“The Rape of Nanking is no longer a forgotten Holocaust,” Ms. Iris Chang, the author of Rape of Nanking—The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, declared in front of almost six hundred people who gathered from cities across North America and Asia. It was at the banquet on the first night of a three day biennial conference of “Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia” held in Toronto from October 16 to 18. People responded enthusiastically to Ms. Chang who had just been featured as the cover story of Reader’s Digest whose global circulation is 28 million. (15 million within the U. S.)
 It was the Alliance’s third conference following those held in ‘94 and ‘96. The topics discussed there included “humanity education regarding WWII atrocities in Asia,” “international justice and redress,” “Comfort women,” and “Lobbying at US Congress.” In this article I would like to report who these people (members of the GA) are, what their goals are, how they are trying to achieve them, who their supporters are, and lastly what their activities mean for Japan.
 According to Mr. Ignatius Ding, the spokesperson for GA, there presently are 38 organizations from the U.S., Canada, Taiwan, and Hong Kong affiliated with GA, and the total membership reaches almost 200,000. The fact that both the outgoing president, Dr. Richard Chu (Rochester Institute of Technology) and the newly elected president Dr. Yue-him Tam (Macalester College) are professors of history and that most of the affiliated organizations carry “Preserving the history of Sino-Japanese War,” in their name seem to suggest that the members of GA are highly educated people who take historical truth very seriously. Dr. Tam told me, however, that although many in the leadership of GA are scholars, each organization consisted of people from all walks of life, including housewives and students.
 One characteristic of these people worth mentioning is the way they communicate with each other. Most of the affiliated organizations have their own web site on the Internet and use e-mail to quickly disseminate any relevant information. I myself have exchanged many e-mail letters with the members from cities across North America before and after the conference.
 The GA Newsletter, of which Dr. Tam is Chief Editor, states, “The Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia (GA) is a non-partisan, non-profit worldwide confederation of grass-roots organizations for safeguarding the true story of World War II in the Asian Pacific theater from 1931 to 1945.” In Japan, there exist arguments as to how to label the last war she fought and when it started. It is notable that GA defined the year 1931, when Japanese military force invaded Manchuria, as the start of the World War II in Asia.

 The statement continues, “It is our firm belief that the proper closure of that chapter of the world history rests with an unbiased understanding and courageous acknowledgment of the truth of that war.... We hold that when the general public of the world know the truth, there will result a formidable consensus compelling the government of Japan to honor the obligation due to its past misdeeds. These are our goals: Japan shall offer official apology with fully equitable compensations for the victims and rectify its distortion and whitewashing of the war history. Our mission is to bring about this final closure to ensure the healing of the wounds and a genuine reconciliation and lasting friendship among all the people. We undertake this mission with no other feeling except sympathy and extended arms of friendship for the people of Japan and of Japanese descent elsewhere, for they also have been victims of Japan’s militarism. Thus, we cordially invite all people of goodwill to join this endeavor.” True to the spirit of this statement, the GA Newsletter is being printed in three languages—English, Chinese and Japanese.

 This year’s biggest contribution in terms of educating the general population was made by Ms. Iris Chang who wrote The Rape of Nanking. It was at the first GA conference held in 1994 where she first saw the photographs of the victims of the Nanking Massacre that she decided to write a book. Since its publication in late 1997, her book has been featured on network Television and in most of the major newspapers in the U.S. She herself has traveled over 60 cities in North America speaking about and signing her book.
 These days, Ms. Chang often talks about her hope for establishing a foundation similar to “The Survivors of the Shoah Foundation,” an oral history project created by Steven Spielberg, so that testimonies of the victims of the Japanese Imperial Army can also be recorded for posterity. As for the Nanking Massacre, the video recording project of survivors has been in progress by the effort of one affiliate organization. A finished tape will be distributed to educational institutions throughout the U.S. as well as to those in the government. They are hoping to make a Japanese version of such a testimonial tape. The Production of a documentary film on the subject which can be aired for nationwide TV audience is also in progress.

 Each affiliate of GA has been very active in organizing educational events such as exhibits and symposiums. Highlights of this year’s activities include Exhibition and Testimonies featuring Unit 731 and other atrocities. It traveled five cities—Toronto, New York, Washington, D.C., Vancouver and San Francisco—from late June to early July.

