Japan civic group urges Abe to visit Nanjing and other victimized places

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should also visit Nanjing and other places victimized by Japan during WWII, other than the Pearl Harbor, said a Japanese civic group dedicated to upholding and developing the well-known Murayama Statement.

Abe should apologize for Japan's invasion of Asian countries during the war, the group went on to say in a statement issued here on Tuesday.

"The Japanese Imperial Army killed far more civilians in the Nanjing Massacre, the germ warfare in Harbin and in some other places in Asia, and it is intolerable just to memorize the dead of the U.S., while ignoring the victims in Asian countries," said Takakage Fujita, director general of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement.

"Japan should face up to history, and only by doing that can Japan reconcile with its Asian neighbors and make an important step towards coexistence and co-development," he said.

The Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement was founded in 2013, aiming to uphold the 1995 Murayama Statement, and to reflect upon Japan's wartime history and promote peace.

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued a statement on Aug. 15, 1995, apologizing for the tremendous damage and suffering Japan had caused, through its colonial rule and aggression, to the people of many countries.

In China, Japanese forces attacked the barracks of Chinese troops in Shenyang, northeastern province of Liaoning on Sept. 18, 1931, marking the beginning of a Japanese invasion and occupation that lasted 14 years.

As the nadir of an era in which China was bullied and humiliated by the Japanese invaders, the Nanjing Massacre left a deep psychological scar on the Chinese for generations to come.

On Dec. 13, 1937, Nanjing, the Chinese capital for six dynasties, fell to Japanese invaders who went on to slaughter civilians for more than a month. About 300,000 Chinese were killed, and 20,000 women raped.

Shinzo Abe, the incumbent Prime Minister of Japan, left for Pearl Harbor on Monday where he is slated to attend a ceremony with U.S. President Barack Obama to remember the thousands of U.S. soldiers and civilians killed during a surprise attack by Japan there on Dec. 7, 1941.

Abe has intended the trip to be a symbol of reconciliation.

However, his top spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, made it clear that during Abe's visit that "no apology would be offered" for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Abe's no-apology stance has evoked doubts and criticism that the visit is only a diplomatic show aiming to score political points and strengthen Japan's alliance with the U.S. while constituting no reflection upon the war. Endit