At 7 o'clock in the morning on January 5th, ordered by General Nogi, Captain Tsunoda Koreshige (津野田是重) left the Japanese headquarter at Liu Shu Fang (柳樹房) for downtown Lushun to prepare for negotiation on surrender of Russian troops. Because there was a problem in his horse, however, he couldn't keep the promise with the Russians. When he arrived at a promised place, General Stoessel and his staff already left for Shui Shi Ying. Irritated, he hurried up and caught up with General Stoessel near Shui Shi Ying.
When they arrived at the meeting place at 10:50, general Nogi and the Japanese staff were not there yet. While Tsunoda was at a loss, Major Watanabe arrived at the meeting place. With Watanabe's help, Tsunoda could prepare some refreshments and firewood.
At 11:30, General Nogi arrived at the Meeting Place. Perplexed, Tsunoda guided his commander into the house. General Nogi agreed but Major General Ijichi was a little offended because Russian staff didn't come out to greet the Japanese delegation. It seemed that the Japanese delegation wanted the Russians to recognize them as victors.
The above scene is based on Captain Tsunoda's account, but Kawakami Toshitsune (川上俊彦), who was on the spot as interpreter at that time, told that the Russian staff did come out to greet them. Two men have different accounts on what had happened just before the meeting began. We find a lot of similar phenomena when we try to verify historical facts, especially, atrocity cases.
From
'The Evening Sun, Blood and Iron' 「斜陽と鉄血」 and
'How was Lushun taken?'「旅順開城規始末」 by Tsunoda Koreshige (津野田是重)
Captain Tsunoda Koreshige
by Kim Sung on 27 Feb 2009 08:09 
