Deciphering the History of Japanese War Atrocities

Deciphering the History of Japanese War Atrocities PDF Author: Kenneth L. Port
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781611635584
Category : Biological weapons
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Most people know of the atrocities committed by the Japanese in World War II. From Harbin, China, Shiro Ishii unleashed unspeakable horror on the Chinese people while planning biological weapon attacks should the U.S. land on the mainland of Japan. This book is a thorough explication of the life, death and aftermath of Shiro Ishii in historical context. This book includes many heretofore unknown facts and original photos. As a biography of Ishii, the book describes a narrative of World War II and the Occupation that is shocking and original. "A tour de force of research and analysis! Port refuses to let the horrors of Unit 731 and the role of its demonic founder, Col. Shiro Ishii, fade from the collective memory of Japan." -- Gerald Paul McAlinn, Professor of Law, Keio University Law School, Tokyo, Japan "Ken Port pulls back the veil on one of the most notorious and odious Japanese wartime villains -- Shiro Ishii, the man who established and supervised Unit 731 in Manchuria where vivisection and biological war experiments were conducted. After demolishing various myths about Ishii, Port reveals that he is from a family belonging to a still influential shadowy elite. The most damning part of this scoundrel's tale implicates the Emperor in sponsoring his work and Truman for letting him off the hook." -- Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan "A truly fascinating read." -- Salil Mehra, Professor of Law, Temple University Law School

Deciphering the History of Japanese War Atrocities

Deciphering the History of Japanese War Atrocities PDF Author: Kenneth L. Port
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781611635584
Category : Biological weapons
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Most people know of the atrocities committed by the Japanese in World War II. From Harbin, China, Shiro Ishii unleashed unspeakable horror on the Chinese people while planning biological weapon attacks should the U.S. land on the mainland of Japan. This book is a thorough explication of the life, death and aftermath of Shiro Ishii in historical context. This book includes many heretofore unknown facts and original photos. As a biography of Ishii, the book describes a narrative of World War II and the Occupation that is shocking and original. "A tour de force of research and analysis! Port refuses to let the horrors of Unit 731 and the role of its demonic founder, Col. Shiro Ishii, fade from the collective memory of Japan." -- Gerald Paul McAlinn, Professor of Law, Keio University Law School, Tokyo, Japan "Ken Port pulls back the veil on one of the most notorious and odious Japanese wartime villains -- Shiro Ishii, the man who established and supervised Unit 731 in Manchuria where vivisection and biological war experiments were conducted. After demolishing various myths about Ishii, Port reveals that he is from a family belonging to a still influential shadowy elite. The most damning part of this scoundrel's tale implicates the Emperor in sponsoring his work and Truman for letting him off the hook." -- Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan "A truly fascinating read." -- Salil Mehra, Professor of Law, Temple University Law School

Japanese War Criminals

Japanese War Criminals PDF Author: Sandra Wilson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231542682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Beginning in late 1945, the United States, Britain, China, Australia, France, the Netherlands, and later the Philippines, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China convened national courts to prosecute Japanese military personnel for war crimes. The defendants included ethnic Koreans and Taiwanese who had served with the armed forces as Japanese subjects. In Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East tried Japanese leaders. While the fairness of these trials has been a focus for decades, Japanese War Criminals instead argues that the most important issues arose outside the courtroom. What was the legal basis for identifying and detaining subjects, determining who should be prosecuted, collecting evidence, and granting clemency after conviction? The answers to these questions helped set the norms for transitional justice in the postwar era and today contribute to strategies for addressing problematic areas of international law. Examining the complex moral, ethical, legal, and political issues surrounding the Allied prosecution project, from the first investigations during the war to the final release of prisoners in 1958, Japanese War Criminals shows how a simple effort to punish the guilty evolved into a multidimensional struggle that muddied the assignment of criminal responsibility for war crimes. Over time, indignation in Japan over Allied military actions, particularly the deployment of the atomic bombs, eclipsed anger over Japanese atrocities, and, among the Western powers, new Cold War imperatives took hold. This book makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the construction of the postwar international order in Asia and to our comprehension of the difficulties of implementing transitional justice.

