Stories

Japanese Soldier Stayed In China To Atone For Japan’s Crimes

by on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 86 comments comments

Yamasaki Hiroshi, a Japanese Imperial Army defector who stayed in China and practiced medicine.

From Tiexue:

A conscientious Japanese veteran who remained in China has passed away, let us pay our respects

The Chinese ID card of Yamasaki Hiroshi, a Japanese Imperial Army defector.

Yamasaki, following the 1937 Lugou Bridge Incident [aka "Marco Polo Bridge Incident"], landed in Tianjin with the Japanese invading army. Owing to the Japanese army killing and destroying everything in its path, accompanying medical officer Yamasaki could no longer watch any further and soon fled. He headed towards the tip of the Shandong peninsula because there it was closest to Japan, and he hoped to flee the war of aggression against China.

Yamasaki Hiroshi recently passed away at the age of 103.

Due to continuous warfare and war disasters, Yamasaki continuously hid amongst the people in Shandong practicing medicine, all the way until the founding of the New China.

After the liberation, Yamasaki remained with the Jinan City medical center and community hospital serving the Chinese people. He said to me: “The Japanese army committed heinous crimes in China and I must stay in China my entire life to atone for them.”

Members of a clinic where Yamasaki Hiroshi worked, hiding amongst the Chinese people.

All of the members of the clinic

Former Japanese Imperial Army medical officer Yamasaki Hiroshi seeing Chinese patients.

Examining Chinese patients.

Yamasaki Hiroshi.

Laying roots in China

Yamasaki Hiroshi writes what part of the Japanese Imperial Army he once belonged to.

His original army/regiment----Following the 1937 Lugou Bridge Incident, the Japanese invading army landed in Tianjin

Yamasaki Hiroshi writes about his hope to make amends for what the Japanese did to the Chinese in World War II.

In his own handwriting: "As the moon has light, the people have friendship/kindness" expressing his wish to stay in China until his death to make amends

A photographer takes a photo of Yamasaki Hiroshi.

Yesterday, at 103-years-old, elderly Mister Yamazaki passed away. He died a natural death and passed away peacefully.

Yamasaki Hiroshi in a picture with several Chinese people.

The Chinese people are a people who distinguish gratitude and resentment. The Chinese people will always remember kind-hearted people, no matter what nationality...

Comments from Tiexue:

hwl2007:

A Japanese veteran with a conscience…

扯淡的来了:

I am touched by him keeping the faith for over half a century! An old man who has kept his Japanese personality and added the feelings of the Chinese is worthy of everyone’s admiration!

毛主席万万歳:

Beasts will always be beasts.

[This comment was later deleted, maybe by Tiexue moderators]

不算老的老兵: (in response to above)

You can’t say things like that, even a pack of wolves has wolf mothers who can raise little sheep, much less people. Extreme thinking will not gain the approval of others. It wasn’t easy for the old man, and he has already passed away, so mind what you say.

wangzhuangkuo:

To the old man I salute/pay my respects! He is a true hero!

yxj760911:

May he rest in peace. I hope there will never be war in this world…

m281534893:

The eyes of the masses are bright! Making mistakes is not to be feared.

What is to be feared is to do something wrong without knowing to repent.

零時零分零秒:

[He has] moved China, moved us all~

古南岳:

Japan’s invasion of China was a crime of a nationality [the Japanese]. That this old man used his entire life to atone for that crime can be described as righteous.

Rest in peace.

解放台湾岛:

A good “foreign devil”, worthy of respect.

男人的泪:

Human nature is fundamentally good. I hope even more Japanese people can see the evils of war, otherwise there will be greater destruction and ruin in the future!

icemanbl:

There are too few Japanese people who are like this conscientious old man! With Japanese society being so right-wing these days, China-Japan friendship will likewise be forever impossible! Sooner or later, war will still be used to resolve national conflicts!

中国空军元帅: (in response to 毛主席万万歳)

Right, because you cannot see his conscientiousness, cannot tell the difference between good and bad, and therefore you can only be a beast.

xuejia0512:

Just looking at his practicing medicine, I very much admire this ex-soldier. At the very least, he is able to admit that he had committed crimes!

吾良仁:

There are good people everywhere, including Japan.

此号注定被贱人封:

This guy was a Japanese soldier! He probably [stayed] here to enjoy a comfortable life, not atoning for his crimes! God knows how many of our compatriots he killed.

lee00:

Even if he was a Japanese soldier, as long as he has a conscience, then he is a good person.

超强奶爸:

In a war between countries, sometimes you cannot entirely blame the soldiers. The soldiers are just a tool of politics…[I] sympathize with this deceased old man.

猫猫不洗澡:

He was a medical officer, he didn’t kill people. He was atoning on behalf of the Japanese people, not for himself.

langh3531: (in response to 此号注定被贱人封)

Do you know that the thinking of today’s Chinese fenqing [nationalistic youth] and the pre-WW2 Japanese fenqing are exactly the same?

国强而民安:

Or maybe a simple apology is enough to make soft-hearted Chinese people forgive.
But, those in power would rather pay their respects to the dead and falsify textbooks rather than say such an obvious thing.

uncleliu:

It is difficult to persevere continuously. That you have served the people for half your life is worth us learning from! Old man, may you rest in peace!

leileijia3:

Old man, the Chinese are a kind-hearted people. The moment you put down the butcher’s knife and began practicing medicine, the Chinese people already forgave you.

