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Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes In World War II
This book documents for the first time previously hidden Japanese atrocities in 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 author describes how desperate Japanese soldiers consumed the flesh of their own comrades killed in fighting as well as that of Australians, Pakistanis, and Indians. Another chapter traces the fate of 65 shipwrecked Australian nurses and British soldiers who were shot or stabbed to death by Japanese soldiers. Thirty-two other nurses, who landed on another island, were captured and sent to Sumatra to become �comfort women”—prostitutes for Japanese soldiers. Tanaka recounts how thousands of Australian and British POWs died in the infamous Sandakan camp in the Borneo jungle in 1945. Those who survived were forced to endure a tortuous 160-mile march on which anyone who dropped out of line was immediately shot. Only six escapees lived to tell the tale.Based on exhaustive research in previously closed archives, this book represents a landmark analysis of Japanese war crimes. The author explores individual atrocities in their broader social, psychological, and institutional milieu and places Japanese behavior during the war in the broader context of the dehumanization of men at war—without denying individual and national responsibility.
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 13, 1996
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April 27, 2015
This book is absolutely devastating and that is why everyone should read it.
Most people by now know about the Japanese "comfort women" who "served" the Japanese troops during WWII. And most think of the Japanese during the war (and possibly even now) as strict followers of tradition and authority. We may know about the Bataan Death March, the Burma-Thailand Railroad and the Rape of Nanking. What we don't know is some of the other, possibly more terrible, war crimes committed by the Japanese during the war.
Yuki Tanaka is Japanese and does not shrink from telling the truth about the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in the Pacific. He does not try to explain away the crimes. He faces the truth squarely.
He DOES say, without going into great detail, that the Japanese are not the blood-thirsty kamakazis that we picture from the war. The characteristics displayed at that time had the same type of development that the Nazi mindset had in Germany. Social and political pressures formed a national personality in both cases that does not reflect the actual culture. He shows that the treatment of POWs by their Japanese captors before WWII was extremely amiable, in fact, more of a cultural exchange than captivity.
The actions during WWII had their bases in some of the previous culture: bushido and Emperor worship were not new. Of course, anti-Semitism and German "superiority" were not new in Germany, either. But in both countries, cultural "norms" were thrown aside and underlying forces released.
A POW camp in Sandakan Borneo originally had approximately 2,000 Australian and 500 British prisoners. Only 6 survived the war.
After the sinking of the ship Vyner Brooke which was evacuating Australian nurses from Singapore, 20 sailors and 22 nurses made it to shore on Banka Island. They were discovered by 15 Japanese soldiers. The sailors were killed and the nurses driven back into the sea and shot. Only one nurse survived by pretending to be dead.
When the Japanese troops were abandoned by the army and left to die in New Guinea, there is evidence to show that they practiced cannibalism. First on enemy dead soldiers, then apparently on their own dead, and then, possibly, on POWs.
Biological warfare weapons were tested on POWS at the notorious Unit 731 in northeast China.
And huge numbers of civilians were massacred at various times, not least during the takeover of Singapore.
Tanaka walks a middle path in assigning responsibility for these actions. It is obviously, at the bottom, the responsibility of the individual performing the act. However, the Japanese blind obedience to higher authority plays a role when that authority either directly orders or "hints" (no prisoners are to be left behind.....) concerning particular actions. Higher up, authorities who have no notion of the circumstances their men are in may demand something that cannot be done resulting in lower ranks interpreting what they think they should do.
I believe Tanaka does a good job of trying to help "outsiders" begin to understand, if that is the word, what happened. Nothing can explain it completely and we should understand that the Japanese people are no different than the German people were. Most of the responsibility must ultimately lie with the country's leaders. Some of the psychological reasons Tanaka pushes forward seem a little weak, but they could occur in any culture, not just the Japanese.
This book should be read, like the horror stories of the Germans, as a means of beginning to grasp the reality that war is.
Most people by now know about the Japanese "comfort women" who "served" the Japanese troops during WWII. And most think of the Japanese during the war (and possibly even now) as strict followers of tradition and authority. We may know about the Bataan Death March, the Burma-Thailand Railroad and the Rape of Nanking. What we don't know is some of the other, possibly more terrible, war crimes committed by the Japanese during the war.