Hidden Horrors

Hidden Horrors PDF Author: Toshiyuki Tanaka
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781538102695
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Now in a significant new edition, this landmark book documents little-known wartime Japanese atrocities during World War II, including cannibalism; the slaughter and starvation of prisoners of war; the rape, enforced prostitution, and murder of noncombatants; and biological warfare experiments.

The Rape of Nanking

The Rape of Nanking PDF Author: Iris Chang
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 046502825X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The New York Times bestselling account of one of history's most brutal—and forgotten—massacres, when the Japanese army destroyed China's capital city on the eve of World War II, "piecing together the abundant eyewitness reports into an undeniable tapestry of horror". (Adam Hochschild, Salon) In December 1937, one of the most horrific atrocities in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (what was then the capital of China), and within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered. In this seminal work, Iris Chang, whose own grandparents barely escaped the massacre, tells this history from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers, that of the Chinese, and that of a group of Westerners who refused to abandon the city and created a safety zone, which saved almost 300,000 Chinese. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors and documents brought to light for the first time, Iris Chang's classic book is the definitive history of this horrifying episode.

Japanese War Crimes

Japanese War Crimes PDF Author: Peter Li
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351511084
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
The question of national responsibility for crimes against humanity became an urgent topic due to the charge of ethnic cleansing against the previous Yugoslav government. But that was not the first such urging of legal and moral responsibility for war crimes. While the Nazi German regime has been prototypical, the actions of the Japanese military regime have been receiving increasing prominence and attention. Indeed, Peter Li's volume examines the phenomenon of denial as well as the deeds of destruction. Certainly one of the most troublesome unresolved problems facing many Asian and Western countries after the Asia Pacific war (1931u1945) is the question of the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army throughout Asia and the Japanese government's repeated attempts to whitewash their wartime responsibilities. The psychological and physical wounds suffered by victims, their families, and relations remain unhealed after more than half a century, and the issue is now pressing. This collection undertakes the critical task of addressing some of the multifaceted and complex issues of Japanese war crimes and redress. This collection is divided into five themes. In "It's Never Too Late to Seek Justice," the issues of reconciliation, accountability, and Emperor Hirohito's responsibility for war crimes are explored. "The American POW Experience Remembered" includes a moving account of the Bataan Death March by an American ex-soldier. "Psychological Responses" discusses the socio-psychological affects of the Nanjing Massacre and Japanese vivisection on Chinese subjects. The way in which Japanese war atrocities have been dealt with in the theater and cinema is the focus of "Artistic Responses." And central to "History Must not Forget" are the questions of memory, trauma, biological warfare, and redress. Included in this volume are samples of the many presentations given at the International Citizens' Forum on War Crimes and Redress held in Tokyo in Decem

Men to Devils, Devils to Men

Men to Devils, Devils to Men PDF Author: Barak Kushner
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674966988
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
The Japanese Army committed numerous atrocities during its pitiless campaigns in China from 1931 to 1945. When the Chinese emerged victorious with the Allies at the end of World War II, many seemed ready to exact retribution for these crimes. Rather than resort to violence, however, they chose to deal with their former enemy through legal and diplomatic means. Focusing on the trials of, and policies toward, Japanese war criminals in the postwar period, Men to Devils, Devils to Men analyzes the complex political maneuvering between China and Japan that shaped East Asian realpolitik during the Cold War. Barak Kushner examines how factions of Nationalists and Communists within China structured the war crimes trials in ways meant to strengthen their competing claims to political rule. On the international stage, both China and Japan propagandized the tribunals, promoting or blocking them for their own advantage. Both nations vied to prove their justness to the world: competing groups in China by emphasizing their magnanimous policy toward the Japanese; Japan by openly cooperating with postwar democratization initiatives. At home, however, Japan allowed the legitimacy of the war crimes trials to be questioned in intense debates that became a formidable force in postwar Japanese politics. In uncovering the different ways the pursuit of justice for Japanese war crimes influenced Sino-Japanese relations in the postwar years, Men to Devils, Devils to Men reveals a Cold War dynamic that still roils East Asian relations today.