扫黄捉鸡:

If even a person like this cannot get forgiveness, then we as a people/nation truly are hopeless! Salute [to the Yamasaki]!

去他妈棒子:

Rest in peace. Why are there always some people who are indiscriminately hostile to and attack foreign friends? Do you guys believe this is how you show your patriotism???? May I ask which country doesn’t have good people and evil people? All day saying “so and so country once invaded us, so we have a grudge against them. As long it is anything of that country’s, it is all bad”. But, have you ever considered, that our Yuan Dynasty also invaded many country, killed many people? So, we should recognize one thing: A country’s strength is the most important. Only when a country is strong will it not endure bullying by others. The people of one country should not have any any hatred for the people of another country. We should only hate certain things/incidents between the two countries. [I] really admire a foreign quote: “Politicians only know how to provoke war, whereas those who end wars are always the young soldiers.” In reality, the people are always the victims of politics, everyone just representing their country. Our hero might be their enemy, whereas our enemy may be their hero.

Is Yamasaki Hiroshi’s actions and life admirable?

  • 老外

    Well, I really do not like the Japanese… however, I have much respect for this old man.

    • Cleo

      Ever wonder if the Cup of Noodles innovator and Sadaharu Oh are just decoys and the real Chinese pretending to be Japanese are Akira Kurosawa with his High and Low and the modern dramas about corporate corruption and journalistic collusion, Shohei Imamura, Juzo Itami and Kenzaburo Oe? because if they made movies like that in Chinese – wouldn’t you look very closely and recognize something? I’m not talking about some remnant of assholes merging. These guys did no favors for their country’s rep.

      • 老外

        What the nigger was that?

  • http://www.matthewsawtell.com Matthew A. Sawtell

    What is the measure of a man, his history or his actions? For this man, is a measure of both – with results that will perplex those that cannot fathom non-precise measurements.

    • Justin

      Big Lebowski: “What makes a man Mr. Lebowski? Is it the courage to do the right thing no matter what? Isn’t that what makes a man?”

      The Dude: “That and a pair of testicles.”

      BL: “You’re joking, but maybe you’re right….”

  • Victim of Li Gang’s Son

    The statement: “Japan’s invasion of China was a crime of a nationality”– as a human being who understands what is logic I simply cannot understand this thinking.

    It makes me understand why the Chinese word for logic is rooted from English.

    You want to blame an entire ethnic group for something that happened in history?

    Fine.

    I blame every single Chinese person for what Li Gang’s son did.

    How logical is that?

    • mankouzanghua

      “It makes me understand why the Chinese word for logic is rooted from English.”

      hmm, sounds like you are blaming all chinese people for one chinese netizen’s comment. sound familiar?

      maybe “luoji” comes from english, but logic is clearly not your strong point, either.

      • A S D F

        Haha, um, dude, WHOOSH.

        That is the point. It is JUST AS illogical.

        • mankouzanghua

          He made a satirical statement: “I blame every single Chinese person for what Li Gang’s son did.” I understand that this comment, and his name, are sarcastic.

          But read his comment again, specifically the part where he takes the words of the single netizen to judge all Chinese — i.e., to insinuate that Chinese are somehow innately illogical. “It makes me understand why the CHINESE WORD FOR LOGIC IS ROOTED FROM ENGLISH.” (emphasis added for the other logic- and reading-impaired people out there)

      • Chef Rocco

        Give him a break! He had brain trauma, Li Gang’s son slapped a spit pot on his head repeatedly, logic has evaded him since then.

      • Victim of Li Gang’s Son

        Would you please go back to school and study English? Or at least learn what the word “CONTEXT” means? The writer is commenting on a Chinese guy’s comment saying that what the Japanese imperial government did 80 years ago should be blamed on every single person of Japanese nationality. He is comparing that sarcastically to what Li Gang’s son said. He obviously does not blame all Chinese for what Li Gang’s son did. Please learn English, learn context, stop being so emotionally sensitive, and use your damn eyes.

      • Jent

        @Man, if you had actually read Victim’s comments, you would have shown he tried to demonstrate the flaw in the way Chinese people think about Japanese today. You can’t blame the Japanese today for what was done in the past. He’s us “Li Gang’s” as an example why someone can’t hate all Chinese just because of the actions of one person.

        • mankouzanghua

          jent and victim,
          see comment above. in addition to “using your damn eyes,” try to use your brains, too.

          I’m not so careless as to misunderstand obvious sarcasm and the point you thought you were making. but, since I don’t turn off my brain when I read, I also picked up on the underlying meaning. the fact that Victim included the underhanded comment, “It makes me understand why the Chinese word for logic is rooted from English” suggests that Victim him/herself already has some general biases against Chinese and used the (single) Chinese netizen’s comment to reinforce this bias.

          Suggesting that the irrationality of one Chinese netizen must be somehow rooted in the Chinese language somehow seems quite to similar to the thought process you thought you were making fun of with you Li Gang reference. But you also committed the same mistake yourself and are either too dense or too guarded to recognize it.

        • mankouzanghua

          Jent, also look at your own comment. Was Victim supposed to be criticizing “the flaw in the way Chinese people think about Japanese today,” or the flaw in the way A Chinese commenter thinks about the Japanese today?

