Posted on 12/12/2004 3:05:16 PM PST by SteveH
S.J. author's death felt deeply on anniversary of Nanking atrocities
By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News
More than 100 Bay Area residents gathered Saturday in Millbrae to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the "Rape of Nanking," atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in China in the 1930s.
But the already solemn occasion took on a sad and somber mood as organizers paid tribute to author Iris Chang, the most prominent voice of an international movement to force the Japanese government to apologize and pay wartime reparations.
Chang, 36, author of the best-selling book "The Rape of Nanking," apparently took her own life Nov. 9, suffering from depression.
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(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I heard today that the given cause of Iris Chang's death-- depression-- is felt by her close friends to be accurate.
Shocking and sad. I remember catching her years ago on the radio as a guest on Gordon Liddy's show. I was so impressed with her interview I ordered the book and it was excellent.
Well, it's a tragedy.
If you go to the bookstore at the Yasukuni Shinto shrine located in Tokyo that commemorates Japan's war dead you'll see a book on sale in Japanese and English that is "Nanking Denial" in the same way that there are Holocaust deniers.
The thing that haunts me the most about that museum is a photo showing a young kamikaze pilot. Perhaps I'm projecting, but the expression on his face seems to be of someone caught up in something he doesn't understand and can't escape.
Sad news.
The Chinese have very long memories....this will be avenged
imo
The shrine has become increasingly embroiled in controversy as a symbol of the Japanese imperialism and nationalism of the early 20th century, a controversy stirred up partly by the shrine's continuing defense of Japanese colonial acts as both necessary and justified: a pamphlet published by the shrine says "War is a really tragic thing to happen, but it was necessary in order for us to protect the independence of Japan and to prosper together with Asian neighbors." The shrine runs a museum on the military history of Japan, but neglects certain important transgressions made by the state during World War II, most notably the Nanjing Massacre. The shrine is a focal point for Japanese World War II veterans and right wing movements, and provides access to its facilities on a regular basis. The museum also contains a section on kamikaze pilots and has some interesting pieces of military hardware such as a Zero fighter.
She once ran into a Catholic priest -- known as General Lee as a Nationalist Chinese freedom fighter but was a priest from Belgium.
He confronted Gladys about her helping to kill Japanese soldiers -- something that bothered his mind as well.
But the book The Small Woman, by Alan Burgess and ISBN-1568491840, documents how horribly the Japanese treated the Chinese in Northern China.
The Japanese soldiers would kill all men, women, children -- no matter the age -- the very old and the very young.
Reading the book The Small Woman, this is one thing that is peculiar about Gladys...
Sad story
"The Japanese soldiers would kill all men, women, children -- no matter the age -- the very old and the very young."
If one wanted to make excuses for this, one could say that this is the way they'd been waging war in Japan since forever, and they took it abroad with them.
I'm not satisfied by that, though.
None of the oldsters I've talked with have been willing to go into their experiences as soldiers, but it's pretty clear that there are things that bother them.
I told one old guy he should write a book and prevent his memories from being lost, but he was afraid the Japanese Nazis would kill him if he did...and that's a reasonable concern, IMO.
I clipped an article from a newspaper I found on a train the other day about the execution of some Americans in Kyushu on the last day of the war. Maybe I'll translate it and post it.
Chang commented on the book.
After a chapter I could read no more.
For Gladys Aylworth, she had a very loyal servant who refused to help the Japanese because he was a Christian.
The Japanese did not kill him.
But they tied him up, and locked his family in his house. And then burned the house down with them inside -- unable to escape. He was able to hear them crying in pain...
It literally drove this poor man crazy, and it was a torment for Gladys...
They sound just like Islamofacists. What did we have to do to end the war in the Pacific during WWII?
I am trying to limit my reading of too much violence. I understand how this could lead to a major depression.
My father lived in the Philippines under Japanese occupation. He said they had to hide in the mountains to avoid being used as slave labor by the Japanese. And to generally avoid being killed by the Japanese.
If you really want to understand the depth the Japanese sank to, read about the Nanking Massacre and Unit 731.
Reading about Unit 731 was maybe the most horrific history I have ever read. You have to have a strong stomach to read about Unit 731.
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