Hidden Atrocities

Hidden Atrocities PDF Author: Jeanne Guillemin
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231544987
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 542

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Book Description
In the aftermath of World War II, the Allied intent to bring Axis crimes to light led to both the Nuremberg trials and their counterpart in Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal of the Far East. Yet the Tokyo Trial failed to prosecute imperial Japanese leaders for the worst of war crimes: inhumane medical experimentation, including vivisection and open-air pathogen and chemical tests, which rivaled Nazi atrocities, as well as mass attacks using plague, anthrax, and cholera that killed thousands of Chinese civilians. In Hidden Atrocities, Jeanne Guillemin goes behind the scenes at the trial to reveal the American obstruction that denied justice to Japan’s victims. Responsibility for Japan’s secret germ-warfare program, organized as Unit 731 in Harbin, China, extended to top government leaders and many respected scientists, all of whom escaped indictment. Instead, motivated by early Cold War tensions, U.S. military intelligence in Tokyo insinuated itself into the Tokyo Trial by blocking prosecution access to key witnesses and then classifying incriminating documents. Washington decision makers, supported by the American occupation leader, General Douglas MacArthur, sought to acquire Japan’s biological-warfare expertise to gain an advantage over the Soviet Union, suspected of developing both biological and nuclear weapons. Ultimately, U.S. national-security goals left the victims of Unit 731 without vindication. Decades later, evidence of the Unit 731 atrocities still troubles relations between China and Japan. Guillemin’s vivid account of the cover-up at the Tokyo Trial shows how without guarantees of transparency, power politics can jeopardize international justice, with persistent consequences.

Interpreting the Tokyo War Crimes Trial

Interpreting the Tokyo War Crimes Trial PDF Author: Kayoko Takeda
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
ISBN: 0776607294
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
In order to ensure its absolute authority, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (1946-1948), the Japanese counterpart of the Nuremberg Trial, adopted a three-tier structure for its interpreting: Japanese nationals interpreted the proceedings, second-generation Japanese-Americans monitored the interpreting, and Caucasian U.S. military officers arbitrated the disputes. The first extensive study on the subject in English, this book explores the historical and political contexts of the trial as well as the social and cultural backgrounds of the linguists through trial transcripts in English and Japanese, archival documents and recordings, and interviews with those who were involved in the interpreting. In addition to a detailed account of the interpreting, the book examines the reasons for the three-tier system, how the interpreting procedures were established over the course of the trial, and the unique difficulties faced by the Japanese-American monitors. This original case study of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal illuminates how complex issues such as trust, power, control and race affect interpreting at international tribunals in times of conflict. Published in English.

Cold War Ruins

Cold War Ruins PDF Author: Lisa Yoneyama
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822374110
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
In Cold War Ruins Lisa Yoneyama argues that the efforts intensifying since the 1990s to bring justice to the victims of Japanese military and colonial violence have generated what she calls a "transborder redress culture." A product of failed post-World War II transitional justice that left many colonial legacies intact, this culture both contests and reiterates the complex transwar and transpacific entanglements that have sustained the Cold War unredressability and illegibility of certain violences. By linking justice to the effects of American geopolitical hegemony, and by deploying a conjunctive cultural critique—of "comfort women" redress efforts, state-sponsored apologies and amnesties, Asian American involvement in redress cases, the ongoing effects of the U.S. occupation of Japan and Okinawa, Japanese atrocities in China, and battles over WWII memories—Yoneyama helps illuminate how redress culture across Asia and the Pacific has the potential to bring powerful new and challenging perspectives on American exceptionalism, militarized security, justice, sovereignty, forgiveness, and decolonization.

Stalin's War on Japan

Stalin's War on Japan PDF Author: Charles Stephenson
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526785951
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
This WWII military study examines the critical yet overlooked Soviet offensive on Japan’s puppet state and its influence on winning the Pacific War. Did Japan surrender in 1945 because the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Or because of the crushing defeat inflicted by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in north-east China? In Stalin’s War on Japan, Charles Stephenson describes the Soviet offensive from the top-level decision-making and early planning stages to its decisive outcome on the ground. He also considers to what extent Japan’s capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict. Stephenson combines a vividly detailed narrative of the invasion itself with an absorbing account of the political and diplomatic process that gave rise to the offensive—with particular focus on the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway. Stalin’s War on Japan sheds new light on the last act of the Second World War.