          If, as you said, it’s the former, then what about the Chinese netizens who said things like: “May I ask which country doesn’t have good people and evil people?”

          Continually amazed by some people’s lack of self-reflection.

          • nufio

            im gonna have to agree with mankouwhatsisname on this.
            I did pick up the sarc on his comment.. but the undertlying tone of his comment had a definite bias against the chinese.

      • Mansu Musa

        推理 (tuli) is the Chinese word for logic, not at all is it rooted from English. 邏輯 (luoji) is the loanword of the same meaning and it is rooted from the Greek word logike meaning the study of arguments.

        • Chef Rocco

          You may be right, but in ancient China, the closest school to western logicians is “school of names’ represented by Gongsun Longzi in pre-Qin period.

          According to their argument: White horse is not a horse, likewise, victim of Li Gang’s son is not a victim. To me, this is quite logical ;)

    • His mom

      I blame you for being an idiot.

    • my 2 cents

      By “nationality” I think he meant it was a crime of the political and national institutions of Japan at the time.

      I think you’re getting “nationality” mixed up with “ethnicity.”

      • mankouzanghua

        well, he or she wrote 民族, which in my opinion would be a little closer to ethnicity. e.g., 少数民族 is ethnic minority，汉族 is han ethnic group

  • BrotherRiverCrab

    Did he stay to atone fr his crimes? Or was his intention was to create half-Japanese criminal gangs that are in fact genuine yakuza with fluency in the local language AND in local behavior?

    • Cleo

      It’s not like he fed himself mercury to watch his skin peel off, nor did he freeze his foot and then dip it into hot water to watch it shatter off his leg like glass. He didn’t even have sex with his own children and parents making the rest of his family members watch. He didn’t send himself down to Hostel and this is not really amends, you know? He’s not covered in fleas or working in brick kilns and giving his salary to feed orphans. He looks well fed and warmly dressed and he didn’t spend his life in China doing hard physical labor like those babies in the brick kilns who have no toys to play with. His hands are softer and whiter than many Chinese. So many Japanese soldiers were left behind in remote villages who didn’t contribute anything, they were just observing and perhaps guarding remnants of Yamashita’s Gold – does this news article really salve the CURRENT aggressive behavior of Japan who refuses to allow the American military base to continue in Okinawa, called the Americans monocellular in August and generally have been escalating their public image to allow Daken Akihito to emerge as a war emperor aka Hirohito Junior – don’t let that smug shark smile fool you – this soldier’s skills allowed him to be involved in society does that mean that Japanese and German medical technicians have sheep’s clothing in foreign countries? Los Angeles has a Nazi hospital Kaiser Permanente – now what use would German owned medical facilities be on the West Coast and Hawaii?

      • marke

        You, sir, have problems.

      • Patrick

        Um wow, so you don’t think as a Japanese medic he didn’t endure some of your twisted logic during the time he’s been here then you seriously need help – not just a little either. I recommend Kaiser Permanente – they’re very affordable. Seriously, an act of atonement is a generous act that others didn’t even attempt – as pointed out many times the Japanese have hid in shame of it. This man didn’t do that and your seriously racist views keep you from seeing it. You talk about Nazi’s as if you weren’t related.

      • Hongjian

        Although I agree with lots what you say; many japanese warcriminals were let off the hook after WWII by General MacArthur and lots of them (and the worst of them) even continued to do vivisections and human experimentations with Chinese and North Korean POW during the Korean War with the sanctioning of the US, I do feel that this particular old man’s struggle for atonement is genuine.

        The single japanese soldier is not the monster. It was the entire facist and nazist system of Imperial Japan, that was based on the ancient japanese ideology of Yamato’s racial superiority as founded by Hideyoshi when he invaded Korea the first time during Ming-Dynasty and returned with thousands of cut noses and ears of Korean and Chinese civilans and POW’s to Japan, who has turned the japanese into true “鬼子”, into true deamons who wouldnt even spare the lives of the old, young, sick and broken in their rampange of racial and imperial domination.

        The ideology of racial superiority of the Yamato-race, is still not broken today. I blame the US for that, who purposely avoided all attempts of ‘de-nazification’ in Japan, as they were forced to initiate (by the jews and the USSR) in Germany.
        And as long as this ideology still manifests as the leading ideal of the japanese right-wing (who are now firmly in power due to popular opinions), this old mans lone battle for reconciliation was pretty much in vain.

        • http://www.stargaterich.com stargaterich

          kudos!..I abosolute agree with what you wrote!.

        • bert

          Yes, it is always the USA’s fault.

          Whose fault is it that the nong-ming-ification of China is still going strong?

        • adamhk

          tou are an idiot

      • dim mak

        Cleo has some serious issues

  • Nereis

    Many on the Chinese boards seem to not know of the process in rebuilding a community that has been ravaged by war. Nor do they seem to think that a foreign soldier would want to build hospitals, schools and treat the illness of the local civilians once the war is over.

    This man, being Japanese, felt a personal responsibility for the actions of men not under his command and his desire to right wrongs is to be commended. He was a medic, about as far away from being a ruthless killer as you could be while still being in the military.

    Nonetheless, going AWOL in the Imperial Japanese Army was just about the most shameful thing that a young man could ever do at the time. I doubt he could have returned to Japan without the stigma held against him for the rest of his life.

