MK sport president of the China Federation of Civil Claims against Japan Photo: Courtesy of China Federation of Civil Claims against Japan" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2024/2024-12-09/b42b5ac8-33b8-4062-bc4b-4861fa260569.jpeg" />

Japanese lawyer Keiichiro Ichinose (left) shakes hands with Tong Zeng, president of the China Federation of Civil Claims against Japan Photo: Courtesy of China Federation of Civil Claims against Japan

Members of the Japanese civil group, the China Cultural Relics Return Movement Association, urged the Japanese government to return cultural relics looted from China during wars, including the World War II, after a gathering in Tokyo on Saturday.

Japanese lawyer Keiichiro Ichinose, founder of the civil group, told the Global Times on Monday, "I believe that if we work with our Chinese partners and expand the Japanese grassroots movement, we will certainly achieve the return of China's looted cultural relics.

"In the future, our efforts may include the return of Buddhist statues looted from the Yungang Grottoes and Tianlongshan Grottoes and are currently housed and displayed in museums in Japan."

According to the association, which has for years been pushing for the return of the cultural relics Japan looted from China, this time the group plans to collect public signatures and submit a petition to the Japanese government demanding the return of Chinese cultural relics including the Chinese Tang Honglu Well Stele of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the largest and heaviest looted relic in possession of the Japanese Imperial Palace; the two Chinese stone lions outside the infamous Yasukuni Shrine and the Chinese stone lions in the Yamagata Aritomo Memorial Hall.

At the event, Japanese scholar Masakuni Ota delivered a lecture titled Anti-Colonialism and the Significance of Returning Looted Cultural Relics to the gathered audience, introducing the international context of cultural relic repatriation. 

Chinese professor Chen Wenping at Shanghai University gave a video speech to attendees, stressing that promoting the return of looted cultural relics to their countries of origin is a moral imperative, a matter of justice, and an inevitable trend in the development of civilization. He noted that this consensus is shared by the international community.

The organization has held similar gatherings in the past to demand the return of Chinese cultural relics from Japan. On July 28, Takakage Fujita, co-representative of the group that aims to promote the return of Chinese cultural property, said that many developed countries that invaded other countries and looted cultural relics in the past are gradually returning looted cultural relics. He noted that correcting past mistakes is the first step toward reconciliation, and it is not right to keep looted cultural relics in one's own country.

Fujita also pointed out that the Japanese government has maintained a passive attitude toward the return of looted cultural relics, which indicates insufficient reflection on its wartime actions. "We hope Japan will sincerely reflect on the past and change its current approach. This is the motivation for us to start this movement," said Fujita.

The association is not alone. In fact, scholars from China have been asking the Japanese government to return the Tang Honglu Well Stele for years. 

Tong Zeng, president of the China Federation of Civil Claims against Japan, told the Global Times on Monday that they submitted the first requests to the Japanese government as far back as 2014. However, no substantial results have been seen yet. In 2019, Tong wrote a letter to the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan, but "no response has been received."

Now, Tong is working with Japanese scholars and civil groups in the hope of getting positive responses from the Japanese government. 

"In September 2023, we drew up the China-Japan Non-Governmental Joint Declaration to Realize the Return of China's Looted Cultural Relics with the China Cultural Relics Return Movement Association," Tong told the Global Times. 

Keiichiro Ichinose had helped survivors of the Chongqing bombing and the notorious Japanese germ-warfare detachment during World War II - Unit 731. He has sought compensation from the Japanese government before and has been to China many times. Back in 2018, he was reached by Tong, who asked him to join the movement seeking the return of China's looted relics. 

"I didn't expect the Japanese people to be so concerned about this issue!" Ichinose told the Global Times after their first gathering in 2022 in Tokyo. 

"Identifying cultural relics looted from China and actively carrying out restitution efforts, such actions can help address issues such as recognizing the aggression of the war and defining the responsibilities of aggression, allowing more Japanese people to gain a deeper and broader understanding of these matters," Atsushi Koketsu, a professor at Yamaguchi University of Japan, told the Global Times on Monday.

The Japanese government's reflection on its wartime crimes is insufficient, and it should not avoid the fact that the country looted Chinese cultural relics during the war, Huo Zhengxin, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times. 

"It is very significant that Japanese civil organizations have stood up to push the Japanese government to return looted Chinese cultural relics," said Huo. 

"From the current perspective, the existing international treaties for pursuing the return of cultural relics were all established after World War II. Therefore, they are difficult to apply to actions taken during the war. As a result, there are challenges in invoking these conventions for the restitution of cultural relics."

"Still we can do more," said Ichinose.