into the students' ranks and ordered them to kneel down. Then without warning, he killed them with a pistol.

"My brain went blank," Nomura said. "It all happened in a moment, but watching people killed right in front of me was a really horrible experience. We were astonished. Nobody said a word on our way back to school."

"THE COUNTRY'S FUTURE WORRIES ME"

Setsuko Fujimori, who was born in northeast China in 1932 and spent 15 years there, also recalled her pro-Japanese education and the rampant discrimination in Manchukuo schools in a verbal account.

Japanese language courses were emphasized in school, and teachers were encouraged to use Japanese in class. Students were banned from using Mandarin Chinese, and they weren't allowed to study Chinese culture or history, according to Qi's transcript of her account.

While Japanese students had meals with rice in the school canteen, their Chinese classmates only ate corn in a separate, filthy canteen. Eating rice was considered an economic crime if Chinese people did it, and the violation came with serious punishment, she recalled.

"These things happened again and again under Japanese reign. The Chinese were suffering and fighting."

Fujimori returned to Japan in 1947, two years after Japan surrendered. In May 1947, Japan enacted a postwar constitution that renounced the right to wage war.

"The war was over, and Japan would never again go to war. I felt very happy about it at the time."

But Fujimori, who passed away in February, expressed deep concern over Japan's future as the country pushed ahead a revision of its pacifist constitution.

"I feel obliged to record my experience and thoughts for future generations," she said. Endi