  • elenore

    WW2 generation almost gone.My Grandfathers have passed away.It different for my kids to hear about the war, than for my Parents generation or even my own.It’s different when some one tells you a first hand account than to read it in a book.Let war wounds pass with them or maybe that’s just an American thing to bury the past with the dead.My paternal grandfather was stationed in Alaska in the Navy.I also had 2 great aunts who were nurses.My maternal grandfather was to young only 13 when war started,he sold war bonds as a boy scout for the war effort,his father(lived to his 90′s) was a WW1 veteran I only vaguely remember their accounts.I wish I paid a little more attention when they were telling stories.

    • Cleo

      I highly recommend reading Maud Hart Lovelace’s children’s (yes, Children’s) books that end in Betsy’s Wedding which ends when her husband starts training to be a pilot in World War 1. That entire series is about prewar America leading up to World War 1. Contrast that period to Sinclair Lewis Allen’s Only Yesterday and Since Yesterday about the 1920s and 1930s – the period between the wars. America wasn’t much older than the official Nation of Germany but Germany had enjoyed the influence of better civilizations neighboring it and we’re the GOOD GUYS. There’s nothing to FORGET. There is a problem and if you don’t see it in the hordes of Japanese in China (the Chinese in Japan don’t even COMPARE) – too bad, because the Koreas are ramping up, already armed, and that’s just the Asian neighbor that can be seen. Burma is unfurling. Japan will NOT do anything to anyone EVER AGAIN. Doesn’t matter how many skrulls they raise, that’s their problem, their fault for the unhappy outcomes awaiting ill-bred future generations of haters.

  • bobiscool

    Even though there must be many ungrateful Chinese people who were racist against him, he was still kind enough to forgive and help them.

    I admire this kind of person, much, much more so than a Chinese person who feels he has the right to bomb tokyo.

    That said, I wish more Japanese people would be like him (At least not hate the Chinese people)

  • AznDud

    I salute you Sir.

    Now let’s get back to boycotting all japanese eateries wherever we are and stop being hypocrites.

  • Hongjian

    *salutes*

    He has done so much more than what the Chinese actually demanded as an apology from the Japanese. And this is truely respectable.

    After all, just a gesture of remorse, like German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s kneefall in Warshaw, before the monument of the warshaw uprising, could instantly normalize the relationship between China and Japan on the basis of the people.

    But what we see today are just provocative military excercises with the US aimed at China (North Korea is just a strawman).

    Not good. This respectifully old man will not rest in peace at all.

    • Alikese

      Yay! Let’s turn this thread about an awesome old Japanese man into a Hongjian anti-US circlejerk! Who’s with me?

      • Hongjian

        noone is circlejerking.

        Just stating the fact that yesterday Hu Jintao literally begged Obama to return to the six-party talk to negotiate and deescalate the situation, while today Adm. Mike Mullen critizised China for not doing enough to deescalate said situation, not even mentioning that it was the US, South Korea and Japan who declined China’s offer for deescalaton by negotiation.

        This old man’s struggle for peace and atonement will never be fulfilled from the japanese side, when the hawkish young foreign minister Seiji Maehara just seems to want a war in asia to happen, declining all offers of negotiations and deescalation and participating in an sabre-rattling manouvre, so that China may be weakened and Japan may ascent back to the leagure of nations who actually matter.

        Good just that Russia sent two of their Il-83 ASW aircrafts over to disturb the excercise, making the US and Japan to stop their insanity.

      • @@

        i am with you all the way bro!

        if it wasn’t for the American’s back hand deal and spearing various individuals responsible for some of the worst war crimes commited in history, the japs could have a clean start again, instead these war criminals were able to continue embed themselves in the jap government and attemp to whitewash history, now you have entire generations of japs unaware of the past attrocities.

        i think all americans should be lined up and shot

        • Hongjian

          Yes.

          But at least General FagArthur got what he deserved. At least apart of it.

          The People’s Volunteer Army in Korea sure showed him the wrath of the Chinese people, by embarrassing him so close from total victory over North Korea and over China (After all, he planned to cross the Yalu-river to attack the industrial heart of Manchuria).

          That fucker was so enraged, that he wanted to bomb China with 20 nukes – and this had him removed from his position by President Trueman, who didnt want it to escalate into a nuclear war.

          With just the power of steeled human bodies, stealthy tactics and unbreakable will, the PVA prevailed and threw back the americans over the 38th parrallel.

          And then, MacArthur, the saviour of japanese warcriminals, the arrogant bastard who wanted to nuke China, the eternal enemy of the Chinese people, was humiliated by a band of rag-tag soldiers, who werent even all equipped with firearms.

          • nufio

            ha ha dont be fooled the US doesnt like Japan as much as it doesnt like china. The idea is to maintain instability and hatred within asia and it seems to be working really well as is obvious from the comments here.

          • k2000k

            McArthur was not removed because he wanted to drop nukes on China. He was removed because he publicly spoke ill about the president his commanding officer. And I could just as easily argue that the war ended in an American victory. The United States and the UN were able to push back an aggressive attack by the North Koreans and then prevent further aggression by China. What you failed to mention is that after crossing back to the 38th parallel the US dug in, China tried to continue their advance but was thwarted. The US/UN and China/North Korea then essentially skirmished with each other until a ceasefire was arranged. Also, neither China nor the US committed its full military strength to the war.

