Interview with Ms. D

"From what I’ve seen, most Japanese history textbooks basically cover up Japan’s aggression, focusing instead on the battles of the Pacific War during World War II. The government doesn’t officially recognize the full casualty numbers from the Sino-Japanese War — they only admit to a much smaller figure. For example, things like Unit 731 have only started appearing in the media in recent years. Before that, they almost never showed up, and even now, you can hardly find them in the textbooks.

In all my years living here, I haven’t personally experienced discrimination from Japanese people because of history, nor have I often discussed the topic with them — it’s simply too sensitive. Sometimes, when Japanese people do bring it up in front of me, they’ll stand on China’s side and say Japan’s aggression was wrong. But knowing the reserved nature of Japanese culture, I can’t always tell if what they say truly reflects their feelings. To me, it doesn’t always sound entirely sincere."