Yuki Tanaka is Japanese and does not shrink from telling the truth about the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in the Pacific. He does not try to explain away the crimes. He faces the truth squarely.
He DOES say, without going into great detail, that the Japanese are not the blood-thirsty kamakazis that we picture from the war. The characteristics displayed at that time had the same type of development that the Nazi mindset had in Germany. Social and political pressures formed a national personality in both cases that does not reflect the actual culture. He shows that the treatment of POWs by their Japanese captors before WWII was extremely amiable, in fact, more of a cultural exchange than captivity.
The actions during WWII had their bases in some of the previous culture: bushido and Emperor worship were not new. Of course, anti-Semitism and German "superiority" were not new in Germany, either. But in both countries, cultural "norms" were thrown aside and underlying forces released.
A POW camp in Sandakan Borneo originally had approximately 2,000 Australian and 500 British prisoners. Only 6 survived the war.
After the sinking of the ship Vyner Brooke which was evacuating Australian nurses from Singapore, 20 sailors and 22 nurses made it to shore on Banka Island. They were discovered by 15 Japanese soldiers. The sailors were killed and the nurses driven back into the sea and shot. Only one nurse survived by pretending to be dead.
When the Japanese troops were abandoned by the army and left to die in New Guinea, there is evidence to show that they practiced cannibalism. First on enemy dead soldiers, then apparently on their own dead, and then, possibly, on POWs.
Biological warfare weapons were tested on POWS at the notorious Unit 731 in northeast China.
And huge numbers of civilians were massacred at various times, not least during the takeover of Singapore.
Tanaka walks a middle path in assigning responsibility for these actions. It is obviously, at the bottom, the responsibility of the individual performing the act. However, the Japanese blind obedience to higher authority plays a role when that authority either directly orders or "hints" (no prisoners are to be left behind.....) concerning particular actions. Higher up, authorities who have no notion of the circumstances their men are in may demand something that cannot be done resulting in lower ranks interpreting what they think they should do.
I believe Tanaka does a good job of trying to help "outsiders" begin to understand, if that is the word, what happened. Nothing can explain it completely and we should understand that the Japanese people are no different than the German people were. Most of the responsibility must ultimately lie with the country's leaders. Some of the psychological reasons Tanaka pushes forward seem a little weak, but they could occur in any culture, not just the Japanese.
This book should be read, like the horror stories of the Germans, as a means of beginning to grasp the reality that war is.
May 27, 2020
I have mixed feelings about this book. First, for anyone who is wondering, yes this book strictly just lays out facts and is written more like an academic paper than some of these newer non-fiction books that read like novels. Personally, I find this rather refreshing, especially for subject matter such as this so the reader is not left wondering what is truly known and what may be a bit of embellishment by the author to make it flow better. The subject matter is very interesting, as many of these crimes are not well known.
While I think it is admirable that the author, especially being Japanese himself, is tackling this, nobody is without bias, including him and me. For full disclosure, part of my family found itself on the receiving end of ill treatment by the Japanese during WWII. From this perspective, there were some things that jumped out at me in this book and it admittedly stung a bit that these attitudes persist despite uncovering the horrible things the Japanese did during the war.
The first thing I noticed right off the bat was note 4 on the introduction (yes I read all the notes for non-fiction books as they sometimes provide very interesting tidbits), when talking about the fairness of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal the author states "My personal view on this issue is that the trial was unfair because the Allies did not deal with any war crimes committed by Allied forces; the most obvious example of war crimes committed by the United States was the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki." While I understand his concern with the one-sided nature of this, and that he does say this is his view, his statement that dropping the atomic bombs was a war crime comes across as a fact supporting his view, and not another opinion. I am personally of the opinion that these acts by the United States saved many lives, including those of my family, and seeing this statement was jarring to me. He later talks about how many of these war crimes were driven by desperation, but doesn't even seem to consider how many more war crimes his countrymen would have committed had the fight dragged on without the atomic bombs.
The racism he talks about the Japanese having comes out in Chapter 1 discussing the Sandakan incident and the POWs getting the parts for a radio receiver. He says these were "supplied by local Chinese merchants and workers whose anti-Japanese sentiments stemmed largely from the fact that the Japanese forces had destroyed their highly protected and profitable stranglehold on local business activity". There is no citation or end note for this claim. I highly doubt (also with no supporting facts) that the Japanese were perfectly pleasant to these local Chinese and that the only way they they were wronged was having a monopoly broken up.