          • Hongjian

            No, China’s objective was to save North Korea from total american destruction and push back the western forces out of North Korea, to create a buffer-zone before the Yalu-river.

            The fourth and fifth campaign, that included the continued advance into South Korea, were additional operations to seize as much territory as possible before the chease-fire negotiations concluded, and thus enabling one to have a better leverage in the forthcoming of a possible peace-negotiation.
            And the US and SK tried exactly the same, after they were pushed back to the 38th parallel.

            China attained their objective to protect the North and push back the US, North Korea and South Korea (who also planned to swallow the North before they invaded) lost in their’s and the US won in their objectives by protecting the South, but failed in defeating the North.

    • A S D F

      Okay I will bite.

      How is North Korea a strong man?

      The U.S. forced Japan to disarm, with the condition that they would protect Japan. Of course, the U.S. position would soon change as protecting Japan would become a financial burden that Japan was VERY willing to not be responsible for. In any case, Japan is an ally that the U.S. is OBLIGATED to protect. North Korea has missiles that can hit Japan. If North Korea has nuclear weapons, Japan will be the country they use them on because they can already destroy Seoul with conventional artillery with ease.

      How is Chinas bullying of its Southeast Asian neighbors any different? Political maybe but provocative the exercises are not.

    • 0311

      While I respect many of your points, why do you feel the need to always make something China vs USA? Stop flattering yourself.

      What is this nationalistic shit I constantly hear during my travels in china? People feel the need to point out how great their country(china) is, and I agree with them, however treat your country with respect and perhaps other will take your patriotism more seriously. From my observation these foreign devils treat your land with more respect than many of the locals. What up with that? Please enlighten me.

      • bunny99

        I don’t throw trash in the street and I turn off the electricity at night because I feel it is better for China’s environment, and the plight of some around me who are in a bad position makes me want to change the world.

        So maybe I am a good citizen though not a citizen (I being a foreign devil)!

        Patriotism is wanting to show the world how good your country can be, not stopping people from complaining when things are not the way you want them to be.

        On topic – the Japanese soldier won the respect of many (or all) of the Chinese people around him for many years – so we can assume that he is a good guy!

    • k2000k

      Hongjian, by your logic, if the US military exercise was really aimed at China, with North Korea being the straw man. Then could I not argue that the attacks by North Korea is really just China acting covertly to send a message to the US? Both are fallacy in this instance, though I would agree with you that the reason the US still has a military presence in North Korea has more to do with China than North Korea.

  • bobiscool

    I am also very happy to see that there weren’t many negative comments from the netizens.

    I hope it isn’t because fauna cherry-picked them.

    And btw, I’m not good at chinese, but
    from what I know, 鬼子 is exclusively for the japanese, like bangzi is for the koreans.

    so I think it’s a bit misleadering to translate it as “foreign devil”, because at least from what I see, foreign mostly means blacks and whites. East asians have their own category, like bangzi or guizi.

    • lol

      ehh, not really. You can add anything to 鬼子, eg 洋鬼子 and it would mean [insert nationality] devils

    • aquadraht

      That is not correct, bobiscool. 鬼子 just means devil, demon, mischievous spirit, it was frequently preceded by 洋 for foreign.
      鬼子 is at worst mildly derogatory, it may also denote a person who is sly, cunning etc. expressing respect. Even in the more derogatory meaning, e.g. kids are frequently addressed as 小 鬼子. Thus, the demons are not at all assumed to be all foreigners. And, by the way, devils in common Chinese demonology are not as bad as in the christian tradition. The harsh dichotomy and the notion of absolute evil is somewhat christian-western point of view.

      That “foreign devil” term preceded all Japanese attacks on China probably by centuries. Afaik, it was already in use during the Yuan dynasty. Only during WW2 it became common particularly for the Imperial Japanese army due to their conduct, and often 日本 鬼子, Japanese devils was used instead to differ them from “normal” 洋鬼子. As far as I know, they even were called 恶魔 (evil spirits, bad devils) instead.

      Today, 洋鬼子 is considered politically incorrect. Some foreigners like to use it jokingly to address themselves, e.g. in 天不怕地不怕就怕洋鬼子说中国话 (no idea whether that was ever a genuine Chinese rhyme – today it’s just fun).

      a^2

      • bobiscool

        Thanks for explaining. Again, I left China when I was 7, so I’m not great with Chinese.

        From my experiences, I’ve never heard of the term 洋鬼子。

        the other forms, I have heard of, but they are unrelated. Also, a “gui” is a ghost, isn’t it? Anyway, If I just said “guizi” by itself, how would you interpret it as?

        I think that at least where I’m from, (tianjin), people would assume you’re talking about Japanese people. Even if you can add a yang before it to make it mean westerners, just guizi by itself is japanese.

        Or maybe not. I don’t know, my CHinese isn’t good.

        • mankouzanghua

          I’m not a native speaker, but I believe it was only around the time of the war that guizi would be interpreted specifically as a reference to japanese.

          I’ve heard some uncouth types say “heiguizi” and, perhaps when I was not around, these same people referred to me as baigui.

