Unit 731

Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the WW2. It was initially set up under the Keppeitai military police of the Empire of Japan to develop weapons of mass destruction for potential use against Chinese, and possibly Soviet forces.

Unit 731 was based in the Pingfang district of the city of Harbin. Under the command of Shiro Ishii, commander of Unit 731, unimaginable human body experiments were performed here. More than 10,000 people, both civilian and military of Chinese, Korean, Mongolian & Russian origin were subjects of the experiments. In addition, the use of biological weapons researched in Unit 731 was the headquarters of many subsidiary units used by the Japanese to research biological warfare.

These are some of examples of experiments done in Unit 731.

Vivisection without anesthetic, observing the results of electrical shock, food poisoning, burning, dehydration, frost bite, radiation, medicating, blood transfusion with horse blood, animal organ transplant to human body, virus injection, toxic gas chamber and etc. In the museum you can see all these lists of activities(?) done in unit 731 on one of the wall. As I go through the lists of these experiments done in Unit 731, the question of 'How could they?' was numerously repeated in my head.

When the Japanese army was retrieved from China in 1945, they burned down the most of the facilities & disposed barrels of chemicals in the river or buried them in the mountain. The problem caused by these abandoned chemicals are still lingering in the Chinese society. When the Chinese people are still suffering to this day, where are all the responsible ones? The Japanese doctors and army commanders who had perpetrated the Unit 731 atrocities and germ warfare experiments received sentences ranging from 2 to 25 years in a Siberian labor camp from the Khabarovsk court. Some former members of Unit 731 became part of the Japanese medical establishment, Dr Masaji Kitano led Japan's largest pharmaceutical company, the Green Cross. Others headed U.S.-backed medical schools or worked for the Japanese health ministry. Shiro Ishii in particular moved to Maryland to work on bio-weapons researcher. Is that mean that we all are benefiting from Japaneses inhumane experiments in expense of these human subjects? I wonder!!!

Last day in Nanjing, flying to Harbin

As today is the last day of staying Nanjing, we had a second reflection session to wrap up our Nanjing tour. We started with our emotional connection to our visit to each places in Nanjing & once again shared ideas of how to incorporate these experience into their lessons. The emotional connection to our tour in Nanjing was all vary. Stephanie felt home when she saw the victims faces on the wall in Nanjing Massacre Museum who are almost identical to her grandparents who fled from Japanese Army during WW2. Others including myself were impressed by Private Exhibition Centre created by a passionate one individual. Our emotional testimonies went on and on.. The 2nd reflection session was far more positive and relaxing than the 1st one. I guess we all are finding fine balance among ourselves to work together as a big group of unique individuals.

After lunch, we visited Zhong Hua Gate which is the southern gate to the city. This would be the first encounter for any enemies to attempt attacking the city. Of course, it was the first structure that Japanese Army broke into when they marched into Nanjing. The architecture of the gate was beautiful & the wisdom this structure contains was very impressive. This was the first entrance to the city but it happened to be the last stop of our Nanjing tour.

We departed to the airport to fly to Harbin where is located Northeast of China which borders with Russia. The plane was delayed about 2 and half hours due to thunder storm. Unlike North American flight delay, they announced the delay after we boarded on the plane. The dinner & beverage were served while we are stuck on the tarmac which was another unique experience during our trip. I was once again exhausted from our journey but my real work in this trip has begun as only 2 days remain before our Seoul itinerary. I am confirming Seoul itinerary with my contacts in Seoul through emails & phone conversation. I am excited and anxious at the same time about my responsibility for the Seoul trip. Hope everything goes smoothly and everyone have energy to continue onto Seoul. Everyone is quite emotionally and physically drained at this point.

Visit to one of the massacre sites: Swallow Rock Cliff - Private Museum of Nanjing Massacre

I really liked the lunch place today. I felt like I was in an old inn where you can run into a Kung Fu Master who is having a meal at the corner of the restaurant with a dark robe & a hat after being descended from the mountain after many years of meditation & training. It was very authentic.

After lunch, we climbed the Swallow Rock Cliff which is situated at the one of the massacre sites along the Yangtze River. People were waiting for a rescue ship at the river bank which was a false promise to these people and they eventually became an easy target of Japanese army. I can only imagine the desperation of these people as I climbed up the cliff in a drizzling rain.

Our next destination was the Private Nanking Massacre Memorial Exhibition Centre. I wasn't too enthusiastic about going to this museum especially after visiting amazing Nanjing Massacre Museum yesterday. I thought this might be an overkill. But this small exhibition centre & the curator/owner, Mr. Wu Xian-Bin left an everlasting impression to me.

This exhibition hall was located at the 2nd and 3rd floor of his own wood processing factory. The photos & relics of his collections are displayed incredibly tastefully on the 2nd floor & the books/references were displayed on library setting shelves on the 3rd floor. We asked him a question what made him to have private museum of Nanjing Massacre when we got together in a meeting room later. He told us that not many people know about Nanjing massacre & even the ones who know about it don't know how beautiful the city was before the atrocities happened. He wanted to preserve the behind story of Nanjing city.

It was amazing to see how one person's passion can create such an incredible private exhibition centre. Yet again, this is another proof that one person's passion can make the world of difference.