In the introduction, he discusses how he is going to talk about other similar crimes committed by other countries to put the Japanese crimes into context and discuss how crimes in general can be avoided in the future. In this, the author falls short. While he does in fact bring up and briefly mention some other war crimes committed by other countries, his discussion of them seems more like "see - we aren't that bad! Other people did bad too!" and does not sufficiently delve into the prevention of these crimes in general. This was particularly jarring in his chapter (3) on Rape and War in which he seems to soften the Japanese burden of comfort women by comparing it to individual groups of soldiers who forced women into prostitution and mentioning that other countries set up or considered military brothels. While individual acts of rape shouldn't be condoned, this does not rival the scale of the enslavement and rape of the comfort women and the support of this by the Japanese government, which is another whole level of horrific.
As my review is already a novella on its own, I will stop here. Bottom line: interesting read, and worth it for those interested in WWII history, but far from perfect.
While I think it is admirable that the author, especially being Japanese himself, is tackling this, nobody is without bias, including him and me. For full disclosure, part of my family found itself on the receiving end of ill treatment by the Japanese during WWII. From this perspective, there were some things that jumped out at me in this book and it admittedly stung a bit that these attitudes persist despite uncovering the horrible things the Japanese did during the war.
The first thing I noticed right off the bat was note 4 on the introduction (yes I read all the notes for non-fiction books as they sometimes provide very interesting tidbits), when talking about the fairness of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal the author states "My personal view on this issue is that the trial was unfair because the Allies did not deal with any war crimes committed by Allied forces; the most obvious example of war crimes committed by the United States was the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki." While I understand his concern with the one-sided nature of this, and that he does say this is his view, his statement that dropping the atomic bombs was a war crime comes across as a fact supporting his view, and not another opinion. I am personally of the opinion that these acts by the United States saved many lives, including those of my family, and seeing this statement was jarring to me. He later talks about how many of these war crimes were driven by desperation, but doesn't even seem to consider how many more war crimes his countrymen would have committed had the fight dragged on without the atomic bombs.
The racism he talks about the Japanese having comes out in Chapter 1 discussing the Sandakan incident and the POWs getting the parts for a radio receiver. He says these were "supplied by local Chinese merchants and workers whose anti-Japanese sentiments stemmed largely from the fact that the Japanese forces had destroyed their highly protected and profitable stranglehold on local business activity". There is no citation or end note for this claim. I highly doubt (also with no supporting facts) that the Japanese were perfectly pleasant to these local Chinese and that the only way they they were wronged was having a monopoly broken up.
In the introduction, he discusses how he is going to talk about other similar crimes committed by other countries to put the Japanese crimes into context and discuss how crimes in general can be avoided in the future. In this, the author falls short. While he does in fact bring up and briefly mention some other war crimes committed by other countries, his discussion of them seems more like "see - we aren't that bad! Other people did bad too!" and does not sufficiently delve into the prevention of these crimes in general. This was particularly jarring in his chapter (3) on Rape and War in which he seems to soften the Japanese burden of comfort women by comparing it to individual groups of soldiers who forced women into prostitution and mentioning that other countries set up or considered military brothels. While individual acts of rape shouldn't be condoned, this does not rival the scale of the enslavement and rape of the comfort women and the support of this by the Japanese government, which is another whole level of horrific.
As my review is already a novella on its own, I will stop here. Bottom line: interesting read, and worth it for those interested in WWII history, but far from perfect.
February 1, 2016
This is another book on the subject of Japanese war crimes. Although it covers the type of material various other books do, such as the biological warfare experiments, it also includes a chapter dealing with rape during war.
The book starts off in the forward with an interesting statement:
”Certain egregious Japanese war crimes were covered up to serve American interests.”
This refers to the failure of the US to prosecute certain individuals who were involved in the Unit 731 biological warfare experiments in exchange for the information that they had obtained in their experiments. Lest anyone get too upset at this, remember that many German rocket scientists who worked on the V-1 and V-2 were not prosecuted either. Rather, then went to work for the US rocket program. I think it's called “enlightened self-interest.”
