A Japanese civil group held a rally in Tokyo on Saturday, demanding that the government return the Chinese cultural relics looted during the Japanese war of aggression against China.

Takakage Fujita, co-representative of the group which aims to promote the return of Chinese cultural properties, said that many developed countries that invaded other countries and looted cultural relics in the past are gradually returning looted cultural relics.

The first step to reconciliation is to correct the wrongs of the past, and it is not right to keep the cultural relics looted in one's own country as a matter of course, Fujita said.

The Japanese government's reluctance to return cultural relics looted in the past shows that its reflection on the war is still not enough, Fujita added, noting, "I hope Japan can reflect on its past from the bottom of its heart and change its current practices. This is also the reason we started this campaign."

According to the group, the University Museum of the University of Tokyo has collected and partially exhibited cultural relics of the Shangjing Longquan Prefecture Site of the Bohai Kingdom during the Tang Dynasty that were plundered by Japan in "Manchukuo," a puppet state established by Japanese invaders to control Northeast China.

The group requires the University of Tokyo to disclose all cultural relics that have been obtained by improper means and collected to this day, including the above-mentioned ones, and to disclose their sources.

About 50 people from all over Japan attended the rally on the day. A Tokyo University student told Xinhua, "I really want to know about the situation of Tokyo University's possession of Chinese cultural relics. After listening to today's speech, I think we need to seriously understand history and return the cultural relics."

The founding purpose of the civil group is to encourage Japan to return Chinese cultural relics, achieve "historical reconciliation" between the two countries, and further promote the development of bilateral relations.

This year, the group will continue to push for the Japanese government to return Chinese cultural relics such as the two Chinese stone lions outside the Yasukuni Shrine and the Chinese stone lions inside the Yamagata Artomo Memorial Hall. 

(Cover: A view of ancient Chinese bronze wares repatriated from Japan to China, September 10, 2019. /CMG)