After dinner, we had a chance to stroll at the Confucius night market. I bought a couple of $1.50 CAD shirt & tried local crayfish which was cooked in a very spicy cajun style sauce. When we order the food & purchase the shirts, our communication was all done through body languages. I don't know why Chinese people assume that I am one of them. It was a bit frustrating because wherever we go, they direct the conversation towards me. I guess attending 10 days of Mandarin lessons don't cut it to pretend I am one of the locals..

It was an another action packed day but I am glad that I had a chance to explore the real side of the city.

Mr. Schindlers in Nanjing - John Rabe, Minnie Vautrin & others

John Rabe (November 23, 1982 – January 5, 1950) was a German businessman who used his Nazi membership to save some 200,000 Chinese from slaughter during the Nanjing Massacre. As the Japanese Army advanced on Nanjing, Rabe, along with other foreign nationals, organized the International Committee and drew up the Nanjing Safety Zone to provide Chinese refugees with food and shelter upon the impending Japanese slaughter. He explained his reasons thus: "..there is a question of morality here.. I cannot bring myself for now to betray the trust these people have put in me, and it is touching to see how they believe in me." The zones were located in all of the foreign embassies and at Nanjing University. Rabe also opened up his properties to help 650 more refugees. The following massacre would kill hundreds of thousands of people, while Rabe and his zone administrators tried frantically to stop the atrocities. Although he tried to appeal to the Japanese by using his Nazi membership credentials, this had little effect.

In February of 1938 Rabe left Nanjing returned to Germany. He showed films and photographs of Japanese atrocities in lecture presentations in Berlin and wrote to Hitler to use his influence to persuade the Japanese to stop any more inhumane violence. Instead, Rabe was detained and interrogated by the Gestapo and his letter to Hitler was never sent. Due to the intervention of Siemens AG which is the engineering company he worked for, he was released. He was allowed to keep evidence of the massacre, excluding the film, but was not allowed to lecture or write on the subject. Rabe would continue working for Siemens and he worked in the Berlin headquarters of the company until 1945.

After the war, Rabe was denounced for his Nazi Party membership and arrested by the Russians first and then by the British. However, investigations exonerated him of any wrongdoing. He was formally declared "de-Nazified" by the Allies in June 1946 but thereafter lived in poverty. His family was also starving at one point in time when he (Rabe) was partly supported by the monthly food and money parcels sent by the Chinese government for his actions during the Nanjing Massacre. On 5 January 1950 Rabe died of a stroke. In 1997 his tombstone was moved from Berlin to Nanjing where it received a place of honour at the massacre memorial site. In 2005 Rabes former residence in Nanjing was renovated and now accommodates the "John Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial Hall", which opened in 2006. Now this place is used as a training place for peace and reconciliation. It is irony that Rabe went through such a hardship after his return to Germany because of the same reason that he could save tens of thousands people from Japanese brutality during the war, being Nazi.

Rabe recorded Japanese barbarianism in his 2100 page journal in which 500 cases of brutality was recorded. When Irish Chang wrote a book, the rape of Nanking, she contacted Rabe's family to persuade them to bring Rabe's journal to the public.

Minnie Vautrin is another hero during this time. Wilhelmina (Minnie) Vautrin (September 27, 1886 – May 16, 1941) was an American missionary renowned for saving the lives of many women at the Ginling Girls College in Nanking during the Nanjing Massacre. When the Japanese army invaded Nanking in December. Ginling Girls College became a haven of refuge, at times harboring up to 10,000 women in a college designed to support between 200 and 300. With only her wits and the use of an American flag, Vautrin was largely able to repel incursions into her college.

Minnie recounted the horrors of the war in her diary in 1937:
There probably is no crime that has not been committed in this city today. Thirty girls were taken from language school last night, and today I have heard scores of heartbreaking stories of girls who were taken from their homes last night—one of the girls was but 12 years old. Food, bedding and money have been taken from people. … I suspect every house in the city has been opened, again and yet again, and robbed. Tonight a truck passed in which there were eight or ten girls, and as it passed they called out "Jiu ming! Jiu ming!"—save our lives. The occasional shots that we hear out on the hills, or on the street, make us realize the sad fate of some man—very probably not a soldier.

She guarded school day and night so women couldn't get abducted by Japanese soldiers to be raped. The school was fairly big size as I walked around to be guarded by one person. In 1940, weary and stressed, Vautrin took a furlough again from her work. A few months later, haunted by the images she saw and feeling responsible for not being able to save more lives, Vautrin committed suicide by turning on the stove gas in her small apartment in Indianapolis. She is an another war victim who suffered such an emotional turmoils by doing the right thing in a wrong time.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum - What a powerful statement!

The Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre (1937-1938) is located on one of the sites where actual human bones from the victims themselves were excavated. It is the biggest official memorial place of the Nanjing Massacre, also known as "The Rape of Nanking". When the Japanese Imperial Army marched into Nanjing on Dec. 13 of 1937, they were having orgies of slaughtering civilians and raping women for 6 weeks. The estimates of dead were 300,000 including women and children. Japanese nationalists are still downplaying this atrocities to this day, however documented media reports at that time & the diaries of foreigners who played Mr. Schindler's role during this massacre are backing up this atrocities loud and clear. Irish Chang, 2nd generation of Chinese/American wrote an English book called the rape of Nanking in 2003 which was a shocking wake up call to most North Americans who had almost no knowledge on this atrocities. Unfortunately, Irish Chang shot herself in 2004 inside her car. Some people accused that she was suffering from manic depression which got progressively worse since she was collecting evidence such as interviewing with survivors. Regardless of her pre-medical condition, I can easily see how deeply one person could be emotionally engaged and overwhelmed by such an emotional roller coast.

