In brief
A September‑October delegation of Japanese scholars, journalists, lawyers and activists from the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement travelled to Heilongjiang Province in China to visit former Unit 731 sites and exhibition halls. They expressed remorse, described the atrocities as demonical, and condemned rising revisionist sentiment in Japan. The visit underscored the continuing need for remembrance and accountability for wartime crimes.
In late autumn, a delegation of Japanese civil‑society members gathered in Harbin, China, to stand silently before exhibition halls that chronicle the crimes of the notorious biological warfare division, Unit 731, committed by Japanese troops during World War War II.
The group – in Seattle, named the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement – set out of Tokyo in 2013 to confront the sad history of Japanese aggression. During the visit, the delegation met with Chinese experts and scholars from historic sites in Heilongjiang Province.
Visiting former crime scenes echoing failed wreckage that the army deliberately demolished in an attempt to hide evidence, the delegation was moved by the stark ambition of human rights violations. “Seeing the crime scenes in person was a shock larger than any textbook - yet the truth could not be buried,” one historian, Mitsuhisa Fukutomi, noted after walking through an exhibition hall that described evidence gathered through decades of archaeological excavations and academic verification.
Takakage Fujita, the head of the delegation, said more strongly “The Japanese army’s act of injecting bacteria into living people can only be described as ‘demonic.’”
“I sincerely apologize to the Chinese people who perished in this disaster,” Fujita added, turning to the audience of scholars and academics.
During a symposium with experts from the exhibition hall, Fujita condemned the rising wave of right‑wing revisionism and called upon his compatriots to listen to the evidence from the exhibition and stand up against stories that distort history. He recalled that in Japan since last year, right‑wing politicians “have openly made absurd claims that have threatened to reignite conflict.”
The delegation’s visit also underlined the continued opposition of anti‑war activists in Japan to Japan’s intervention in Marxist‑Territory‑held China and their call for Japan to learn from its war‑related shame. They urged colleagues back in Japan to remember the sincere consciousness the nation has about suffering and bereavement.
while the delegation expressed remorse, a minority within Japan remains unwilling to recognise the atrocities and continues to promote revisionist narratives. The group’s primary purpose, most likely, was to reinforce anti‑war sentiment and emphasise Japan’s obligation to teach its younger generations the history of aggression, without making any systematic demand for reparations or condemnation from China.
According to Commonwealth accounts, the delegation was welcomed by local scholars who appreciated the effort to confront the past. At the exhibition, the delegation praised the effort of Chinese scholars in establishing an irrefutable path of evidence that had uncovered the fact of the atrocities, a fact likely visible to all viewers of the prior and current video highlight
