Mainstream narratives conceal critical facts.
This essay examines how UNESCO’s registration of Chinese-submitted “Nanjing Massacre documents,” despite their inaccessibility, shaped Japanese textbooks and public perception.

May 10, 2016

The following are facts that people who read only the Asahi Shimbun will never understand.
They concern articles published on the front page and page seven of the May 2 issue of the Sankei Shimbun.
All emphasis in the text, except for the headline, is mine.

“Massacre Theory Penetrates Textbooks”

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) registered the “Nanjing Massacre Documents” submitted by China as part of the Memory of the World program in October last year.
They are said to consist of documents and photographs showing a “great massacre,” but their details have not been disclosed.
This is because China refuses to make them public.
On April 28, Makita Shimokawa, Director-General for International Cultural Exchange at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained at a Liberal Democratic Party meeting that the Chinese side was refusing access to most of the registered materials, citing “technical issues.”
The registered materials are stored in Chinese public archives and similar facilities.
After the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed some of the materials at certain facilities, it attempted to proceed with verification in February, only to see China abruptly change its stance.
As a result, the Japanese government has still been unable to verify the authenticity of the registered materials.
Some lawmakers in attendance commented that “perhaps they are not showing them because it is inconvenient for them.”
Although China hides the very materials that are supposed to be the “evidence” of the Nanjing Massacre, the incident is now described as an established “fact” in Japanese textbooks.
“After occupying Nanjing in December, the Japanese army violated international law by killing large numbers of prisoners and assaulting and killing many civilians, including the elderly, women, and children (the Nanjing Incident).”
This passage appears in the middle school history textbook Manabiya (Tokyo), which will be used from this academic year in more than thirty national and private junior high schools, including elite institutions such as Tsukuba University-affiliated Komaba Junior High School and Nada Junior High School.
Tokyo Shoseki’s middle school history textbook also states that “many Chinese people, including civilians such as women and children and prisoners, were killed (the Nanjing Incident),” adding a note that it is “also called the ‘Nanjing Massacre.’”
The “Nanjing Incident” was not consistently included in history textbooks throughout the postwar period.
In the case of Tokyo Shoseki’s middle school textbook, the term “Nanjing Massacre” first appeared in the edition for the 1978 academic year (approved in 1977).
At that time, the number of victims was described as “an enormous number,” but later editions came to state that “it is said to exceed 200,000” and that “China estimates more than 300,000” (1984 edition).
“The first appearance of the Nanjing Incident in textbooks occurred during the middle school textbook screening for the 1974 academic year.”
To be continued.