In a powerful appeal for historical reconciliation, a Japanese civil group held a rally in Tokyo on Saturday, urging the government to return Chinese cultural relics looted during Japan’s wartime aggression against China.
The group, which aims to promote the return of Chinese cultural properties, is co-represented by Takakage Fujita. Speaking at the rally, Fujita emphasized the global trend of returning cultural artifacts to their countries of origin. “Many developed countries that invaded other countries and looted cultural relics in the past are gradually returning them,” he said.
“The first step to reconciliation is to correct the wrongs of the past,” Fujita continued. “It is not right to keep the cultural relics looted in one’s own country as a matter of course. The Japanese government’s reluctance to return these artifacts shows that its reflection on the war is still not enough. I hope Japan can reflect on its past from the bottom of its heart and change its current practices. This is also the reason we started this campaign.”
The group highlighted that the University Museum of the University of Tokyo has collected and partially exhibited cultural relics from the Shangjing Longquan Prefecture Site of the Bohai Kingdom during the Tang Dynasty. These artifacts were plundered by Japan in “Manchukuo,” a puppet state established by Japanese invaders to control Northeast China.
They are demanding that the University of Tokyo disclose all cultural relics obtained by improper means, including the aforementioned items, and reveal their sources.
About 50 people from across Japan attended the rally. A University of Tokyo student told Xinhua, “I really want to know about the situation of Tokyo University’s possession of Chinese cultural relics. After listening to today’s speech, I think we need to seriously understand history and return the cultural relics.”
The civil group’s founding purpose is to encourage Japan to return Chinese cultural relics, achieve historical reconciliation between the two countries, and further promote the development of bilateral relations.
This year, the group will continue to push for the Japanese government to return Chinese cultural relics such as the two Chinese stone lions outside the Yasukuni Shrine and the Chinese stone lions inside the Yamagata Artomo Memorial Hall.
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Rally held in Japan urging return of relics looted from China
cgtn.com
