'Repent for my sins': Hideo Shimizu, former member of Unit 731, returns to Harbin
From August 12 to 15, Hideo Shimizu, a former member of Unit 731, the Japanese germ-warfare detachment during the Japanese invasion of China, came to Harbin again after 79 years.
"I hope everyone, especially young people, will understand that we should not begin a war. When I came to Harbin, I felt a stronger sense of repentance for my sins," he said.
Shimizu, 94, came to the former site of Unit 731 and identified the guardhouse, the headmaster's office and the specimen room. He took out his camera to take photos and bowed his head in silence from time to time.
When he visited the Museum of Evidence of War Crimes by Japanese Army Unit 731 of the Japanese invasion army, he saw a group photo of Unit 731, a member's name book, metal containers used to propagate bubonic plague bacteria, glass jars, scalpels and microscopes, etc. It made him stop and stare as if he had been transported back to the "nightmare" era.
"Only those who were there could feel how brutal the war was. Now that I think about it, I have been an accomplice to the crime of aggression, and I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart," said Shimizu.
In front of the monument and the list of martyrs in the museum, Shimizu put his hands together and bowed deeply to express his repentance.
Along with Shimizu, 20 members of Japanese civil peace organizations also visited the museum.
Shimizu said that after returning from China, he will tell more people about his experience in Harbin through speeches and other means.
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