 The event was organized by GA and the group of Japanese lawyers representing the Chinese victims in the Germ Warfare lawsuits against the Japanese government. The exhibit comprised of visual documents of “Unit 731,” so-called “Comfort Women,” the Rape of Nanking, and the ruthless treatment of the POWs. The original plan included testimonies by former Japanese soldiers who participated in these war crimes. However, Mr. Shiro Azuma whose confession of killing Chinese civilians was described in The Rape of Nanking and Mr. Yoshio Shinozuka who was a member of Unit 731 could not enter the United States because the US Justice Department barred them from entering the U.S. as war criminals.  Only Mr. Takemitsu Ogawa, who was an army doctor, testified at each exhibit site. Yet, in San Francisco, more than 8,000 people, including Congresswoman Susan Perosi who was critical of China’s human rights policy, visited the exhibit in two weeks. It was widely reported by local media and exhibition period was extended until September.
 Mr. Ding has been a community activist in Northern California for a long time and is now a consultant for the California State Board of Education. Text books used in California, where 10 percent of American students learn, must conform to the California Educational Curriculum Framework and the Teaching Standard. Mr. Ding is presently participating in creating new Standard and the Framework and hoping that the new generation of American youth will learn not only the history of Japanese war crimes but also the entire history of Asia so that they understand Asian culture and values. He told me that these days he often received inquiries from textbook companies. He urged other members of GA to get involved in education at the local level. Since many of them are already active members of their respective communities, their involvement in local education has a huge potential for achieving their goals.
 GA has been working hard on the lobbying for HCR 126 (the Lipinski Resolution) which calls for the Japanese government to apologize and compensate its WWII victims.  The resolution specifies the brutal treatment of the United States military and civilian prisoners of war, the brutal occupation of Guam, biochemical experiments by Unit 731, the Nanking Massacre, and forcing hundreds of thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery as the war crimes Japan committed. Although it did not pass in the 105th Congress, it was in the end co-sponsored by 78 members of the House of Representatives.

 Other organizations that have been also lobbying for this resolution are “The Center for Internee Rights, Inc.,” the families of victims of Unit 731, and the NGO working on behalf of “Comfort Women.” According to Mr. Jesse Hwa, who spearheaded GA’s efforts for passing this resolution in the Congress, a similar resolution with possible modification, will be introduced as soon as the 106th Congress is started early next year. Although the resolution is legally non-binding, it would exert strong pressure for Japan to fulfill its WWII obligations.

 In addition, if a hearing is to be held either by the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific or that on International Operations and Human Rights, it would generate huge interest in the U.S. media.

 Not many members of the Subcommittee of Asia and the Pacific became a co-sponsor of this resolution probably because they shared the State Department’s political concern over the U.S.-Japan relationship. That can change, however, after Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times Tokyo bureau chief, recently wrote in his article for a very influential journal, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, that the United States should play an active role in helping Japan face its history and that the resulting trust among Japan, China, and Korea would be in the America’s interests, too.

 At the Subcommittee on International Operation and Human Rights, many members, including both Chairman Christopher Smith and Democratic leader Tom Lantos, co-sponsored the resolution. Mr. Hwa said that GA would lobby for a hearing to be held by this subcommittee. Mr. Ding emphasized that educating the public on this issue would be more important than actual passage of the resolution.
 GA has received a request to study the feasibility of building a memorial museum in the United States in order to preserve the true history of World War II in Asia. Its affiliates have taken the initiatives to launch the feasibility study with various models in mind. Since the process of building a museum can be determined, unlike seeking an apology and compensation from the Japanese government, by the efforts of members of GA, and since it can become a positive force that will unite all the people who wish to honor the victims of World War II in Asia and to preserve the true history of that period, this project has a potential to become GA’s major goal in the future.
 There were some other organizations represented at the GA’s Toronto conference. The Center for Internee Rights, Inc.(CFIR, Inc.) represents 47,000 former POWs and civilian internees brutalized by Japanese forces during World War II. They have been working with GA in their lobbying efforts for the passage of the Lipinski resolution. In addition, CFIR, Inc., together with similar organizations from other Allied nations, filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court seeking an official apology and the compensation from the Japanese government. A decision will be handed down in late November.

 Mr. Gilbert Hair, Executive Director of CFIR, Inc., and his family were civilian POWs in Santo Tomas, Philippines from 1942, when he was only 1 year old, to 1945. He told me that he, being a victim himself, wholeheartedly agreed with the former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale who said that Japan’s leadership in the world would be strengthened if Japan made a full apology for its actions in World War II.

