An undated photo shows Norio Minami talking to a Chinese victim [Photo: Xinhua]

Monday marks the 71st anniversary since Japan announced unconditional surrender in the World War II.

71 years later, some Japanese lawyers are fighting to urge their own country to shoulder more responsibility for its wartime crimes.

61-year-old Norio Minami is one of them.

Over the past 11 years, he has been working for Chinese victims who suffered from chemical weapons, mostly poisonous gas explosives, used by Japanese army in China during the war.

He says it is the country that used these weapons that should take the responsibility to clean them today.

"To prevent more harm, we should take precautionary measures. Japan needs to take a thorough survey to locate the poisonous gas. It should help the Chinese government to do it. This is necessary"

Post-war field research jointly conducted by China and Japan estimated t5hat the Japanese army had left up to 700-thousand chemical bombs in China by the time they withdrew from the country at the end of the World War II.

There have been cases when people in China were harmed by these hidden bombs many years after the war.

Some victims, together with survivors who suffered directly from the weapons during the war, have been seeking to file lawsuits against Japanese government in a move to demand compensation.

Norio Minami says most such cases he has dealt with ended with Chinese victims losing.

But he says he will continue in his endeavor.

"If you think you lose, you can do nothing. I will keep working until I win, until our government takes action. As long as you bear that in mind, there will be progress."

Norio Minami says he has travelled to China for almost 100 times in efforts to collect evidence and interview victims.