        • aquadraht

          Well, my Chinese as well is far from perfect, I am still learning, from lots of dubious sources such as everyday’s talk, literature, the internet, and more. In classic Chinese novels such as 西游记, a 鬼 is just a ghost, the bound form 鬼子 seems to appear later, or rather in spoken language (baihua), and I cannot tell so much about usage in common spoken Chinese. 鬼眼 denotes the sixth sense, and 鬼祟 clandestine, hidden. Those terms may be found in texts by Lu Xun and Lao She, for example.
          But I heard kids being named jokingly as “little devils” (well, I myself addressed my children as monsters more than once :) ..), and the yanguizi was sort of a running gag especially loved by laowai addressing themselves as humble yangguizi or similar.

          I think that spoken Chinese is evolving all time, the only way to know is to practise.

          Greetings, a^2

  • Alikese

    He probably had a very hard life during the Cultural Revolution as an educated doctor from Japan, it’s good to see that he was able to live happily for a long time afterward.

  • Sunni

    He lived in my city. I have heard about him from my grandfather, who was a veteran.

    RIP Yamasaki san.

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  • Jimbo

    May he rest in peace. Although I do believe that most Japanese are cowards whom are still afraid to acccept what they have done in the past, there are still a few brave souls out there willing make up for it.

  • BlothaLonely

    O man…The grandpa was welly welly lonely!!! Ding him~~

  • dim mak

    Glory to Asian unity.

  • http://www.makeyourownpheromones.com Michael Hughes

    There are good and bad people of every race.

  • Suspicious

    This story and comments all sound suspicious and circumspect to me. I suspect the man did not so much have a choice of going back to Japan once the country closed the borders under Mao. I also suspect in time, being unable to return, he was “re-educated” and learned how to regurgitate the proper interpretation of the war: I must give my whole life to atone for the sins of Japan. Why should anyone person be expected to do that? Besides, I don’t buy that he chose to do this, but was forced to do so and prohibited from leaving. Yet, being a good soul who realized the horrors of war, decided to continue to do good as a healing doctor. I would like to hear what he thought of the horrors of Mao, a far more destructive genocide than WWII. But of course, I am not going to hear that here among what seems generally like mindless jingoistic posts by people incapable of reflecting on the horrors of their own repressive society.

    • pervertt

      Mr Yamazaki made a moral commitment to stay in China. Being a non-Chinese citizen, at least at the end of the war, he would not have been prevented from leaving the country. There are well publicised cases of Japanese soldiers who were convicted of war crimes, who spent time in Chinese jails, and who were later repatriated to Japan.

      I think it must have taken enormous courage and strength of will for Mr Yamazaki to act on his moral convictions. As with any soldier serving abroad, he must have been homesick and desperate to see his family and native homeland. Had he been caught by his compatriots in the Japanese Army, he would have been shot as a deserter. As a Japanese, he would have been treated with suspicion (if not outright hatred) by the Chinese during and just after the war.

      I personally think there was no need for Mr Yamazaki to atone for anything at all. He was probably drafted in the army and had no choice about where and how he would serve. As with all new recruits, he would have been brutalised in his induction to the Army. Even as a medico, he would have been compelled to do things that would be morally repugnant to you and me.

      Mr Yamazaki’s story reminds me of Kon Ichikawa’s movie, ‘The Harp of Burma” and Masaki Kobayashi’s “The Human Condition.” Both movies, made in the 1950s, provide a Japanese perspective of the dehumanising effects of serving in the Japanese Army, and how individual soldiers with moral convictions subsequently coped with their guilt. They are excellent movies and should be watched by anyone who thinks war is a good way to resolve differences between countries.

  • A

    I have nothing but utmost respect for this man. It would have been much easier to turn the blind eye on the massacre and live a comfortable life later on in his home country (as hundreds of thousands have done), but he chose the more humane and honourable road. He spent his entire life to atone for what his country has done, out of the goodness of his heart and conscience. I think god was also fair in giving him (what seemed like) a rewarding and long-lasting life in China. I hope his actions can help promote better friendship between China and Japan, although with the PRC government in control, that would seem unattainable for a while…

    I also recall seeing a video a while back of a retired Japanese soldier (?) visiting China and personally making amends for what happened during the War. It is stories like these that renew my hope for human kind.

    • Hongjian

      “although with the PRC government in control, that would seem unattainable for a while…”

      How so?

      It’s not like China is doing military excercises in the Sea of Japan, or openly speaking of helping to contain Japan…

      If anything, it is more like this: As long as the US exists, there wil be no friendship between China and Japan. Every attempt to normalize relations will be sabotaged with Cheonan-incidents, Diaoyutai issues and right-wing Japanese politicians who are sponsored by the US to stirr up shit, so that CHina and Japan could never reconcile, which would make the US hegemony in Asia obslete and needless..

      • k2000k

        Hongjian

        The government of China has done far more to inflame relations between Japan and China than America. In fact the government has used such sentiments to its own advantage, only acting against it when the resulting rage threatens to spill over into other areas. And it isn’t exactly hard, on these forums whenever Japan is mentioned there will inevitably be individuals who come streaming on the forums and scream death to the Japanese. The tension right now largely results from the actions by North Korea, and even though I feel if China truly wanted to they could nip North Korean actions before they were started, I do not think China is involved. North Korea has a history of ‘towing the line’ whenever they seem to become irrelevant to the world stage. These actions are calculated gestures by Kimg Jong Il in efforts to get more aid, recognition, or some sort of concession. Hence nuclear tests, hence the Cheonan, hence the recent shelling. Claiming that right wing Japanese politicians are straw men for the US is literally grasping for straws. If the US really sought the isolate China then they would be focusing towards south east Asia an India. Why? Because Japan is oriented to the US because there is still a lot of bad blood between Japan and China.