 Mr. Gregory Rodriquez has been working tirelessly for the release of documents related to Unit 731 whose victims, including his own father, were subjected to gruesome medical experiments. In the past, he testified twice before Congressional Committee regarding Unit 731. He told me that the Japanese government should make the relevant documents available and that he would like Japanese people to act based on their conscience upon learning the truth about these crimes.

       Also at the conference were three so-called “Comfort women,” traveling from China, Korea, and Philippines. Participants were overwhelmed by their agonizing testimonies.

 Mr. Etsuro Totsuka, who had been advocating the sexual slavery victims by Japan at the UN Commission on Human Rights since 1992, gave three presentations regarding the issue of compensations. He was particularly critical of the response of the Japanese government to the recently handed-down UN’s McDougall Report whose recommendations included: (1) The need for mechanism to ensure criminal prosecutions, (2) The need for mechanism to provide legal compensation, (3) Adequacy of compensation, and (4) Reporting requirements.  He explained why the claim by the Japanese government that the issue of compensation was settled by the San Francisco Peace Treaty and bilateral peace treaties would not withstand. The right of an individual to demand reparations was not waived by those treaties. Even if the Japanese government insisted it was, neither Japan nor China could have concluded such a treaty under the IV Geneva Convention which prohibited any agreement that would relinquish the right of individual victims. Both countries are a party to Geneva Convention.

 GA actively seeks support from other influential organizations. Endorsement from the Japanese American community is particularly important because of the GA’s expressed position that theirs is not an anti-Japan or anti-Japanese American activity. Having won apologies and compensations from the U.S. government for their wartime internment, the Japanese American community is sympathetic to the cause of GA. Dr. Clifford Uyeda, the past president of the Japanese American Citizens League, told at the opening of the Unit 731 Exhibit in San Francisco, “Japanese Americans must join in the voice of protest from America. We need to work closely with our fellow Americans of Chinese ancestry to make sure that this voice is heard loud and clear in Japan.”

 However, it is the support and advice from Jewish American organizations, who have a record of many successful campaigns regarding war crimes during World War II, that GA is most enthusiastically welcoming. After Mr. Liang Su-Yung, the former President of the Parliament of Taiwan, gave the keynote speech on the first night of the conference, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was the keynote speaker for the second night.

 Rabbi Cooper is the person who protested after Japanese Ambassador Kunihiko Saito criticized that The Rape of Nanking was inaccurate and one-sided but failed to give any specific examples. He also convened an international video conference linking Tokyo and Los Angeles so that the former Japanese soldiers who had been barred from entering the U.S. could give testimonies on their war crimes. Participants of the historic conference held on August 16 at Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance included historian Mr. Akira Fujiwara, “Unit 731” specialist Mr. Keiichi Tsuneishi, journalist Ms. Rumiko Nishino (all from Tokyo), Professor Yue-him Tam, Dr. Kevin Chiang who was educated in Japan, “Unit 731” specialist Dr. Sheridan Harris and the former LA Times Beijing Bureau chief Mr. Michael Parks (all from LA). Moderated by Rabbi Cooper, the conference was covered by CNN as well as aired on the Internet.
  Rabbi Cooper received a standing ovation when he told the participants of the Toronto conference, “I was at the Oval Office of the White House last week, where President Clinton signed legislation which will enable scholars to have access to more than million additional documents regarding Nazi Germany.  I would like to see a similar legislation passed for documents regarding the Pacific theater of World War II.” The Wiesenthal Center has been a champion for bringing justice to the victims of the Holocaust. Its lobbying efforts have been taking place not only at the U.S. Congress but also on the international scenes as in the case of the abolishing the statute of limitations on Nazi war criminals in Germany and of the recent campaign for restitution of Jewish financial assets held by Swiss banks.
 Rabbi Cooper explained the Center’s position with respect to GA’s activities. “Our Center is not supporting any particular activity of any particular organization. Rather, we are supporting the goal of trying to build a coalition of people who help get history told.” Accordingly, he emphasized in his speech the importance of GA working together with like-minded Japanese people.

