Former Japanese Veteran Seeks Support

Azuma Shiro, a former Japanese soldier, says he will appeal for international support after he lost an appeal before the Japanese Supreme Court for assertions made in his wartime diary about crimes committed by Japanese troops during their invasion of Nanjing in 1937.

Shiro, 88, was a soldier in a Japanese brigade that occupied Nanjing in December 1937. In the following weeks, Japanese soldiers killed more than 300,000 unarmed Chinese soldiers and civilians.

Shiro recorded the atrocities in a secret diary and published it in April 1996. He was promptly sued by a former soldier. The Tokyo Higher Court ruled in this man's favour and instructed that any action should not be taken against him. Shiro took his case to a higher court but lost the appeal in December 1998. He lost another appeal before the Japanese Supreme Court early this year. "I will appeal for worldwide support for justice and truth," he said on Saturday in Shanghai.

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