Testimony meeting held in Japan's Shizuoka in memory of 1937 Nanjing Massacre

SHIZUOKA, Japan - Some 200 Japanese people attended a testimony meeting on Tuesday in Shizuoka city, central Japan, in commemoration of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

Lu Ling, daughter of a Nanjing Massacre survivor who passed away in 2004, shared her mother's story with Japanese residents at the meeting.

Lu's mother Li Xiuying, born in 1919, was stabbed 37 times by Japanese soldiers and lost her baby in the massacre.

"The massacre imposed tremendous sufferings to my family, the people in Nanjing and the Chinese people," said Lu.

"The truth about the Nanjing Massacre and the crimes committed by the invading Japanese troops are undeniable," she said.

She added that her mother used to call upon people to cherish peace and never forget the history, and she would like to pass on those messages on behalf of her mother.

"The atrocities committed by the Japanese troops at that time were so cruel and unforgivable," said Sakurai, a local resident, after watching a documentary about the massacre and hearing Lu's testimony.

She said she felt sorry that the Japanese government has been trying to cover up that part of history and deliver wrong messages to the people.

Masataka Mori, a former professor of irenology at Shizuoka University, said that Japan's ultra-rightist forces had been trying to erase the Nanjing Massacre history.

"Nowadays, more and more young people know nothing about that part of history, which is rather alarming," he said.

"On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre, it is hoped that more people could know about and pass on the truth about Nanjing Massacre," he added.

The invading Japanese military brutally killed over 300,000 Chinese citizens and unarmed soldiers following the capture of Nanjing in 1937.

Japan, however, has been trying to downplay its atrocities by claiming that the number of killed was not as many as 300,000.