As soon as the bus approached to this museum, I could sense a cold air of atrocities happened in the very site 70 years ago. The statues of victims greeted us before you enter the museum. You don't need any explanation to feel the agony and horror in these people's eyes. A baby is sucking dead mom’s breast, a little boy is crying alone among the dead of family, a mom’s lamenting with holding a dead son, a son is escorting his old aged mom by hand to escape from the tragedy….etc.

As you enter the museum, the number 300,000 on the stone wall is weighing heavily down on you. We were escorted to the indoor exhibition where you are greeted with somber music in the sight of huge screen of gentle stream of water on which tens of victims’ photos are flowing. This set of photos changes every 10 sec which represents number of people killed near Yangtze River every 10 sec. When the Nanjing massacre happened, the Yangtze River was covered with blood which remained in red for a several days. After you pass this huge screen of victims’ faces, you are entering into the Exhibition Room and Movie Room which contains numerous pictures, audio recordings, and videos document of the massacre in support of Japanese imperial army’s unthinkable brutalities.

At one point in the museum, you have to cross the yard to enter the last portion of indoor exhibition. The square in the middle of this yard only contains very thin strip of grasses on two sides of the square and the barren land in the rest. This represents the ratio of the alive and the dead during the Nanjing massacre. At the end of the pass way of this yard, you will enter into a building named "wan ren keng", which means a pit of ten thousand corpses and skeletons excavated at Jiangdong Gate. After this burial site, you are entering into a pitch dark room of commemorating for dead. When you enter into this room, the first impression is the total darkness despite of the electric candle light decorated on the floor. This room leads into the outdoor exhibition of peace pond which represents the peace that people are desperately longing for during and after the war. This area reminds me of Washington Monument in a way. There is a size of 8 storied building statue of mother holding a baby in her hand & looking up to the heaven at the end of elongated rectangle pond. When I reentered the dark room from the peace pond, I can see much better inside of the room because of the light exposure from the outdoor peace pond. The explanation for this was that you will be able to find the light of hope once you come to the peace in any atrocities. A bit of corny explanation to the scientific fact? However you say it, no one can deny the fact that so much thoughts were encrypted into every corner of the museum. What an incredible museum this was!

We didn’t have time to go out for lunch today, so the MacDonald lunch was brought in for us to the meeting room where we are waiting for survivors of Nanjing massacre. It wasn’t the finest meal but it hit the spot after being away from Western food for many days.

In the afternoon, we met two survivors, Madame Jang & Madame Wong. Madame Jang was only 11 years old when Japanese soldiers came to her house. They accused of her father being a Chinese soldier & started beating her father & the family. She was tortured by bayonets in every part of her body including her private part. She was showing us the scars on her forehead from the incident. Madame Wong’s mother was raped in front of her kids while the father was away. After the Japanese soldiers left her house, she took her little sister who got injured on her head to Yangtze River to wash her wounds but it caused a serious infection because of blood contaminated water. After this incident, her mother made all the kids promise not to mention about the rape to anyone including her father so the discussion about this incident was forbidden until recently. During our free time of exploring the museum, my friends and I ran into Madame Wong in the square and she was very happy to see us again. We gave her big hug & took a photo together. She even gave Ann a kiss on the chick. I can’t never understand what thought is going through her mind but I can safely assume that she is eager to share her story & happy to see foreigners who flew all the way from Canada to hear her story. In a way, that alone is therapeutic treatment for her wound she carried for all these time.

We brought flowers to commemorate the victims to the memorial site. We paid our condolences in Chinese way which you bow down three times. They say this museum is receiving 10,000 visitors daily including Japanese students. You could see thousands of Japanese origami brought by Japanese students in commemoration of victims. Visiting this museum was one of the highlights during my trip so far for me. I strongly encourage everyone who comes to China to include visiting this museum in their itinerary. Free admission, everyone!

Moving to Nanjing - sightseeing of Nanjing

Today is the last day of our staying in Shanghai. Before we take off to Nanjing, we had our 1st reflection meeting at the hotel. The purpose of this meeting is to give participants an opportunity to share their feelings & learnings so they can apply them in their future teaching plans. We were divided into 4 groups & did a small group discussion first & the representative of each group presented the summary to the entire group. Many positive suggestion and some constructive criticism were expressed. Overall, it was very productive meeting. We ended the meeting with a poem that Greg, a teacher from Vancouver wrote during the reflection time which I am going to share with you here.

Comfort Station

I climb the narrow stairway, as so many man before me

I touch the cold, hard wall and in an instant I feel..I hear...I see..

