A descendant of a Japanese soldier who served in the invasion of China during the Sino-Japanese War has donated what is described as a stele of apology to the Chinese side. The stone is said to carry an expression of regret for the acts of a forebear.

Donations of this kind differ from formal state procedure. Some bereaved families and civic groups in Japan have spent decades organizing records and testimony left by relatives and delivering them to sites in China.

Behind this is the passing of the wartime generation. With almost no one left to testify from direct experience, where and how to preserve letters, diaries and photographs has become a practical question.

Memorial museums across China have collected such privately donated material. Japanese records are valued for research because they can be set against testimony from the areas that were attacked.

Questions of historical memory are usually handled as matters between governments, yet the actual movement of documents often runs through individuals and local organizations, as it did here.

Views on war responsibility differ within Japan as well. It is worth noting that the act of one family does not amount to a consensus across a society.

The institutions involved are to decide where the stele will be placed and how it will be shown.