The book notes the various types of war crimes that were prosecuted:
A Class: “Crimes against peace”, which included military leaders and politicians who started the war and had responsibilities for the various war crimes actually committed by others.
B Class: Crimes committed by regular soldiers against enemy soldiers or civilians of enemy countries.
C Class: Crimes against humanity, crimes committed against civilians of any nationality.
There were various war crime trials, not just ones run by the US. There was also the International Military Tribunal for the Far East which tried 28 war leaders, finding 25 guilty. Another was declared insane and the other two died before the end of the trials.
The book also discusses how some people in Japan have reacted over time to Japan's war in WWII crimes. They have held that Japan was the victim during the war (often mentioned in the atomic bomb), and that other countries did the same sort of thing, too.
”The view of most Japanese on the Asia-Pacific War is overwhelmingly inclined toward seeing ourselves only as the victim. There are several reasons for this myopia, such as the fact that we were victims of the world's only nuclear holocaust; that, unlike in Germany, the Japanese committed no racial genocide within its own country or abroad; that we were threatened by economic and political advancement of Western powers into Asia; and that Japan's national ethos specific to its fascist ideology was based upon the emperor ideology. This national ethos prevented us Japanese from perceiving ourselves as the aggressors that we were.”
The Chinese might argue with the lack-of-racial-genocide thing; feelings are still strong about the Rape of Nanking and similar incidents. “
The author points out that the behavior of British, American and Commonwealth soldiers was much more restrained that the behavior of the Japanese soldiers, at least until the actual occupation of Japan. Apparently when that happened there were a multitude of rapes committed by occupying forces. For example, from August 30 thru Sept. 10, 1945, there were 1,336 reported rapes of Japanese women by US soldiers in one prefecture alone. Keep in mind that the number was reported rapes; many rapes certainly went unreported. If that number was representative, then it means that US soldiers committed rapes on a par with any other nation in the war.
Another interesting thing that the book has is that, during the battle of Saipan Islands in June and July of 1944, Japan planned to attack the US with biological weapons. Only the relatively quick victory of US forces kept any of their plans from being put into action.
This is a very good book on a subject which can be quite upsetting to read about but which nevertheless should be studied, especially in the light of the “weapons of mass destruction” controversy that goes on today about Iraq.
The book starts off in the forward with an interesting statement:
”Certain egregious Japanese war crimes were covered up to serve American interests.”
This refers to the failure of the US to prosecute certain individuals who were involved in the Unit 731 biological warfare experiments in exchange for the information that they had obtained in their experiments. Lest anyone get too upset at this, remember that many German rocket scientists who worked on the V-1 and V-2 were not prosecuted either. Rather, then went to work for the US rocket program. I think it's called “enlightened self-interest.”
The book notes the various types of war crimes that were prosecuted:
A Class: “Crimes against peace”, which included military leaders and politicians who started the war and had responsibilities for the various war crimes actually committed by others.
B Class: Crimes committed by regular soldiers against enemy soldiers or civilians of enemy countries.
C Class: Crimes against humanity, crimes committed against civilians of any nationality.
There were various war crime trials, not just ones run by the US. There was also the International Military Tribunal for the Far East which tried 28 war leaders, finding 25 guilty. Another was declared insane and the other two died before the end of the trials.
The book also discusses how some people in Japan have reacted over time to Japan's war in WWII crimes. They have held that Japan was the victim during the war (often mentioned in the atomic bomb), and that other countries did the same sort of thing, too.
”The view of most Japanese on the Asia-Pacific War is overwhelmingly inclined toward seeing ourselves only as the victim. There are several reasons for this myopia, such as the fact that we were victims of the world's only nuclear holocaust; that, unlike in Germany, the Japanese committed no racial genocide within its own country or abroad; that we were threatened by economic and political advancement of Western powers into Asia; and that Japan's national ethos specific to its fascist ideology was based upon the emperor ideology. This national ethos prevented us Japanese from perceiving ourselves as the aggressors that we were.”