In my mind I see

semen splatter, blood splatter

In my brain I hear

screams, pain, heart breaking, tears

In my heart I feel myself shaking, ripping,

my knees ready to give out

There is no comfort here

Thank God for the people around me to catch me if I fall

After the reflection, we got on the coach to go to Nanjing, our next destination. The must list before we get on the bus was to use washroom in the hotel. George, our travel guide told us there won’t be any good (?) restroom along the way to Nanjing-I wonder if there is any good public restroom in China at all. I haven’t seen them anywhere so far. Some of us including myself are restraining from drinking tea to avoid unpleasant public washroom. This is the biggest downside of the trip.

We arrived at the restaurant in Nanjing after almost 3hrs of bus ride. We are scheduled to explore the nature of Nanjing this afternoon. We went up to the purple mountain by gondola (more like a ski lift) & went to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum. Sun, considered to be the "Father of Modern China" both in mainland of China and in Taiwan, fought against the imperial Qing government and after the 1911 revolution ended the monarchy and founded the Republic of China. The purple mountain was more like the size of Blue Mountain-maybe slightly higher- but the entire mountain was covered with thick trees. The local people will climb up the mountain in the morning to exercise. It was amazing that they preserved the forest in the middle of fast developing city. The architecture of Dr. Sun Yat Sen Mausolum was amazing. There are 392 stairs to climb up to the top but you can only see a few stairs when you look down from the top.
It was another scorching hot day to do any physical activity. Some of us gave up climbing the stairs & decided to sit in the air conditioned cafe. I made fun of their inactivity but I must agree that the beer we drank at the bottom of the Mausoleum was an absolute getaway in a day like this (39 plus humidity).

The hotel we checked in was quite fancier than the one in Shanghai. The room was much bigger with modern deco & had a thick duvet. George, our travel guide told us that this is a brand new hotel & hasn’t been rated properly yet. We may not be able to stay here next year if this hotel gets higher rating than 3 stars which will most likely happen. Anyway, we are fully benefiting from unsettled infrastructure of Nanjing. However, some of us weren’t too thrilled about fully exposed bathroom glass wall which you can see through literally everything..Only thing I can say is that I am glad that I don’t share the room with anyone else. It is a quite interesting concept..

Anyway, I am enjoying this unexpected luxury for the next three days. Good night everyone!

Chinese Comfort Women testimony & visiting to Comfort House

We met Professor Su again today in different topic of 'Comfort Women'. He is a historian in Shanghai Normal University and also a director of Centre for Study on Chinese "Comfort Women" of Shanghai Normal University. He presented on Japan’s military sexual slavery system and its impact on victims and also the international redress movement for the victims.

He also mentioned that some people desensitize the atrocities of this issue & misuse the contents for personal gains. One of the examples was an erotic Korean movie which materialized 'Comfort Women's sexual aspect' and later caused uproar among Koreans & ultimately led a director to shave his head and an actress to kneel down in front of a 'Comfort Women' survivor in public to show their sincere apologies. This kind of people's ignorance is one of the reasons that some of the Japanese nationalists distort the fact of these women's being sexual slaveries to voluntary prostitutes.

As the professor Su is wrapping up his lecture, a tiny little women accompanied by a younger gentleman(who was found to be a son of her second marriage) appeared at the back of the room. Flora & Thekla, organizers from Toronto & BC got up and escorted this women to the front of the room. She was Madame TAN Yu-Hua (谭玉华), a survivor of Japan's military sexual slavery system. She flew 1000 miles from her hometown to tell us her stories. As she started talking, all of us are facing unexpected obstacle in this particular session. She apparently speaks a very rare dialect of Chinese so her son had to interpret to our interpreters to translate Mandarin to English. Confusing? Yes, it was a bit(?) chaotic.. The organizers made an executive decision to stop the testimony due to technical difficulty.

However, we got some information about her with help of Professor Su who intensively interviewed Madame Tan previously. Her village was taken by Japanese soldiers and most villagers fled the town. The girls captured by Japanese imperial army were distributed to each house and served soldiers usually at night time. There were a few girls staying in one house. They were free to walk around out of the house during the daytime when Japanese soldiers left the village to fight in the front line but no one dared to escape because of the fear. There were some public beating & torture to the girls who attempted escaping. She was set free when Japanese army left the village after a few months of stationary in the village. She was very much accepted by her parents and relatives afterwards and she was able to continue on her life. I guess she was one of the lucky ones among the comfort women victims. However, her son delivered a shocking news when he answered to the question of his difficulties caused by being exposed to the public because of his mom's past. He told us that he only found out her mom's past a few days ago when Professor Su contacted him to help her to travel 1000 miles to Shanghai to give her testimony to a group of teachers from Canada. This was one of the awakening moments for me to understand the silence that most of victims of sexual slavery victims practice. He did add though that he believes her mom is telling the truth & he supports his mom's decision to come out.

After a short break, we regrouped our session to visit the Chinese "Comfort Women" Archives Centre in the basement of one of the buildings at Shanghai Norman University. It was a tiny room which contains books, photos & articles they collected. One of the article displayed in this room was an unused condom near former comfort station. A crucial evidence?

As 39 of us are overcrowding this room, I ran into Madame Tan in a very narrow corridor. I offered her a hug with help of a student of Professor Su's and she welcomed my offer. I gave her a fairly tight bear squeeze hug. When we parted, we both had tears in our eyes. We didn't need to know each other's languages to share our deep emotions. I truly wish that she can live healthy to continue telling her stories to the public for many more years and ultimately I wish her to find some kind of closure to her hardship.

