When Japan denied the history of aggression, when Japanese right-wingers continued to summon the soul of militarism, and when Japanese political leaders were still going to the Yasukuni Shrine again and again to worship ghosts, there was a veteran of the Japanese army who invaded China again and again, but he came to China again and again and sincerely apologized for his own actions.
Shioya Baofang
Born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan in 1920, Shiotani joined the army in 1940 and was incorporated into the infamous Japanese 59th Division. During the Japanese invasion of China, he successively participated in wars of aggression in Shandong, Hebei, Shanghai, Nanjing, and other places, committing many crimes. Before Japan's surrender, he was captured by soviet troops in Korea, then transferred to Siberia for three years of hard labor, and returned to Japan in 1948, where he now resides in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.
In 1940, Shioya's unit participated in a campaign in Luzhong, and in a sweep, it was ambushed by the Eighth Route Army. In order to search for the Eighth Route Army mixed up among the common people, the Japanese army slaughtered more than 70 Chinese villagers and buried 6 Eighth Route Army soldiers alive. This was the biggest and only battle That Salt Valley had ever experienced.
After the war, he reflected on the war, saying that after returning to Japan, he often had nightmares in the night, dreaming that the slain soldiers of the Eighth Route Army came to him to settle accounts. The Japanese believe that there is a soul, and if a person has done something wrong and committed a crime, and does not seriously reflect on and apologize, his soul will not be comforted for the rest of his life. So he decided that he should sincerely apologize to the Chinese people from the heart, and should reflect and repent.
In 1985, Yangu organized 96 veterans of the original 59th Division to come to China to apologize, which was his first time to go to China to apologize. Go to the places he invaded to apologize to the people of Chinese and sacrifice the souls of the unjust souls who died under his own sword. He has successively visited Tai'an in Shandong, the Lugou Bridge Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall, the Chongqing Bombing Site and the Sichuan Jianchuan Museum, including 6 times to Sichuan to apologize. At the same time, he also donated the military uniforms, sabers, military trumpets and other evidence he had kept for the Japanese army. Since then, he has gone to China every year to apologize for his sins, and has insisted on it for more than 20 years.
For more than 20 years, Shioya has sincerely apologized for his actions. In 1992, the 72-year-old Yangu rode a bicycle and traveled thousands of miles alone from Beijing to Tai'an, Shandong Province, to apologize for his sins, and his sincerity also touched many people. In 2005, Mr. Yangu came to Tai'an, Shandong Province alone to apologize, which was his 20th visit to China to apologize. It is precisely because Yangu has come to China many times to sincerely reflect on and apologize for his sins, touching a local old eighth road, who shook the hand of the old eighth road and said, "I have committed a serious crime in China, and the sin deserves to die, even now Chinese people shoot me, I have nothing to say, but you regard me as a friend, I am going to die, and I will insist on coming to China to apologize..."
In May 2007, Shioya Baofang came to China for the 23rd time to apologize and donated more than 10 items such as the military hat of the Japanese invasion of China and the historical materials of the Japanese invasion of China to the Jianchuan Museum in Sichuan. In November, Shioya Baofang came to the Tai'an Martyrs' Cemetery for the second time to kneel and apologize, and presented the plaque to the cemetery with the words "Apologize for Aggression and Reflect, Sino-Japanese Friendship and Goodwill".
Shioya's 20-year-old journey to apologize for more than 20 years has cost a total of 20 million yen, but in 40 years he has never spent 2,000 yen on haircuts, and he often says that he can't always talk or shout about his sins, but must be sincere and have practical actions, so he has to prepare gifts every time he comes to China.
In these more than 20 years of apology, he often said that my hands stained with the blood of Chinese soldiers and civilians became clean after holding the warm and enthusiastic hands of Chinese people.