TOKYO, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Working with Chinese experts to conduct field research on the history of World War II has long been a dream for Seiya Matsuno, a Japanese historian who has been committed to the research of poison gas warfare in Japan's invasive war against China.

"It has been 75 years since World War II ended. Some victims of the war may still be alive, and traces may still be found in places where gas bombs were used," said Matsuno, who is a researcher at the International Peace Research Institute at Meiji Gakuin University in Japan.

He hopes to carry out empirical historical research in cooperation with Chinese peers to excavate and record the real history so as to jointly lay the foundation for China-Japan friendship.

In August 2019, Matsuno published an essay on Sekai, a Japanese magazine, making introduction to and analysis of the invading Japanese troops'"yellow bombs" which used lethal erosive agents for the first time on the battlefield in China in the 1930s.

On August 8, 2020, the Chinese version of an essay written by Matsuno, was published in the Journal of Studies of China's Resistance War against Japan by the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The paper with nearly 30,000 words elaborates a comprehensive research on the use of "red bombs" by the invading Japanese troops, which could strongly stimulate the respiratory organs, and the paper also attached various detailed pictures, charts, structure charts of weapons and ammunition, among others.

"I hope to take this opportunity to deepen research cooperation between Japanese and Chinese historians," Matsuno said.

Due to the Japanese invaders' special policy of concealment in chemical warfare and the destruction of a large number of relevant materials before they surrendered, it is difficult to find historical materials in the field of chemical warfare in Japan's invasion, said Gao Yingying, deputy editor-in-chief of the publication.

"The historical materials used in Matsuno's thesis are new and of high academic value ... The Japanese troops' implementation of gas warfare in central China and other areas mentioned in the thesis was rarely involved in previous studies," said Gao.

Speaking highly of the significance of the paper, Gao said that Matsuno's thesis will not only greatly boost the research on Japanese biological and chemical weapons, but also provide useful and profound academic significance for the research on the history of the war of Japanese aggression against China."

"The publication of the paper is of great significance to the historical research community. For example, how the Japanese used chemical weapons against Chinese soldiers and civilians in the war, knowing that they were in violation of international law," said Ryuji Ishida, a researcher at the International Peace Research Institute at Meiji Gakuin University.

Ishida has been working together with Matsuno for a long time to study the history of the China's resistance war against Japanese aggression.

"The lessons of history are painful," Zhang Hongbo, a professor at Meiji Gakuin University, said, expressing hope that Chinese and Japanese scholars "will share a sense of urgency" and strengthen cooperation in field research in the future.

"The damage and impacts caused by Japan's war of aggression against China to the Chinese victims and their families, and the extent to which the Japanese society understands the history, not only directly influence the Japanese society's cognition and education content of the history, but also impact Japan's feelings and public opinions towards China," said Zhang.

Matsuno also hopes that the researchers from both countries can work together to further adopt effective methods to record the real history and prevent it from being forgotten as the number of people who have experienced the war is dwindling.

"Although historical documents are limited, the facts that people were harmed by chemical weapons and people's oral histories, which are not in the official documents, are also important evidence of the crimes committed by the Japanese troops," he said.