PARIS - A GROUP of revisionist Japanese writers and artists said their country was being stigmatised over the 1937 Nanjing massacre, especially in Western media, and that 'the historic truth' had to be told.
In the massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanjing, Japanese imperial troops in December 1937 occupied the then-Chinese capital and committed atrocities for weeks, including rape, executions and looting.
The number of dead is still disputed, especially between China and Japan, with figures put forward ranging from a few thousand to 300,000.
'We refuse the permanent poisoning and stigmatisation of our people by a political and ideological vision of history,' the signatories said in their appeal on Thursday.
'History written by the winner is not necessarily the true story. We demand the right to historic truth, in other words that all theses be taken into account and weighed against each other,' they said.
The signatories include Shudo Higashinakano, president of the academy of Nanjing studies, writer Kazuo Ijiri who is head of the institute for Japanese studies, So Mizushima who made the film 'The Truth about Nanjing' and Tadao Takemoto, who was the translator and a friend of French writer Andre Malraux.
In April, the Japanese government recognised that crimes had been committed against civilians in Nanjing, but said it was difficult to establish an exact toll. -- AFP
