STORY: Documentary preview in Japan's Kobe commemorates Nanjing Massacre
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 10, 2024
DATELINE: Dec. 13, 2024
LENGTH: 0:01:38
LOCATION: KOBE, Japan
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the documentary's preview screening
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LIN BOYAO, Protagonist of the documentary
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Japanese): NAOKO KATSUBE, Local educator
4. various of the documentary's preview screening

STORYLINE:

"The Nanjing Massacre is an eternal scar for the Chinese people. We hope our Japanese friends and people around the world can really know about the tragedy," Lin Boyao, the protagonist of a documentary recently previewed in Japan's Kobe said at the screening.
   
The documentary, which focuses on Lin, an overseas Chinese in Japan, chronicled his life and efforts to gather evidence of the Nanjing Massacre and his pursuit of compensation for Chinese forced laborers during World War II.
  
Organized by the Kobe-Nanjing Heart-to-Heart Association, the preview screening took place on Tuesday at the Kobe Student Youth Center.
   
Although the documentary is still a work in progress, the organizers expedited the screening ahead of China's national memorial day on Dec. 13, providing an opportunity for viewers to engage with Lin's story and reflect on the historical tragedies.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LIN BOYAO, Protagonist of the documentary
"The Nanjing Massacre is an eternal scar for the Chinese people. We should not forget that history. We hope our Japanese friends and people around the world can really know about the tragedy. The Nanjing Massacre is a lesson for humanity. Such a catastrophe must never happen again."

Established in 1997, the association has dedicated itself to preserving historical memory, organizing over 20 trips to Nanjing for commemorative events and hosting survivors of the massacre for testimony sessions in Japan.

The screening also highlighted concerns over historical revisionism in Japan, with some attendees expressing apprehension about the diminishing coverage of wartime atrocities in Japanese educational materials.

A local educator, Naoko Katsube, recalled that 15 to 16 years ago, her school curriculum included excerpts from Terror in Minnie Vautrin's Nanjing: Diaries and Correspondence, 1937-38, a valuable historical record based on an eyewitness account of the massacre.
   
However, these materials are no longer taught, reflecting the Japanese education system's avoidance of historical truths, a trend that deeply troubles her. 

SOUNDBITE 2 (Japanese): NAOKO KATSUBE, Local educator
"About 15 to 16 years ago, the school curriculum included excerpts from Terror in Minnie Vautrin's Nanjing: Diaries and Correspondence, 1937-38. But these materials are no longer taught. I think that in Japan, the perception of history is becoming quite critical to convey." 
   
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kobe, Japan.
(XHTV)