This chapter introduces an essay by Masayuki Takayama, widely regarded as a singular journalist of the postwar era. Contemporary population figures, newspaper photographs, and literary accounts from the period reveal stark inconsistencies in claims of a sustained mass massacre in Nanjing.

2016-04-21
The following is a chapter introducing an essay by Masayuki Takayama, the only journalist of his kind in the postwar world, which I previously presented on January 6. Emphasis within the text is mine. At that time, Nanjing did not even have 200,000 civilians. After the Japanese army entered the city, calm returned, and photographs of Japanese soldiers having their beards shaved by Chinese barbers at roadside stalls were even published in Asahi Shimbun. The writer Tatsuzo Ishikawa, who came to Nanjing as a member of a reporting team during what China claims was a massacre in which 7,000 people were killed every day for six uninterrupted weeks, of course did not witness any such massacre. In his later work, Wuhan Campaign, he includes passages based on the scenery of Nanjing at that time. Sergeant Noguchi speaks to a private. “You’re limping. Have you fully recovered?” “I will be completely well in two or three days.” “Which hospital were you in until now?” “I was in Nanjing.” “Has Nanjing become lively?” “Yes. There are cafés and everything now. Neon signs are lit.” To be continued.