By and large, this Japanese tourist is treated with respect and consideration from the average Chinese person – many (if not all) local to the Nanjing area. The young woman concerned speaks in very good Putonghua – if a little slower than normal. The full video can be seen by clicking the link above – but I include a short clip of two elderly Chinese men – both of whom lived through the Nanjing Massacre as young childrem. One explains that her Japanese ancestors carried-out a terrible act – but that it is good that she possesses the moral courage to pay her respect to the ‘Chinese’ victims of her ‘Japanese’ ancestors! I would also like to include this comment left by a viewer of this video in China:
‘当时的日本国民吃着满洲国百姓嘴里抠出来的白米饭，用着朝鲜劳工挖出来的煤，抢劫全东亚的钱修了遍布全日本的火车，造了磺胺片，修了小学中学。你说你是平民，大米你吃了吧？磺胺片你吃了吧？火车你坐了吧？孩子上中学了吧？从来没见你抱怨过啊。享受战争红利的时候咋没看你们对军国主义有意见嘞？
回头挨了原子弹，你又无辜了。
行，那你把铁路拆了还给我们，把大米吐出来，把小学拆了，把你们孩子的脑袋割下来，给华北的文盲安上。算你们无辜。
吃肉的时候，你是皇民。挨打了，你又成了受军国主义裹挟的无产阶级。怎么啥好事都有你？
官方为了两国关系考虑宣传人民无辜论，这咱们应该理解并支持。但你要是真信了，那是不是脑子稍微有点不灵光啊？
很多人认为南京人在面对日本人时，一定是怀着“仇恨”的。然而视频里的这些南京市民，用自己的行动传达着：忘记历史就是背叛，但是铭记历史，不等于永远仇恨。’
Translation:
‘At that time, the Japanese people ate the white rice dug out of the mouths of the people of Manchuria, used the coal dug out by Korean labourers, robbed money from all over from those they enslaved throughout East Asia to build trains that ran all over Japan, made indigestion medicines from stolen resources and built elementary and middle schools. You say you are a Commoner – have you eaten rice? Have you taken the indigestion medicines? Did you take the train? Is your child in middle school? I’ve never seen you complain. When enjoying the dividends of war, why didn’t I see that you have any opinions on militarism? But of course – when you get hit by an atomic bomb – you are innocent again! Okay, then you dismantle the railway and return it to us, spit out the rice, dismantle the primary school, prevent your Japanese children from being educated, and pretend they are illiterates from North China. Then you are innocent. When eating meat, you are like the emperor. If you get beaten, you become a proletarian again under the influence of militarism. Why do you have all the good things? Officials consider propagating the theory of people’s innocence for the sake of the relationship between the two countries, which we should understand and support. But if you really believe it, isn’t your brain a little bit out of order? Many people think that Nanjing people must have “hatred” when facing the Japanese. However, these Nanjing citizens in the video use their actions to convey: Forgetting history is betrayal, but remembering history does not mean eternal hatred.’
THE SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 