Shimizu Hideo's bow is also a question for Japan's future
2024-08-14
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On the morning of August 13, Shimizu Hideo, a former member of the Japanese Army's Unit 731 who invaded China, and his party came to the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of the Japanese Army's Unit 731 in Harbin to identify and apologize. He said that the Japanese government has never sincerely apologized to China, and he has always hoped to have the opportunity to come to China to repent and apologize, and also hopes to arouse more people's reflection and vigilance. This behavior can be understood as self-salvation, and it also reflects the courage to restore history and reflect on aggression, which is in sharp contrast to the attitude of the Japanese government on historical issues.
Unit 731 is an extremely dark page in the history of human civilization, and is also one of the main evidences of the Japanese militarist conspiracy to launch biological warfare and carry out genocide. From 1937 to 1945, Unit 731 used living Chinese, Koreans, and Allied prisoners of war to conduct experiments on the effects of biological and chemical weapons in the name of "researching disease prevention and drinking water purification." The experiments included live dissection, live incineration, frostbite experiments, plague experiments, human-animal blood exchange, and specimens made from pregnant women and infants, etc. Its beastly behavior broke through the bottom line of humanity. According to the confessions of war criminals who served in Unit 731, no less than 3,000 soldiers and civilians from various countries were killed in the experiments. During the entire Japanese invasion of China, more than one million Chinese soldiers and civilians died due to the Japanese army's biological warfare. The crimes of Unit 731 and Japanese militarism are too numerous to list.
After Japan surrendered, due to the Japanese government's cover-up and the United States' protection, most members of Unit 731 escaped trial, and some even held important positions in the Japanese government and society. However, some people with a clear conscience took the initiative to admit their crimes. When Shimizu Hideo was 14 years old, he stayed in Harbin for 4 months as a member of the last "boy team" of Unit 731. He was a participant in the aggression and a victim of Japanese militarism. He once ate steamed buns with germs and almost became the object of vivisection by Unit 731.We often say that Japanese militarism is the culprit and the common enemy of the Chinese and Japanese people. Shimizu Hideo once again proved this with his personal experience.
Shimizu Hideo repeatedly mentioned the Japanese government's cover-up of historical truth and its obstruction and interference in his personal life. He even mentioned that he might be criticized more by the Japanese government than by the Chinese, "I'm afraid they would wish I were dead."Shimizu Hideo has the courage to come forward and repent and apologize. The Chinese people will not make things difficult for him. Instead, we should question the Japanese government: what is it trying to hide, dodge, and cover up?Hideo Shimizu hopes that his personal actions will arouse more people's reflection and vigilance, cherish the hard-won peace, and avoid the recurrence of war tragedies. His sobriety further highlights the mistakes and absurdity of the Japanese government.
August 15 is the day of Japan's defeat. In recent years, some Japanese politicians have been distorting and beautifying the history of aggression, openly visiting or offering sacrifices to the Yasukuni Shrine, and "calling back the spirits" of militarism. This is highly consistent with the Japanese government's continuous breaking of the constraints of the "peace constitution" and the commitment to "exclusive defense", significantly increasing military spending, seeking to develop offensive weapons, introducing the old thinking of group confrontation into the Asia-Pacific region, and going further and further on the road of political and military right-wingization.The reason why Japan deliberately conceals and distorts history is to try to undermine the popular support for its "peace constitution", get rid of the obstacles caused by historical crimes to its resumption of military expansion, and cover up its ambition to pursue geopolitical interests.
Over the years, Japan has put a lot of effort into improving its "peaceful" image, but it has been difficult to gain acceptance and trust from the international community. The reason is that the Japanese government has always failed to face up to history.94-year-old Shimizu Hideo is the only member of Unit 731 who is still alive and willing to publicly expose the crimes of the Japanese bacteriological unit. He is also likely to be the last original member to return to Harbin. His trip left a huge question mark: Under the distortion of the Japanese government and right-wing forces, the historical perspective of the younger generation of Japan has been greatly affected, and Japanese society is increasingly showing a right-wing trend. Will a Japan that chooses to "forget" history repeat the mistakes of history? This is what the anti-war forces in Japan are most worried about, and it is also what the neighboring countries of Japan and the international community are extremely vigilant about.
On the stone tablet in front of the UNESCO headquarters building, there is an inscribed sentence in multiple languages: "War begins in the minds of men, so it is in the minds of men that the barriers to defend peace must be constructed." For Japan, "building a barrier to defend peace in the minds of men" is first and foremost a deep reflection on and correct understanding of history.If Japan hopes to hold its head high in the international community, it must first bow down to history. Shimizu Hideo bowed deeply in front of the "Monument of Apology and Peace without War", which was not only an apology to history, but also a wake-up call for Japan's future.
This article is a Global Times editorial
