The Government of Japan has admitted to the killing of many non-combatants, looting and other violence committed by the Imperial Japanese Army after the fall of Nanjing, and Japanese veterans who served there have confirmed that a massacre took place. A small but vocal minority in the Japanese government and society have argued that the death toll was military in nature and that no such crimes ever occurred. Denial of the massacre and revisionist accounts of the killings have become a staple of Japanese nationalism. In Japan, public opinion of the massacre varies but few deny outright that the event occurred.