Day 4 continues after a delicious meal and relatively cheap beer at the University cafeteria...The steamed fish was one of the best meals I had in Shanghai so far. Two bottles of beer were always included in our meal but we always ended up ordering extra couple of bottles paid out of our own expenses. We took turns in buying beer during our meal. Somehow(?) everyone was eager to have their turn to buy in this cafeteria. 5 ren per bottle here verses 15-20 ren per bottle in other restaurants.. Does this explain why? And today was happened to be the birthday for one of participants, Wade Serjeanston. We arranged a birthday cake for him which was a nice reminder to all of us that this trip is not all about serious stuff.

In the afternoon we visited Qian Cang Zhan - the historical site of a “Comfort House” at Pudong District. This house did belong to a wealthy Chinese business man. The house was taken by Japanese imperial army and used as a comfort station. This is a bit different from other comfort stations that we studied so far in terms of the level of luxury that the house offers. The butler from this house were held back as a cook for these girls and later told the stories to the family of this wealthy Chinese man.

The exact number of the girls who stayed in this house was unknown. However, the girls were segregated into three categories, the prettiest, the average, the uglist. The first group will stay in the bigger rooms on the second floor, the second group will stay in the rooms on the main floor and the third group will stay in the servants quater at the back of the building. But we all know the consequence of being the prettiest in this situation..Sadly...

Forced labor during WW2 & the night out in Shanghai

6:30 am morning call... We travelled to the East China University of Politics & Law (Former St. John's College) at 8:00 sharp. You want to hear what are the topic of today's sessions are?

Presentation on the significance of redress to victims and analyze the recent development of the lawsuits filed by the victims by Attorney KANG Jian (康健), the leading lawyer supporting “comfort women” and forced labour victims to demand apology & compensation from the Japanese government.

Presentation on whether the Sino-Japanese Treaty (1954) and the Sino-Japanese Communique (1972) have waived the rights of the Chinese victims to claim for compensation from the Japanese government as ruled by the Supreme Court of Japan in 2007 by Prof. GUAN Jian-Qiang (管健强), Faculty of International Law, East China University of Politics & Law.

Witnessing by Dr. FENG Yi-Ping (凤仪平) & SHI Hui-Zhong (时惠中), survivors of forced labour

Sounds interesting, huh?

I felt like I was back in the class again like an olden days. After all the jargons of political and legal terminology-I really appreciate Joseph Tong's interpretation today. He is also an court interpreter form Vancouver. As a person who is working in the same field, I salute his amazing interpretation today.- we were introduced to two forced labor survivors.

Mr. Jang was 19 & Dr. Feung was 14 years old when they were kidnapped to sent away to the mines in Japan in the summer of 1944. They weren't at the same place in Japan but their hardships were very similar. They were put to work in very atrocious environment in the mines of Japan by Mitsubishi Corporation. They both were there until fall of 1945 when Japan was defeated. They both witnessed many injuries & deaths during that time & they are both lucky to return home.

Mr. Jang told us that his own mom couldn't recognize him because he was so scrawny when he returned. Dr. Feung brought home registry of forced labourer in the camp which later became a key evidence to their trial against Mitsubishi. Some of these lawsuits are dismissed at high court of Japan and some of them are still open to this day. Dr. Feung became a neurologist after his return. He is now retired & told us he is living fairly reasonable condition.

Although they are telling us unpleasant part of their life, they both seem happy to tell us their stories. I sat with Dr. Feung at the dinner table & he was constantly serving food on my plate with a big smile on his face just like my own grandpa. What an incredible life! I am very fortunate to witness that.

Enough of heavy topic... After dinner I joined Amy, a history teacher at Rosedale Collegiate and Stephanie, a kindergarten teacher at Scarborough to venture out in Shin Ten Di, where high end shops & artistic craft stores are. When I arrived there, I couldn't believe that I am in the middle of China. The atmosphere of that area was mixture of Manhattan & some cities from Europe. I see Miu Miu, Cloe, Chanel brands and several European style cafes & restaurants along the street. This is definitely not the China I imagined to see..

The first day in Shanghai -meeting with Professor Su & sightseeing

7:30am – Thank god for a pill. I didn’t hear a thing until the alarm buzzed at 7:30 this morning. I felt a million times better than 6hrs ago. No hairdryer & no adapter for my curling iron available here.. A pony tail will be my hairdo for the rest of the trip. Humidity won’t sustain the hair style anyways..I had a tea egg for breakfast. It is basically a hardboiled egg in tea which tastes no different than regular boiled eggs but it is supposed to be good for you. I should know for sure what the benefit of this particular egg would be by the end of trip since I will have that every day.

8:30am – We started morning with an orientation for the entire tour . There was an Introduction of all the participants from BC, Alberta, Ottawa, Ontario & Australia. BC group is quite impressive in a way how they prepared for the study tour. The amount of materials they had to read & study was far intensive than our Ontario group. Our group wasn’t slacking in preparation either but there is always someone who puts more effort & demands more.

