In August 1945, the autumn was high, and at this time the land in northeast China was full of wind and wheat waves, but Kimura, a soldier of the Japanese Kwantung Army, was not in the mood to enjoy these beautiful views, but was very impatient to urge the three Chinese farmers in front of him to dig a pit quickly...
I don't know how long later, after the Chinese peasants were forced to dig the pit and move all the ammunition into the pit according to Kimura and others' requirements, the Japanese soldiers came forward to check, found that there was no problem, and immediately let several farmers into the pit, and then Kimura and his three teammates immediately pulled out their guns and shot at the three Chinese farmers... As the gunshots rang out, Kimura also woke up from his dream.
Since the end of the war, this scene has been repeated in his dreams, torturing him for a long time, so that his conscience has not been able to live in peace, he knows that if he does not do something, then he will not have such a day in his life to completely let go.
So he thought of going to China, doing what he could, and atonement for his sins...
opportunity
Around 2000, some peaceful people in Japan were shocked to read news reports about the Chinese of Japanese weapons left behind, including the Japanese female director Yuko Hainan, so she took her filming team to China, and filmed a documentary in China about the injury of civilians with Japanese weapons, and then returned to Japan to be released.
For the release of this documentary, There are mixed reviews in Japan, but for Kimura, who was once a member of the Japanese army invading China and personally killed Chinese, this documentary is his real nightmare. He saw the documentary in Kyushu in 2004, and after seeing the film, he suddenly saw hope of atonement for his sins, which had been condemned by his conscience for the crimes of that year.
Because he was a member of the Kwantung Army, he had worked as a warehouse patrol guard in northeast China for two years, and after the defeat of Japan, he was also a part of the burial of ammunition, a witness, so he was familiar with the distribution of the buried ammunition in the area of Xinglong Town, and the scene of the burial of ammunition in that year has been repeated in his dreams, destroying his conscience, so 59 years have passed, he has never forgotten, let alone dared to forget.
So he contacted the documentary's director, Yuko Hainan, and said that he knew the location of the ammunition buried in China.
recall
In August 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, kimura was working in the ammunition depot in Xinglong Town, Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province at that time, when the Japanese army in order to build this ammunition depot, at the time, at the expense of forcibly driving the local peasants out of captivity, this process was accompanied by bloody killings, and then in the process of construction, in order not to leak secrets, it killed many migrant workers who built the warehouse.
After Japan's surrender, due to the suddenness of the incident, Japan did not want to hand over the ammunition to the Chinese army, nor did it want to secretly discover the chemical weapons in the arsenal, so the Japanese army could only urgently make the move to bury the weapons on the spot. At that time, the Japanese army ordered 100 Japanese troops, including Kimura, to divide 20 groups and bury these "incriminating evidence" on the spot, and in order to speed up the pace and complete the task as soon as possible, kimura's group forcibly recruited three local farmers to help dig the pit, and after the excavation was completed, they were shot on the spot.
After that, this secret was buried in their hearts, until 59 years later, kimura was tormented by this incident until he saw the documentary and decided to make the secret of these ammunition public and give himself a chance to atone for his sins.
expiation
After receiving information from the Japanese director Yuko Hainan, the Chinese government quickly approved Kimura and Hainan Yuko's request to travel to China, and arranged for relevant personnel to follow up based on the information he provided.
On November 1, 2004, Kimura and Hainan Yuko, who were 77 years old and had white hair, accompanied by relevant personnel, went to Xinglong Town, where he had planted ammunition, and then he identified the scene of the year to the person in charge of the scene, and at the same time told the person in charge what ammunition was buried in those places, and also informed the staff:
"Don't look at my age, but what is buried in these fields, where it is buried I clearly remember, these ammunition are colored, those marked in red are tear gas bombs, yellow is poison gas bombs, pay special attention to these gas bombs, if you accidentally inhale them, then the internal organs will immediately rot, these decades have passed, these ammunition are still here, still mutilating your Chinese, ah, my conscience is really uneasy!" 」
As Kimura spoke, he gestured to the staff with his hands, because he was afraid that the translator would not be able to translate what he wanted to express, so that the staff would pay attention to it.
In the end, with Kimura's help, the staff dug up more than 80 70 cubic meters of ammunition depots that were hastily buried in the small, about 30 square kilometers of Xinglong Town.
After Kimura pointed out the place he knew, he also visited an old man who had been injured by a bomb left by the Japanese army, and looking at the victim who had been disabled for many years by missing ammunition, Kimura immediately wept bitterly, of course, there were tears of remorse, tears of atonement, and tears of relief in these tears.
We have reason to believe that kimura will feel a little better after this, won't it?