Japan is contradictory when dealing with the darker side of its military history. The government issues numerous apologies for hardships caused by Japanese imperialism. For example, in 2009 the Japanese Foreign Minister apologised for the Bataan Death March. But Japan also denies its war crimes. In 2007 The Japanese Prime Minister stated that there is no proof that the Japanese during WWII forced women into prostitution. Japanese textbooks change in 2007 to eliminate reference to the role of the military in mass suicides. To the credit of the Japanese people 100,000 protested against the change.

The latest episode involves medical experiments carried out by Unit 731, commanded by Lieutenant General Shiro Ishii. Unit 731 conducted biological, chemical, and environmental experiments. Thousands of people, mostly Chinese but including some Russians and Americans, were subjected to tests including induced disease and live vivisection without anaesthesia. After the war members of Unit 731 were granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for providing data from their experiments to the U.S. The Telegraph recently stated that Japan would examine bones found in 1989 believed to be from victims of Unit 731. They will also conduct a search for mass graves.

The war ended more than sixty years ago. The criminals received immunity. The original bones were found twenty years ago and put in storage. The Japanese have denied requests for DNA testing. Now the government wants to re-examine the evidence. Japan has a history of official denial and token apologies. Officials have overlooked the history of unit 731 and neglected the evidence. It will be interesting to see what the results of this investigation are. Japan making an official apology to the Chinese is unlikely. An offer for compensation is even less likely. However, perhaps the history of WWII will now include the atrocities of Unit 731. We can hope that this becomes common knowledge, as the Holocaust is. And perhaps that’s enough.

duncanrice Uncategorized