Japan - December 13, 2024 Storyline: A group of Japanese citizens and scholars gathered on Friday to mourn the 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre, calling on the Japanese government and the public to reflect on and learn from the history. Friday is China's national memorial day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. On Friday night, a Japanese civil group held a gathering in Tokyo, calling for raising the public awareness of the historical fact and revisiting the atrocities under the current international situation. "This year marks the 87th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, and I am 87 years old. So, in a way, I have walked alongside the memory of the Nanjing Massacre. I do not know how much longer I will live, but as long as I am alive, I want to participate in gatherings like this on this day," said Tanaka Hiroshi, Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University. During the gathering, participants mourned the victims of the massacre and urged the Japanese government to reflect upon its war crimes. Regarding the unsettling trend of historical revisionism in Japan to whitewash its aggressive past, participants expressed their worries and fears. The Nanjing Massacre took place when Japanese troops captured the then-Chinese capital on Dec. 13, 1937. Over the course of six weeks, they proceeded to kill approximately 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers in one of the most barbaric episodes of World War II. A decade ago, China's top legislature designated Dec. 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the atrocities. Shotlist: Tokyo, Japan - Dec 13, 2024: 1. Various of Nanjing Massacre memorial activity in process, poster reading "the 87th anniversary since Nanjing Massacre, Tokyo gathering 2024; Night of screening of 'Old overseas Chinese will not be silenced' and speech"; 2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Tanaka Hiroshi, Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University: "This year marks the 87th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, and I am 87 years old. So, in a way, I have walked alongside the memory of the Nanjing Massacre. I do not know how much longer I will live, but as long as I am alive, I want to participate in gatherings like this on this day." 3. Various of participants listening to speech, mourning; 4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) participant (name not given) (partially overlaid wit shots 5-6): "I am 72 years old now. When I was a kid, I heard about the war of Japan invading China at school, and that Japan fought alongside the Nazi Germany in the war as allies. But I barely heard anything about Japan's war crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre. I strongly feel that (the Japanese government) is not reflecting on it enough and it is terrible. I have been paying attention to such incidents like what happened in Nanjing or the issue of comfort women, and I believe these issues should be addressed with great attention. I cannot do much, but if we sincerely mean to apologize, school education should teach that these horrible facts are part of our history. Yet, they are trying to remove such contents from textbooks. That's terrible." [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 5. Participants listening to speech 6. Participants listening to speech; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 7. Various of participant reading materials related to Nanjing Massacre, making marks; 8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) participant (name not given) (partially overlaid wit shot 9): "I feel terribly pained for what Japan did. It is utterly necessary that the Japanese government should reveal it, apologize, and make amends. Politics should be about building peace, not military. I'm deeply concerned that the Japanese government is heading in the wrong direction against the trend of peace." [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 10. Participants reading materials related to Nanjing Massacre; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 11. Participants reading brochures. [Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland]