Museum council in Nagasaki torn over Nanking Massacre items

Asahi Shimbun

9 hours ago

NAGASAKI—Masamitsu Watanabe has intensified his campaign as head of the group of citizens for correcting atomic bomb exhibits in Nagasaki.
The 88-year-old and his group want displays related to the Nanking Massacre removed during work to renovate the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
In March, Watanabe raised the issue in a meeting with fellow members of the museum's operation council.
'What is your view on the historical facts of the Nanking Massacre?' asked Watanabe. 'There is no evidence. It is a fabrication.'
He asked a Nagasaki city official, who serves in the council's secretariat, whether the museum would continue showing materials on the 1937 incident after the renovation.
'Nothing has been decided at this point,' the official said.
Other council members voiced objections to Watanabe's assertion.
'I cannot accept the claim that it was entirely a fantasy as a historical fact,' one said.
The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum features displays on the devastation wrought by the 1945 atomic bombing and the development of nuclear weapons.
Other exhibits include those on the invasions and acts of aggression committed by the Imperial Japanese Army, including the Nanking Massacre, presenting a multifaceted view of the history leading up to the atomic bombing.
A video display explains, with subtitles: 'During the occupation of Nanking, the Japanese military killed and assaulted Chinese prisoners of war and citizens, resulting in a massacre.'
Watanabe's group has repeatedly called for revisions to the exhibits since the museum opened in 1996.
'A facility meant to convey the message that nuclear weapons must never be used does not need to include exhibits on the history of the Japanese military,' a representative of the group said in an interview.
The museum's operation council consists of 20 members, such as representatives of groups of atomic bomb survivors, historians and officials of public interest organizations.
The city appointed Watanabe's group as a council member organization after revising some exhibits in response to the group's concerns at the time of the opening.
The Nanking Massacre is regarded as a symbol of Japan's acts of aggression during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The Chinese government claims that 300,000 people were killed. Japan's Foreign Ministry acknowledges that 'the killing of non-combatants and looting cannot be denied,' although it notes that estimates of the number of fatalities vary.
In a joint history research project between Japan and China conducted during the first Shinzo Abe administration, the Japanese side recognized the acts of massacre in Nanking, a city now called Nanjing.
In preparation for the museum's renovation, the city plans to temporarily remove the exhibits to be affected, including the video display explaining the Nanking Massacre.
'We will consider the specific content of the exhibits while listening to opinions of the operation council,' Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki told a news conference on Aug. 1.
In April, another citizens group submitted a written request to the city to maintain the exhibits on the acts of aggression.
'The displays on Japan's aggression will be watered down,' said Tatsuo Sekiguchi, 75, a member of the group. 'There are movements to erase Japan's negative history, and this issue goes far beyond the museum here.'
According to Noboru Tasaki, a former city official involved in the museum's construction, the intentions of former Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima were a major factor in determining the content of the museum exhibits.
Motoshima, who served between 1979 and 1995, announced plans to rebuild the museum's predecessor due to the aging of the facility during a city assembly session in December 1988.
He believed that 'any claim for abolishing nuclear weapons would be unconvincing without sincere reflection on the war,' according to Tasaki, 81.
In the Peace Memorial Ceremony in 1990, Motoshima, who also served as secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Nagasaki prefectural chapter, read his Nagasaki Peace Declaration. It included the word 'apology' for foreign atomic bomb survivors for the first time.
His principles were carried on by his successor, Iccho Itoh, who served between 1995 and 2007.
In a city assembly session, Itoh emphasized the importance of exhibits on the acts of aggression, saying, 'Without our own reflection, appeals for the abolition of nuclear weapons will never reach the world.'
Exhibits on Japan's wartime acts of aggression have been removed or downsized at museums and facilities nationwide.
The Osaka International Peace Center, which displays damage of the Osaka air raids, removed its exhibits on acts of aggression as part of a renovation in 2015, the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Some prefectural assembly members criticized the center for displaying 'many biased exhibits,' prompting the foundation operating the facility to scale them back.
In Gunma Prefecture, a cenotaph commemorating Korean workers who died during the war was dismantled last year.
The prefectural government determined that remarks made during a memorial ceremony, such as 'forced relocation,' violated the conditions for the monument's installation.
'Exhibits on Japan's aggression are decreasing across the country,' said Masahiko Yamabe, a former curator at the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, who has surveyed history museums and peace centers nationwide.
'But they are essential to conveying the full picture of the war. Local governments must not engage in self-censorship out of fear of external protests,' Yamabe, 79, said.
The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum opened as part of a project to mark the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
The museum underwent partial renovations for the 60th and 70th anniversaries, but the content of the exhibits has remained largely unchanged since its opening.
The outcome of the discussions surrounding the 80th anniversary renovation remains uncertain.
(This article was written by Takashi Ogawa and Junya Sakamoto.)