lexico
後輩
- 22 Dec 2004
- 2,584
- 155
The Nanjing 100-Man Killing Contest means many things to many people. For a person living in China or not in China but of Chinese descent, it is both an historical tragedy and a symbol of many such tragedies brought on by Imerial Japanese Army during the 2nd Sino-Japanese War 1931-1945. For a student of comparative oral literature it is an interesting topic of historical story telling that fills the current needs of the story teller-listener.
For the radical, progressive, self-critical Japanese person, it is a symptom of systematic flaw in the Japanese nation of the period that Japan must overcome and take responsibility for. And for one entrenched in the illusionist, Denialist, or Minimalist camps, it has been a source of lies that anti-Japanese elements have developed to embarass Japan for their political ends.
One of the best written study of the 100-Man Killing Contest is undoubtedly one written by Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, yet the article published in Journal of Japanese Studies 26-2, Summer 2000 pp. 307-340, is not easily accessible on the web, and the abstract provided by the author reserves a certain kind of opaqueness to it.
I'd like to give a transparent overview of Bob Wakabayashi's 34 page article so that we can reap the benefit of his very well-done reasearch. The quality of Wakabayshi's study is such that it can help tremendously to remove. to a degree, the foggy screen that lies between 1937 and 2005, between primary sources and the casual reader of Sino-Japanese history.
I was motivated by the following post in thread Read a Japanese Textbook as well as other links mentioning Wakabayashi's article; the abstract provided by the author is not clear at all how Wakabayashi arrived at his conclusion. In fact, his paper only gives circumstantial suggestions as to why he should have thought so. A close reading reveals the details of his argumentation which can be likened to a well-studied defense attorney's. Only after stripping away the complexities present in the threads of words, ideas, and debates of the 1960's and 1970's can one begin to see a picture, still somewhat vague, but clearly based on the historical documents, so that any ambiguity of the sources can be reproduced in the minds of the readers. Historical investigation can only become as clear as the original source of information is clear, and this historical objective is closely adhered to in Wakabayashi.
It almost appears that Wakabayashi's statement amounts to saying the two officers in the photo Mukai Toshiaki and Noda Takeshi (Tsuyoshi) who boasted of having killed over 100 Chinese civilians should have been released for flawed and insufficient evidence. Although his conclusion may be considered difficult to swallow by some readers, his presentation of primary sources, summary of the 1970's debate, and the transparent manner in which he relates his own views have infinitely redeeming qualities that will bring us one step closer to the historical truth of the Nanjing 100-Man Killing Contest.
For the radical, progressive, self-critical Japanese person, it is a symptom of systematic flaw in the Japanese nation of the period that Japan must overcome and take responsibility for. And for one entrenched in the illusionist, Denialist, or Minimalist camps, it has been a source of lies that anti-Japanese elements have developed to embarass Japan for their political ends.
One of the best written study of the 100-Man Killing Contest is undoubtedly one written by Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, yet the article published in Journal of Japanese Studies 26-2, Summer 2000 pp. 307-340, is not easily accessible on the web, and the abstract provided by the author reserves a certain kind of opaqueness to it.
I'd like to give a transparent overview of Bob Wakabayashi's 34 page article so that we can reap the benefit of his very well-done reasearch. The quality of Wakabayshi's study is such that it can help tremendously to remove. to a degree, the foggy screen that lies between 1937 and 2005, between primary sources and the casual reader of Sino-Japanese history.
I was motivated by the following post in thread Read a Japanese Textbook as well as other links mentioning Wakabayashi's article; the abstract provided by the author is not clear at all how Wakabayashi arrived at his conclusion. In fact, his paper only gives circumstantial suggestions as to why he should have thought so. A close reading reveals the details of his argumentation which can be likened to a well-studied defense attorney's. Only after stripping away the complexities present in the threads of words, ideas, and debates of the 1960's and 1970's can one begin to see a picture, still somewhat vague, but clearly based on the historical documents, so that any ambiguity of the sources can be reproduced in the minds of the readers. Historical investigation can only become as clear as the original source of information is clear, and this historical objective is closely adhered to in Wakabayashi.
It almost appears that Wakabayashi's statement amounts to saying the two officers in the photo Mukai Toshiaki and Noda Takeshi (Tsuyoshi) who boasted of having killed over 100 Chinese civilians should have been released for flawed and insufficient evidence. Although his conclusion may be considered difficult to swallow by some readers, his presentation of primary sources, summary of the 1970's debate, and the transparent manner in which he relates his own views have infinitely redeeming qualities that will bring us one step closer to the historical truth of the Nanjing 100-Man Killing Contest.
窶督ｼ窶督ｳ窶堋ｵ said:
Journal of Japanese Studies said:
Last edited:
