STORY: Japanese veteran returns to China to repent, apologize
SHOOTING TIME: recent footage
DATELINE: Aug. 15, 2024
LENGTH: 00:04:13
LOCATION: HARBIN, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Hideo Shimizu in Japan
2. various of Hideo Shimizu arriving in China
3. various of Hideo Shimizu at Unit 731's headquarters in China

STORYLINE:

After a 79-year hiatus, Hideo Shimizu, a former member of Unit 731, the notorious Japanese germ-warfare detachment during World War II, returned to China to acknowledge the atrocities committed by the invading Japanese forces and to offer sincere repentance and apologies to the victims.
   
His itinerary included a poignant visit to the former headquarters of Unit 731 and the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, both located in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, where he grappled with the stark and haunting evidence of the unit's inhumane deeds.
   
Shimizu, 94, arrived by plane in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, on Monday evening and visited the former site of Unit 731's headquarters building, including the office of the unit commander, the specimen room, and the site of the frostbite laboratory, on Tuesday morning.

He recalled that in the specimen room, he had seen a variety of dissected human organs soaked in formalin-filled bottles, and he had been ordered to collect the bones of prisoners who were used as experimental subjects.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Japanese): HIDEO SHIMIZU, Former Unit 731 Youth Corps member
"When I entered this specimen room (in 1945), the pungent smell of formalin made me tear up continuously. At that time, I just took a glance around. The constant tearing blurred my vision, and I didn't remember anything else. (I saw) there were specimens of pregnant women with babies in their wombs, as well as human hands, stomach and intestinal organs, brains, and more."

Shimizu was among the last batch of Unit 731 Youth Corps members sent by Japan to Harbin, where he spent more than four months witnessing the war crimes committed by the unit, including the cultivation of pathogens, human dissections, and human experiments. He fled China with the retreating Japanese forces on August 14, 1945.

At the site of the Unit 731 headquarters, he repented and apologized in front of the monument to "apology and the commitment to peace without war."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): JIN CHENGMIN, Curator, Museum of Evidence of War Crimes by the Japanese Army Unit 731
"What do you want to say here?"

SOUNDBITE 3 (Japanese): HIDEO SHIMIZU, Former Unit 731 Youth Corps member
"I sincerely express my deepest apologies. I mourn for the victims who had passed away. Our atrocities brought immense sufferings to the Chinese victims, and for that, we are profoundly sorry."

Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during World War II. At least 3,000 people were used in human experiments by Unit 731, while more than 300,000 people in China were killed by Japan's biological weapons.

SOUNDBITE 4 (Japanese): HIDEO SHIMIZU, Former Unit 731 Youth Corps member
"Up to now, I have been very worried about my experience (with Unit 731). However, that's just how things went. I often think, 'Will I be forgiven (for doing such things)?' Even now, there are (Japanese) politicians who do not cherish a peaceful life or peaceful country, so things are unlikely to develop the way we hope."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Harbin, China.
(XHTV)