        • Hongjian

          Sure, but you seem to forget that North Korea is also just a strawman and the real objective of the US containment policy is China.

          North Korea is a annoying child, but comparably harmless. It has no economic relevance, no military relevance the South alone couldnt handle with ease, and no political relevance, beside trolling the South with some tantrum.

          China, on the other hand, is poised to become a serious rival to not only US hegemony in asia, but also becoming an icreasing ideological threat to the ideal western-world-constellation as stated in Fukuyama’s “End of History”, where the western ideology and way of life prevails over everything else and dominates whole mankind.

          During the Diaoyutai issue, it was more than clear what america’s real objective was: As soon as the dispute kicked in, the US, despite its official statement that they didnt consider disputed islands being included in the Japan-US defense treaty just two month before, suddenly jumped the bandwagon and claimed that the Diaoyu’s are japanese territory and that China would risk war with the US when they dared to touch it.
          So, as soon as China is involved in a bilateral dispute, formerly declared as domestic issue, the US suddenly just wants to get involved, throwing themselves into a possible confict with China. Why?
          Simple: The US just wants to contain and maim China wherever they can. THIS is straw-grasping. Every small and unsignificant issue where China and a different nation are in a dispute, the US jumps in to act against China.

          Every damn child would feel, when a certain fat school bully always seeks to get involved in conflicts with you as an antagonist, that somehow he is just really hating you, and it is not just a neutral act of coincidence.

          So, I stand here again: As long as the US exists as a hegemonial power with global reach and ambitions, China and Japan will never reconcile.
          The US just wont want their bullwark and fortress to be too friendly with the declared target of containment.

          • some_guy

            While I agree with Hongjian that America is trying to contain China at all costs, I still feel like he’s blaming the US as a scapegoat too much. Let’s not forget, Japan, Vietnam, etc. WELCOME America’s intervention to save them from “imperialistic China”. If Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, etc, just told US to gtfo of Asian affairs, the US would have little success. But the Asians obviously hate the Chinese more than the Americans do.

            America trying to destroy every other world power is recent history. Asians have had THOUSANDS of years of history in invading and destroying China, from Qin Shi Huang building the great wall, to 五胡亂華, etc etc. Any Chinese who thinks pan-Asianism is possible, with or without US intervention, is delusional and has obviously never studied Chinese history.

          • dim mak

            Nonsense, Pan-Asianism is most possible today when Asians stop being butthurt about each other, step back, and realize everyone outside of East Asia is some blend of violent, stupid, or religious. Asians must stand together lest any of that bullshit starts to seep into our geographical sphere.

          • some_guy

            Seriously? I think friendship between China and the US is very possible if both sides just stop being butthurt to each other.

            China and Japan can never coexist in peace, mainly because China has ALWAYS been the boogeyman in Japanese eyes since the Meiji. Many Chinese people do not hate the Japanese, but no matter how hard Chinese try to impress the Japanese, the Japanese always return with malice and spite. Japanese media have nothing better to do other than to bash China daily, while Chinese are in a delusional dream that someday, an alliance between China and Japan will destroy America.

            Also, most of the Western world is far more peaceful than East Asia. At least they don’t have a North Korea. At least there is such thing as hate speech.

          • Wily

            I agree that US balancing is one cause, but I think the Chinese government is more to blame for inflaming anti-Japanese feeling in order to divert attention from its past and present failings. Same thing as Argentina in the Falklands, Saddam in Iran, etc. The Chinese schools use history to shape the ideology of the current generation more than any other country does. Still, the Japanese could legitimately do more in making some symbolic war reparations like the Germans did (in the order of billions), which would go a long way for a small price.

            One must remember, though, that the TRUE cause for the lingering hate is the COLD WAR. Without Potsdam and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria before it, the US certainly would have taken a stronger stance in trying and hanging more Japanese war criminals. But with even the idea of a “North Japan” (Communists holding Hokkaido) on the table, the US had to appease the people quickly as possible. Then, in the 1970′s, Mao had to renounce official demands for Japanese reparations as part of the agreement in opening up to the West. In any case, the Japanese military quickly became “bastards, but our bastards” for the Americans as did so many other villains in the Cold War. People with short historical memories, though, tend to forget this…

  • Rama Nikbakhsh

    I think he was great man with a high degree of responsibility for what his nation done blindfolded half a century ago. He was a man who really deserved a peace nobel prize. Let’s wish we see more people like him all around the world. [From Iran]

  • wahhHK

    scumbag chinese… guys just have a look at his room to see how he was kept by those he was healing

  • Cyrus Howell

    … The Japanese in business, the military and government are still arrogant pigs who have not learned their lesson.
    … I speak Japanese: Kagi. Akaga. Hiru. Soru.
    The four Jap aircraft carriers we sunk in the Battle of Midway Island Trap laid for the Japanese Navy. The Jap rats were caught in our trap, just as they were again at the Battle of Leyte Gulf where Japan’s Navy was destroyed.
    … If a people lets an aggressive dictator like Tojo, Hitler, Stalin, or Saddam control their lives and use them as meat, they get what they deserve for not standing up. Too late to cry.

