"Though I was prepared, I'm still shocked at the sight of the skeletons," said 69-year-old Japanese photographer Jin Takaiwa when visiting the Pingdingshan Tragedy Memorial Hall in Fushun City, northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Jin came to China to seek evidence to prove Japan's intrusion of China during 1930s and 1940s, and Fushun is an important leg of Jin's tour in China.

Jin said, "I'll show the historical truth to today's Japanese youth and let them know the historical facts beyond their textbooks."

With a dignified look and seldom speaking when shooting exhibits at the memorial hall and when he finished his work, Jin wrote down: The massacre would not happen again, and he will look for historical facts and let the Japanese know. He went on to write, "Long live the friendship between Japan and China."

The Pingdingshan Tragedy Memorial Hall is built in commemoration of the massacre of more than 3,000 innocent people of Pingdingshan Village by intruding Japanese soldiers on September 16, 1932. These victims included elders, women and children. Japanese soldiers burnt the bodies of the villagers and blew up a hill to bury the bodies for the purpose of covering up their crimes. Japanese soldiers also burnt more than 800 houses in the village.

Survivors of the massacre lodged a law suit, demanding the Japanese government admit the crimes Japanese troops committed in the Pingdingshan tragedy, to apologize toward and compensate the tragedy victims. The district court of Tokyo acknowledged the tragedy was caused by intruding Japanese troops but turned down the damages suit in June, 2002.

Three survivors of the massacre appealed to the Tokyo High Court, which rejected their appeal and upheld a lower court ruling at the second instance on Friday, acknowledging that the tragedy was caused by intruding Japanese army in Pingdingshan but rejecting a damages suit by the three Chinese survivors.

Fushun citizens from more than 10 social communities Friday gathered for a memorial at the site of the Pingdingshan Tragedy, condemning the unfair ruling of the Japanese court. People from Shenyang, capital city of Liaoning province, also gathered to support the survivors and protest the Japanese court's judgment.

"It's unreasonable that the Japanese court rejected the damages suit by Chinese survivors," said Lo Lee, who is traveling with JinKawaiwa to shoot evidence in Fushun.

Jin said the massacre showed that Japan had done many things brutally in China, noting that the Japanese government should face history and also should apologize and offer compensation to these victims.

"To tell the truth of the history is my mission," Jin said.

Source: Xinhua