10:00am – A history professor Su Zhiliang from Shanghai Norman University gave us a lecture on ‘Foreign Invasions on Shanghai’. He looked so familiar since I had seen him many occasions in a documentary film which Alpha provided us before. A lot of background information was given about Shanghai. He even answered my question in detail about Korean exile government in 1919 which was located right inside of international concession in Shanghai. Maybe I will explore this area tomorrow after dinner to trace back our Korean history.

After lunch- In consideration of the jack leg we all are experiencing, an optional sightseeing of Yu garden, the 400 yr old Chinese garden & strolling around the old Chinese bazaar were scheduled this afternoon. Most of us joined the tour despite of 38 degree with extremely high humidity. I didn’t feel the need to go to washroom for the entire afternoon, which was a blessing in a way because the public washrooms are not that desirable place to be in China.

There was also an optional boat cruise after dinner along the Huangpu River. This is the first place in Shanghai I encountered with the security guard with uniform since I arrived in Shanghai. It makes you wonder if you are really in a communist country. Funny thing was that they were confiscating water bottles before entering the ship. Why, though? Anyways, it was beautiful to see all the lit up buildings along the river. Especially the Bund, the old Shanghai, has some beautiful European style buildings which is the definite influence of early foreign settlement in the city. The opposite side of the Bund was all surrounded with high risen, modernized architectural buildings. Shanghai apparently went through a major make over for the last 15 years, although you can still see the old residence area where the living condition is poor behind those high risen buildings. Like an appearance of the city landscape, the discrepancy of the rich & the poor seems greater than any other place I have ever been to. You can see the people shopping in a Gucci store and you can also see the persistent beggars & aggressive street vendors on the very same street of Gucci store. They will chase you forever if you show any sign of interest as little as an eye contact. I guess that Seoul must have looked like this at one point. I can see that Shanghai will soon to be like any of the major cities in North America as it develops as fast as it has been. I just hope that it doesn’t lose its unique cultural & traditional face as it progresses towards the complete modernization.

Enroute to Shanghai

Day 1
July 3, 3:45am- The alarm went off.. It was excruciating to open my eyes after only been sleeping for a couple of hours. Minimum necessary grooming applied & off to the airport.

7:05am- The plane takes off to San Francisco as scheduled. I am sitting in the first low window side where I can’t see the communal TV screen. I guess I am so spoiled by personal entertainment unit in other planes. Airlines shouldn’t have introduced entertainment unit to the public if they couldn’t install that in every plane. After ridden in such a plane many times before, riding in a plane like this seems so outdated and unjustified. Oh well, I have to entertain myself in old fashioned way.

9:30am local time - arrived in San Francisco & sudden strike of hunger overtook me.. It looked like most of people in our group felt the same way. We are all scattered to the restaurants –not that there are many options-& continue waiting to be on board on the next plane to Shanghai which ended up as 5hrs lay over. Cam, Dominique & Patricia from Edmonton joined us at this point.

July 4, 5:30pm local time. Finally our group arrived in Shanghai after intensively long traveling. It took exactly 25hrs and a half since I left home, which is long enough for any person could expire. However, brutality of not being introduced to any decent personal care continues. Our group happened to be the last to arrive in Shanghai & everyone was waiting for us to go to dinner together. We weren’t even allowed to get off the bus at the hotel. The bus picked up all the early arrivals who had plenty of time to have shower & get changed & off to the restaurant..Oh well, they are the ones who has to put up with 15 expired people..Despite of the grunge feeling of not being able to shower, I was surprised by my appetite at the dinner table. I am gulping down Chingtao & Chinese grease in a flash. During the dinner, Thekla, a president of BC Alpha introduced organizers, so called ‘Important people’ to the entire group. I am part of the important people too..Weird!!

10:30pm- Hurray!…. I can finally stretch my legs & take a shower…I am extremely tired but somehow can’t sleep though…It is 10:30am back home.1:00 am here - All right! That’s it. I am going to medicate myself to sleep.

Why am I participating in Study Tour?-My press conference article

When you grow up in an environment like Korea, antagonism against Japan can easily and naturally blossom as you learn about the historical time period during and after Japanese colonial rule. The facts are like this: The Assassination of Empress Myungsung which was orchestrated by the Japanese minister, and that served as the decisive factor in the annexation and Japanese occupation of Korea; beginning with the signing of the humiliating Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty in August of 1910. Since then, our farm land was transferred to the Japanese under the misleading and false name of “land surveys”. Korean entrepreneurs and their businesses became inferior to their Japanese counterparts because of highly imposed taxes on them. Political rallies and activities, freedom of speech, pursuing a secondary education and speaking the Korean language itself were outlawed. School Teachers carried guns to the class. Japanese authorities were given free rein to investigate and to torture ‘uncooperative’ citizens. A result of these draconian policies was the March 1st movement in 1919 where 2 million people stormed into the streets with Korean flags in their hands, was one of many attempts by Korean patriots to fight for our independence. Japanese authorities exercised brute force which resulted in 7,500 deaths, 15,000 wounded, and more than 46,000 imprisoned or tortured over course of six weeks. One of several examples of brutality was that the Japanese forced every villagers of Cheam to assemble in the village church and had the villagers massacred by setting fire to the building.

