TWO NOMINATIONS FOR UNESCO’S MEMORY OF THE WORLD REGISTER:TONGZHOU MASSACRE; CHINESE AGGRESSION IN TIBET
ANDCOMFORT WOMENOn May 31, 2016 private organizations in Japan, Tibet, and the US submitted jointnominations for UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in two categories. UNESCO
rules define a joint nomination as an application that transcends national boundaries, i.e.,
one submitted by organizations or individuals from more than one country.
The first category is “Records of Political Violence in Mainland China During the 20thCentury Against Tibet and Japan.” It includes the massacre of Japanese residents ofTongzhou, China on July 29, 1937 (the Tongzhou Massacre), as well as victims ofpostwar political violence resulting from Chinese policies designed to eradicate the ethnic
Tibetan population.
The second category is “Documents Concerning Comfort Women and Japanese Military
Discipline.” This is a Japan-US joint nomination, and its purpose is the registration ofresources shedding light on the true nature of the comfort-women system.
In May 2016 we established an NGO (Fund for Archives of the Tongzhou Massacre) toraise money for the discovery, analysis, preservation, and dissemination of resources
pertaining to the Tongzhou Incident.
Supporting the Tongzhou Massacre-Tibet nomination at a press conference held on June
3, 2016 and sponsored by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform wereFujioka Nobukatsu and Saraki Yoshihisa (chair and deputy chair, respectively, of theFund for Archives of the Tongzhou Massacre), Pema Gyalpo (director, Tibet Culture
Center), and Miura Kotaro. Supporting the comfort-women nomination were Yamamoto
Yumiko, Fujiki Shun’ichi, and Fujii Mitsuhiko. These representatives will coordinate
with the relevant UNESCO subcommittees; they are hoping to have accomplishedregistration by October 2017.
The Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform will support their efforts in every
way possible.
An overview of the nominations follows.
I. Records of Political Violence in Mainland China During the 20th Century Against
Tibet and Japan
Applicants: Fund for Archives of the Tongzhou Massacre (Japan); Gyari Bhutuk(Tibet)
During the 20th century Mainland China exercised political violence against
citizens of other nations and other ethnic groups. Our nomination comprises

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records attesting to acts of violence against Tibet and Japan. In addition tosuggesting new perspectives on modern East Asian history, these records describe
negative legacies that must never be forgotten; for these reasons they should bepreserved.
A. Japan
These are records of the Tongzhou Massacre, perpetrated on July 29, 1937.
Rampaging Chinese troops cruelly and brutally murdered more than 200
innocent Japanese nationals, including pregnant women and infants. The
murderers were members of the Tongzhou Peace Preservation Corps, whom
the East Hebei Autonomous Council had entrusted with the protection ofthose same Japanese residents.
B. Tibet
These are records of acts of Chinese aggression against Tibet beginning in
1949, when the People’s Republic of China was established. By 1979
1,207,387 Tibetans had been slaughtered. Among the victims were membersof resistance groups formed to combat Chinese aggression, as well as politicalprisoners who died after being tortured in concentration camps and prisons.
The Tibetan Buddhist culture is on the verge of extinction.
The circumstances of the Tibetan instance differ from those of the Tongzhou
Massacre. Chinese aggression in Tibet has claimed far more victims, but thenature of the atrocities in both cases is surprisingly similar.
II. Documents Concerning the Comfort Women and Japanese Military Discipline
Applicants: Alliance for Truth about Comfort Women; Japanese Women for
Justice and Peace (Japan)
The Study Group for Japan’s Rebirth (US)Misconceptions about military prostitutes (comfort women) are rampant. We aresubmitting these documents because they show an accurate picture of the system.
Comfort women worked for the Japanese military until 1945, and for Allied
troops stationed in Japan during the Occupation. Private contractors recruited thewomen, whose profession was lawful at that time. The areas in which comfort
women were permitted to live were limited, and their activities were somewhat
prescribed (these restrictions applied to practitioners of other professions as well).
However, comfort women enjoyed a certain amount of freedom, even in battle
zones, and were paid handsomely. They were decidedly not sex slaves. Amongthe submitted documents are the testimonies taken from 33 soldiers and civilians
upon their return to Japan (compiled by the Showa History Research Institute).
These men had interacted with comfort women, and all of them described thestringent rules that governed the behavior of soldiers who patronized the brothels.
Other documents indicate that the Japanese did not discriminate against theresidents of occupied territory, and that they disagreed with Hitler’s claim of2

German superiority. Still other records describe Japanese military discipline andJapanese attitudes toward the war, and provide proof that the comfort-womensystem prevented sexual attacks on local women and the spread of venereal
disease, and that Japanese soldiers were orderly and obedient.

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