The recent publishing of a book entitled "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II" focuses much needed attention on a war crime that ranks among the worst acts of genocide in history. The author Iris Chang decimates the silence by scrutinizing what came before, during and after a dastardly event that 60 years ago made front-page news in American newspapers. In an orgy of violence that lasted about six weeks, Japanese troops massacred no fewer than 260,000 and perhaps more than 350,000 Chinese lives. To put this human carnage into perspective, the death toll from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts was estimated at 70,000 and 140,000, respectively. Chang noted "that if the dead from Nanking were to link hands, they would stretch from Nanking to the city of Hangchow, spanning a distance of some 200 miles; their blood would weigh 1,200 tons, their bodies would fill 2,500 railroad cars."

The Japanese Rape of Nanking stands as one of the world's worst crimes against humanity. The Japanese government has refused to come to terms with the mass butchery. In fact, many prominent Japanese politicians, academic and industrial leaders absolutely refuse to admit that the slaughter ever occurred. Chang notes "in contrast to Germany, where it is illegal for teachers to delete the Holocaust from their history curricula, the Japanese have for decades systemically purged references to the Nanking massacre from museums, tampered with original source material and excised from popular culture any mention of the massacre." Compounding the Japanese army's barbarism is the deafening silence that followed in the post-World War II years which claimed another 19 million Chinese lives - "the second rape" of Nanking!

The bloody story started in August 1937 when fierce fighting erupted between Chinese and Japanese forces in the City of Shanghai. When Shanghai fell, the City of Nanking prepared for an expected Japanese attack in November 1937. The Japanese onslaught forced the retreat of some 90,000 Chinese troops from Nanking where complete chaos ensued as desperate soldiers attempted to reach the Yangtze River. Left behind in the mayhem were the women, children and elderly. The defenseless clung to one absurd hope: "that its invaders would have mercy." That hope was shattered when the Japanese started a murderous frenzy lasting 6 weeks.

Young Chang (unrelated to author Iris Chang) wrote "there seems to be no limit to the cruelty inflicted by the Japanese." It has been estimated that 20,000 to 80,000 women were raped. Japanese troops amused themselves by forcing fathers to rape their daughters and sons to rape their mothers while soldiers snapped pornographic photographs. In other instances, Chinese captives were buried to the neck and run over by tanks or torn apart by dogs. Victims were "disemboweled, decapitated, dismembered" and even used for bayonet practice. It's even been reported that "the Japanese media avidly covered these killings contests and ran photos of two officers who competed to see who would be the first to behead 100 Chinese; the contest ended when one scored 106 and the other 105." Young Chang noted that "no form of torture was too brutal." Some victims were sacrificed, others were bound with rope, doused with gasoline and set ablaze while still others were hanged by their tongues from metal hooks and left to perish.

The author Iris Chang writes that "Hilter killed about 6 million Jews, and Stalin more than 40 million Russians, but these deaths were brought about over some few years." During the Japanese Rape of Nanking, all of the killing was concentrated within a six week period of time. Many would note that there is a profound difference between reading about Hitler's Holocaust versus the Rape of Nanking. In Young Chang's words, "when I read about the Holocaust, despite the emotion that surges through me, I know that the rest of the world knows, and to this day, the Germans are making reparations; but when I read about Nanking, my anger and outrage becomes a confused desperate cry because its horror is cloaked in silence."

Iris Chang is not driven by spite or hatred in her quest of making the world aware of the Japanese Rape of Nanking. Young Chang concludes that the author "is screaming on behalf of the Nanking victims to be heard, and we have to listen; not for her sake but for ours." Audre Lorde, a black feminist poet who composed an essay entitled "The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action" wrote that "the fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break the silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which mobilizes us, but silence.... and there are so many silences to be broken."

n.b. Japanese who refuse to admit that the Nanking slaughter ever occurred.... sounds a little like Shimadzu sales/support/service reps who refuse to admit to the truths promulgated on this homepage.

n.b. Japanese who purge reference to the Nanking massacre from the original source materials.... sounds a lot like Shimadzu administrators who retained high priced legal talent in a blatant attempt to threaten at least two different internet service provides (ISPs) to halt (i.e. censure) publication of this factual homepage.

n.b. What is it about Japanese troops and Shimadzu employees who are constantly preoccupied with sex, pornography and the alienation of women in the workplace?

n.b. Why would you want to reward Shimadzu (a Japanese owned company) after learning firsthand about the terrible atrocities the Japanese perpetrated against humankind?

n.b. Why would you want to reward Shimadzu with the purchase of anything after reading this historical compilation which details TNTC Japanese crimes? (BTW: Shimadzu Corporation was actively engaged in the Japanese war effort during World War II!)

n.b. How about an updated killing contest where Shimadzu is the intended target.... customers make purchases from other vendors exclusively and piss on Shimadzu!

n.b. What is it about that deafening corporate silence from Shimadzu and constant denial of the facts as depicted on this homepage?

n.b. Is lying the norm at Shimadzu? What ever happened to telling/admitting the truth?

n.b. Denying and lying runs strong in the gene pool of Shimadzu sales/service/support personnel.... don't forget it!

n.b. It just seems that if it's not one thing at Shimadzu, then it's another.... even BIGGER drip, drip, drip!