Just before the Japanese troops marched into the land of China, the Japanese army presence in the peninsula had increased. Food and necessary goods were rationed and people were forced to wear wartime uniforms. Traditional clothing was banned, and clothing was regimented on Japanese lines. Students in schools were to bow to the east in the direction of the Japanese emperor’s palace and recite a pledge in Japanese: “We are loyal subjects of the Great Japanese Empire... We swear wholeheartedly our allegiance to the emperor.” Monthly attendance to Shinto temples was mandatory, and Koreans were to adopt Japanese-style surnames.

During the war, about 200,000 Korean men were drafted into the Japanese army and navy. Korean men were also being forcefully drafted into compulsory labor. By the end of the war, more than 1 million Korean men had been pressed into service for the Japanese Empire in the mines, factories, and on the battlefield. “Comfort Women” were also employed by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea. Women from all parts of Korea were drafted into military bondage during the course of the war. Women were reportedly abducted from their homes against their will; who were then used as prostitutes and sex slaves by the Japanese military. Over 200,000 young Korean women were taken from their homes and used by the Japanese during the wars leading up to the defeat in 1945. Even to the present day, to the anger of several of the occupied nations and the victims of the Japanese, the Japanese government and people have often ignored the role of comfort women in Japanese history and have either avoided or outright denied the use of comfort women during the war.

Although I had knowledge of Comfort women issues through my education back in Korea, to me the word ‘Comfort Women’ only existed in some obscure corner of the history text book, along with the hatred towards Japanese for what they have done to the Korean people during 36 years of its occupation. However, my reluctant attitude and position towards this issue was soon to be changed.

My husband was involved in a Korean fundraising committee for Justice for Comfort Women last November when four Comfort Women survivors from four different countries were invited to attend various events in Toronto and Ottawa to promote motion to be passed by House of Commons. I reluctantly agreed to be a host and interpreter for a Comfort Women Survivor from Korea as if I was doing everyone a great favor.

When 84 year old grandma Jang walked into my front door, I saw my own grandmother. As her story unfolded throughout 2 weeklong events, her story became my own grandma’s, my own mother’s and mine. The knowledge I stored in my head finally hit home deep in my heart. She just happened to be at the wrong place and the wrong time. That is such an unjustified reason for her to endure what she has endured during and after the war. And also I realized that any men including our sons and fathers are capable of doing unthinkable things such as participating in Nanjing massacre, if they were born and trained to be patriotic soldiers under the Japanese imperial army. You can condemn the wrong doings but you cannot condemn the people. They are all unpleasant and inhumane products of war.

What frustrates me the most though, is that there wasn’t any proper closure to this grand scale of atrocities that happened in Asia which doesn’t even exist in the mind of most westerners and has barely a page in the history text books taught in schools. Thanks to Irish Chang, such a detailed and informative book about Nanjing massacre is widely open to the public. Thanks to the endless effort of Toronto Alpha, level of awareness among public on this issue has raised and adapting relevant historical facts into Gr. 10 history curriculum was possible.

I was given the opportunity to work as Korean coordinator for the trip, which was added this summer for the first time. We are planning to meet comfort women survivors and to hear their testimonies during our trip to Korea. There will be another press conference during our stay in Korea to raise awareness among Koreans. We are also scheduled to meet some of the Korean organizations already working independently on this issue. We will have the opportunity to learn from the experts about historical facts during the Japanese colonial period and the problems which are still lingering in the Korean society. Through this trip, I wish that not only will all the teacher participants bring back lots of valuable lessons and experiences which can be implemented in the classroom but also the Korean community in Toronto or people in Korea can realize that there are organizations like Toronto Alpha working relentlessly to instill humanitarianism among young Canadians and wishing to work with other communities in respect of preserving untold true stories of Asia during WW2. Yes, it is an old story as others say and we have millions of other issues requires our immediate attention nowadays. However, ‘if you can’t learn from the past, you are doomed to repeat the same mistakes’.

How I got involved in Toronto Alpha isn’t the result of neither my active searches for voluntary community work nor my ambition to be a representative of Korean community. Unexpected encounter with Grandma Jang and three other courageous women from other countries last November moved my heart deeply regardless of their ethnicity and made me feel ashamed of doing nothing about it, knowing what I know all these years. Even as the survivors pass away to time, the efforts to preserve their stories will continue. Toronto Alpha’s next project of revising the Ontario teacher’s resource guide on Asian WW2 history is one example. I would like to encourage experts from Korean community to give us their input so we can restore proper & relevant contexts to the teacher’s resource guide. In Korea, the initiation of building a war and women’s rights museum has begun. I know there are already a number of individuals and organizations to work independently to preserve our histories in different forms, such as publishing a book or creating a movie, which could be used as valuable tools to educate young Canadians. I would like to meet many of these individuals and communities during and after study tour so I can play a small part in integrating all these efforts and talents to achieve a bigger goal. And also I wish the stories and testimonies we will bring back to you from the study tour will touch many people’s heart as it did to mine.