 There are people in Japan who allege that GA is a part of a large conspiracy being waged against Japan by the Beijing government involving Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, Jewish Americans, and some Japanese. When I mentioned this allegation, Mr. Ding, who was educated in Taiwan before coming to the U.S. and becoming a computer engineer, dismissed the notion by telling me, “Our founding chairman went to Nanjing to have a memorial service for the victims of the massacre. When his group went around the city announcing the event they were arrested by the authority and thrown out of the country.” As far as he remembered, activities of GA were never reported in China.

 Mr. Ding told me that he was more concerned about the hatred toward Japan expressed in fax letters and e-mails he received from young people in China. He had to explain to them that his organization was not based on ill feeling toward Japan but a genuine desire for a reconciliation and lasting friendship.

 The members of GA are indeed a diverse group of people. For example, Dr. Tam was educated in Hong Kong and in Japan before receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton University, and Ms. Iris Chang was born in the U.S. to Chinese parents who were both professors at the University of Illinois. It is the desire to preserve the true history of World War II in Asia that brings all these people together. On the occasion of the recent visit to Japan by President Jiang Zemin, GA sent a letter to him urging that the Chinese government should demand from the Japanese government an unequivocal and sincere apology endorsed by Japan’s Diet and meaningful and equitable compensation for the war victims.

 Rabbi Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights organization once honored Dalai Lama, told me, “If people want to call our activity ‘a conspiracy,’ I would suggest that they call it “a conspiracy to seek the truth.’”
 Some Japanese reacted angrily to GA’s activities asking why only Japan was criticized for the crimes she committed a long time ago. But when many nations across the globe are taking stock of the past misdeeds as we approach the end of the 20th century, the century of wars, GA’s activity is hardly considered unique.

 In March, the Vatican issued a historic statement entitled, “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah” expressing its regrets for the “errors and failures” of Catholics during the Holocaust. Although there was a disappointment among Jewish people that the Vatican did not assign any blame to the church as an institution, the willingness to face its wartime record was widely praised.
 Swiss banks, whose handling of Holocaust victims’ accounts recently came under international outcry, have agreed to pay 1.25 billion dollars to survivors. The German government under the newly elected Chancellor Schroeder pledged that it would consider compensations for “forgotten victims” of the Holocaust such as Gypsies and gays who had not been covered by current law.
 South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently released its final report on human rights abuses during its Apartheid era. The arrest of Chile’s General Pinochet in London is yet another example of the manifestation of people’s desire to seek historical truth and justice.

 In the United States, under President Clinton’s order, the so-called Eizenstat Commission was established in October of 1996 to examine U.S. and Allied efforts to recover and restore gold and other assets stolen or hidden by Germany during World War II. After 18 months of investigation and declassifying almost a million pages of documents, the Commission released its final report this past June. It revealed that European neutral countries during World War II, such as Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, helped to sustain the Nazi war efforts by supplying the key materials. It also showed that the post war negotiations among Allied nations failed to meet their original goals of restitution of looted gold.

 Mr. Stuart Eizenstat, Under Secretary of State, explained, “This historical report represents a search for facts, a quest for understanding and an effort to set the record straight. It seeks neither to defend, nor to offend any nation. The countries mentioned in our report are our friends and allies today, and we value their relationships. It seeks to clarify so we can move forward, not to sensationalize so as to assign blame.”

 Rabbi Cooper told me that he would like to propose that the Japanese government establish an Eizenstat Commission type committee consisted of historians from Japan, China, Korea, the U.S., and Russia. He is hopeful that the bipartisan group recently created by 96 Diet members to seek historical truth may lead to a creation of such a committee.
 Dr. Michael Berenbaum who wrote the story line for the permanent exhibit of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum told me that the only request he had received from the German government was that the whole truth be told including what post-war Germany had been doing. Can Japan say the same thing today? That is the question we Japanese have to ask ourselves upon learning what GA is trying to do.

Postscript:
 In response to Rabbi Cooper’s inquiry, Mr. Eli Rosenbaum, Director of Special Investigation of the Justice Department, confirmed in a letter dated November 3 that all former members of Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, as well as all Japanese military and civilian personnel who were involved in Axis-sponsored acts of persecution, including those individuals who participated in the atrocities at Nanjing and in the operation or utilization of so-called “comfort stations,” were ineligible to enter the United States. Mr. Rosenbaum also wrote that despite U.S. Government entreaties over the years, the Government of Japan had failed to grant his office meaningful access to related records. The Wiesenthal Center plans to lobby Tokyo to swiftly provide this information to Washington on a confidential basis.