  • B

    The atrocities of war trigger different things in people. For this man it happened to be a lifetime of guilt and debt. If this was what he had to do to make it through, if it was a meaningful existence for him, then well done.

  • raab

    In the second picture, of Yamazaki’s ID card, anyone know what font that is on the left side of the card, perpendicular to the rest of the card? Is it standard on those IDs? I really like it.

  • Li

    At that time many Japanese have to listen from their High rank official. Or they will get punishment, So you can’t blame them to commit crime.

    Also of you guys say you hate Japanese? Why you guys drive a japanese car? watch anime, or watch Sony TV.

  • brightgrey

    As a side note, the Japanese have attempted to apologize to China numerous times – every time their apologies have been rejected. Here’s the last occasion:

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-04-22-japan-china_x.htm

    • anna

      Well that was an awfully half-arsed apology…

  • pervertt

    With a few exceptions, most apologies by the Japanese government have been clumsily worded, half-hearted or heavily qualified. There has been no Japanese equivalent of Chancellor Willi Brandt’s kneeling before the former Jewish ghetto in Warsaw in 1970.

    PM Tanaka outraged Premier Zhou Enlai when he expressed ‘deep regret’ for the ‘meiwaku’ that Japan had caused to China during WW2. ‘Meiwaku’ translates roughly into ‘annoyance’ or ‘inconvenience.’

    PM Koizumi expressed ‘deep remorse’ but contradicted any sincerity by paying personal visits to the Yasukuni Jinja. This is the Tokyo temple where Class A war criminals like Hideki Tojo are enshrined. Imagine Chancellor Merkel expressing remorse for the deaths of Europeans Jews in WW2 and then going to visit a memorial dedicated to German war dead including prominent Nazis.

    Japanese prime ministers would have served their people better if they had set aside personal pride and followed the example set by Mr Yamazaki. Action speaks far louder than words when dealing with a world war.

  • Richard Wang

    I saw a BBC documentary on WWII and realized how much the Japanese people actually suffered in the war. They were forced to pay heavy taxes, sent their sons to die on foreign lands, sent their daughters and wives to work in weapons factories, ate almost nothing, slept in fear under foreign bombardment, suffered death and illness from atomic bombs and finally they are hated all over the world for what their country did in their names. If you were a Japanese citizen would you take it?
    At the end of the war, the Japanese Emperor, for whom the war was fought for, and who authorized every major military campaign in writing and royal seal, still lived in his high castle in Tokyo. His birthday is still a national holiday today.
    The Japanese Emperor was the most despicable coward/weakling who isn’t fit to kiss the feet of this Japanese ex-soldier.

  • Charles

    What the Japanese did in china is unforgivable.
    End of story.

  • KongMingQin

    Respectful and Honored man, rest in peace!! Theres dignity in almost every person of every nation of the world… our ”fenqing” radical youth hates the Japanese like WW2 japanese hated china or WW2 Nazi youth hated jews/etc… it is surely a good time to ponder the actions of our youth included… I hope one day our youth/leadership can see the errors commited by ourselves post WW2, and atone for those crimes too…

  • Exman

    We need more people like this. Respect. Rip.

  • Cleo

    Japanese honor like Japanese zen is a misnomer and an imported mistranslated Chinese concept. The unsung heroes are those Communist Chinese they deprived themselves and served the masses as well and better at greater personal cost. Like someone once said about individuals who complain about being shortchanged in life as illiterate immigrants – it’s not your turn or my turn to complain, someone out there has it much worse and has endured more. So no, I wouldn’t want to meet Mao ZD or Chou EL or Deng ZP because as an American Chinese, I don’t want to be scolded for having had a relatively easy life compared to those children working in the brick kiln or the orphan with HIV. The only thing I got out of this news is that young Chinese MUST pursue a technical medical education even if they don’t plan to be doctors – nurses and physician’s assistants make good money overseas and that kind of common sense life knowledge is a necessary life skill. I don’t place doctors on a higher moral plane – they are not the ones who are sick okay? They got a great education but they are not Mother Teresa. And I would never let a German or Japanese doctor TOUCH me and I know South American immigrants who agree with me. I talk about Kaiser Permanente to them and they have experience with multi generational Nazis in their midst like Gisele Bundchen and Mengele and they don’t need to be convinced. That’s why there are so many Latino Marines. They KICK Nazi ass.

  • anon

    woah Gisele Bundchen is a Nazi… did I misread that?

  • simon

    cleo are you stupid?
    AS AN AMERICAN CHINESE, I WANT TO SAY.
    FCK MAO. FCK MAO. WORSE FCKING PIECE OF TRASH IN CHINESE HISTORY. IF IT WEREN’T FOR HIS SHITTY RULE OF CHINA, MAYBE CHINA WOULD HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED BY THE WEST INTO SOMETHING LIKE JAPAN TODAY. CHINA SHOULD LOOK UP TO KOREA AND JAPAN.

  • KongMingQin

    No,China should look at its own great path and glorious past ,and pursue the goal of a Confucian or Taoist nation,with beliefs,traditions and way of thought… not be like korea,japan or the west China should look up to the glory of the Qin/Han/Tang/Song/Ming… not to the western way of life/thoughts…

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