The letter to Mr. Theodore J. Leonsis, Vice Chairman of AOL LLC
By
ovember 30, 2006
Mr. Ted Leonsis
AOL LLC
22000 AOL Way
Dulles, VA 20166
USA
Dear Mr. Leonsis,
Recently, your blog mentioned that the film you produced, “Nanking,” will be showing at the Sundance Film Festival.
I do not have any detailed information on the film, but since you mention Iris Chang’s the “Rape of Nanking”, I am obliged to voice grave concerns on this film. As a
researcher of the Nanking incident, I have concluded that the “Rape of Nanking” is quite biased and fabricated, a story that is far from what really happened in Nanking.
As you may know, the “Documents of Nanking Safety Zone”, official documents of the International Committee of the Nanking Safety Zone, record that the population of Nanking was 200,000 before the fall and remained so on 17, 18, 27 of December 1937. The population increased to 250,000 on January 14, 1938, just a month after the fall of Nanking. How is it possible that 250, 000 or more were slaughter yet the records showed that the population increased?
This is one of many questions against Ms.Chang’s claim of a massacre. Comprehensive studies on the so called massacre have been done and one such study is “THE NANKING MASSACRE: Fact Versus Fiction” by Professor Higashinakano Shudo, which is enclosed. Also enclosed is “What Really Happened in Nanking” written by Tanaka Masaaki, in which the issue of “photographic evidence” is discussed. I hope that you would read through these books to review the truth of the events. Since film has a huge impact on people’s thinking and emotions, I believe that you have a moral duty to consider all sides of the issue. I would like to know your feelings on the Nanking issue after reading the enclosed materials.
A thorough examination of Nanking-related photos was done, “Analyzing the ‘Photografic Evidence’ of Nanking Massacre” by Professor Higashinakano and others, of which an English translation is underway. The book will verify, based on scientific analysis, that the 143 photos frequently used as so-called evidence of a Nanking massacre (which, of course, appear in Ms. Chang’s book) have been faked or mis-captioned. When this translation becomes available, I will send it to you.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
MOTEKI Hiromichi,
President, Sekai Sshuppan, Inc.