2008 Toronto Alpha Study Tour (Peace and Reconciliation Tour) Press Conference on June 26, 2008

Toronto Association for Learning & Preservingthe History of WWII in Asia



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONFERENCE
What:
Asian World War II history & humanity studies tour for Canadian educators and teachers
Where:
Yee Hong Scarborough Finch Centre,
60 Scottfield Drive, Scarborough, Ontario M1S 5T7
When:
JUNE 26, 2008 at 12:00 PM

A group of 14 educators from Ontario, 12 from B.C., 2 from Alberta, 1 from Australia will explore first hand the historical facts about WWII atrocities in Asia, with the focus on humanity issues like ‘comfort women’, the Nanking massacre, the biological warfare and forced laborers, during a 2-week study tour to China and Korea from July 3rd to 17th.

This is the first time we have teacher participants from Alberta; the first time we include educator outside Canada; and the first time we visit Seoul, Korea where more than 150,000 young women were kidnapped or forced to become sex slaves for the Imperial Japanese Army.

With the objective to bring our teachers and educators outside of classroom and learn the history where it actually took place, the 5th Peace and Reconciliation Study Tour is jointly organized by Toronto ALPHA and BC ALPHA, both volunteer based organizations with similar vision on education initiatives.

At the press conference, we will share with you why and how this education initiative is so important for Canadian educators. Alongside with the WWII history in Europe, we see the need for the Canadian curriculum to also provide insight to our young generations about this piece of widely unknown but blatant examples of human rights violation in human history in Asia during WWII period. We will also share what accomplishments Toronto ALPHA had achieved in its educational mandate in the past years.

Speakers:
Dr. Joseph YK Wong, Founder and Chair, Toronto ALPHA
Flora Chong, Vice Chair, Toronto ALPHA; 2008 Tour coordinator
George Hall, 2006 Tour participant and 2008 Tour teachers’ facilitator
Margaret Wells, 2008 Study Tour participant; Instructor, OISE
Amy Chan, 2008 Study Tour participant; Teacher, Forest Hill Collegiate Institute
Judy Cho, Korea Itinerary Coordinator

For Enquiries and information, please contact Flora Chong at 416-567-2210 or
Venne Ng at 416-816-9321 email: info@torontoalpha.org

Canada ALPHA (Association for the Learning and Preserving of the History of WWII in Asia) is a volunteer community organization formed in 1997 with three local chapters across Canada – B.C., Calgary and Toronto. The mandate is to foster humanity education and racial harmony with its mission to promote public awareness, learning and preserving of the history of WWII in Asia. In 2004, the Toronto Chapter of Canada ALPHA began working closely with Ontario educators in an attempt to integrate this important, but seldom known, history and human rights lesson into the provincial secondary school curriculum.

Thanks to the joint efforts of Toronto ALPHA and a small group of educators, the history of Asia in WWII and events, such as the Nanjing Massacre, have been formally included as suggested topics in the 2005 revision of the Grade 10 history course, which is a compulsory course for all secondary students in Ontario. This is a major breakthrough. Ontario becomes the first jurisdiction in the Western world to have officially incorporated this important history into its secondary school curriculum.

To assist and support teachers to teach this history, Toronto ALPHA formed a working group with educators and study tour participants to write and compile a comprehensive resource guide entitled, The Search for Global Citizenship: The Violation of Human Rights in Asia, 1931-1945 (A Resource Guide for Ontario Teachers of Canadian and World Studies, Grades 10-12). This document, which is available online (www.asia-wwii.org), provides teachers with information about historical events and the related human rights issues, as well as suggested lessons, teaching expectations, easy-to-use resource materials, and reference lists.

Toronto Alpha has added Korean tour in their Peace and Reconciliation Study Tour for this summer for the first time. This is where I come in. I have been in charge of coordinationg Korean tour and will be the designated interpreter during the tour.

I ended up doing more than I anticipated. Numerous email exchanges with Korean organizations and travel agency to arrange all aspects of tour from finalizing tour itinerary to making dinner reservations..

But this will certainly be on the top among all the interesting things I have done in my life..

Our journey starts next Thursday as we are flying to Shanghai, our first destination. Nanjing, Harbin and Seoul to follow..

I am really excited to see what this trip will bring to my life..

My best supporters

Spencer insisted to have a family day on July 1st holiday. I have been extremely busy last a week or so with work & preparation for the trip. But I promised him that I will spend entire Canada Day with him & family. He requested to go golfing as a family in the morning & go to Wonderland in the afternoon. So we did..

Lucas didn't want to join for the golfing part since golfing isn't his best subject, so he says. We went to 'Station Creek' to hit some balls & had a nice lunch (more so dinner for an average family). Hamburger meal for Spencer, medium rare lamb steak for Curtis, medium rare sirloin steak for Jae & seafood pasta for me. Hm mm... After 30 mins..Where did all the food go? I know why my friends panic when we go over to their house for a meal....

After a gracious meal, we picked Lucas to go to Wonderland. What a mistake, going to Wonderland on a holiday. It was a zoo. As we lined up to buy a ticket for Jae for at least a half an hour, Jae & I were trying to convince Spencer to come back on another day. He didn't buzz. His reasoning was that not many time daddy is coming to Wonderland with us. Jae promised him that he will buy a season pass for himself & will take them to Wonderland while I am gone. Spencer finally compromised to go see a movie instead.

In a way, it was exhausting day but I am glad that all of us spent a day together before I leave. After all, they are my best supporters in the world. My four sons...