The Chinese might argue with the lack-of-racial-genocide thing; feelings are still strong about the Rape of Nanking and similar incidents. “
The author points out that the behavior of British, American and Commonwealth soldiers was much more restrained that the behavior of the Japanese soldiers, at least until the actual occupation of Japan. Apparently when that happened there were a multitude of rapes committed by occupying forces. For example, from August 30 thru Sept. 10, 1945, there were 1,336 reported rapes of Japanese women by US soldiers in one prefecture alone. Keep in mind that the number was reported rapes; many rapes certainly went unreported. If that number was representative, then it means that US soldiers committed rapes on a par with any other nation in the war.
Another interesting thing that the book has is that, during the battle of Saipan Islands in June and July of 1944, Japan planned to attack the US with biological weapons. Only the relatively quick victory of US forces kept any of their plans from being put into action.
This is a very good book on a subject which can be quite upsetting to read about but which nevertheless should be studied, especially in the light of the “weapons of mass destruction” controversy that goes on today about Iraq.
January 27, 2021
Hidden Horrors by Yuki Tanaka is a really good and important look at the mindset and practices of the Japanese military during and before the Second World War. Dr. Tanaka did a excellent job with clear and concise analysis linking the historical trends and analysis of the different world views which made this book a cut above most historical books about the Second World War especially in regards too the Pacific war. Only other book that reaches this level for me would be the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer, it's on that level of understanding although it's much much thinner not as much reading as that book. Hidden Horrors is written with Japanese readers in mind and that also brings this book above so many others dealing with the subject of the war in the Pacific and especially the behavior of the Japanese towards POW and treatment of same as well as other non-combatants. I found it a fascinating read and a must have book for understanding much of what was and has been kept secret for political reasons for many years making the book's revelations and insights all the more important. Four stars excellent historical read highly recommend this book.
April 5, 2007
The Japanese soldiers were some sick people back then. And you wonder why the chinese people have never really forgiven them.
May 27, 2013
OMG....I think I'm developing Alzheimer's!! =(
It has taken me FOREVER to read this book. I'm not sure if it's my fault or the author's. There is so much detail in this. The magnitude of detail made me feel like I was re-reading The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm going to have to read again someday when I can really concentrate.
It has taken me FOREVER to read this book. I'm not sure if it's my fault or the author's. There is so much detail in this. The magnitude of detail made me feel like I was re-reading The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm going to have to read again someday when I can really concentrate.
July 5, 2024
Hard, but excellent. And a history masterclass. He scrutinizes his own country, while seeking to place its conduct alongside other similar accounts (e.g. Google “RAA Japan”). Poignant analysis.
“If ordinary people are unable to examine their past unequivocally, I believe such people are also incapable of the clear self-analysis needed to grasp and confront current political and social problems.”
“If ordinary people are unable to examine their past unequivocally, I believe such people are also incapable of the clear self-analysis needed to grasp and confront current political and social problems.”
April 26, 2020
This book was first published in 1993 in Japan under a different name. It was then translated and published in English in 1996. This Japanese author was commonly asked by people, "Why open Pandora's box?" by studying war crimes committed by Japanese soldiers during World War II. His answer boils down to: "to master the past." In one quote he says, "Past wrongs have already occurred, but perhaps the study of the past can help prevent future wrongs and atrocities." In this book he is focusing on B and C Class war crimes committed by soldiers in the field against enemy soldiers or civilians. In bringing these crimes to light, he is also attempting to explain the causes of these crimes. Yet, he is doing it in a way to try to destroy the cultural-based concept that Japan is "different" or "unique," whether the word is used as celebration or to criticize. He believes that the Japanese people tend to see themselves predominately only as the victims concerning the Asia-Pacific War rather than aggressors. He delves into the culture, society, and military at the time of the Asia-Pacific War, but also analyzes universal wartime hatred, violence, and psychology as a whole. This book does not try to be the end-all-be-all of Japanese war crimes. It specifically states that its focus is on the newly released (at the time of the early 1990s) and researched documents of wartime atrocities. Though some basic ideas were widely known at the time, the book gives newer examples of incidents that may not have been known or well-publicized. So though its going to talk about abuse of POWs, death marches, and rapes/slaughter of civilians, you're not getting the already well-known accounts of incidents like the Bataan Death March or the Rape of Nanking. At the same time, even though some of these atrocities were newly discovered at the time, they have become more well-known today, like the "comfort women", as well as Unit 731. Overall, the book is actually pretty even-handed in its analysis. The book greatly details many terrible atrocities, yet does not try to make excuses for it. However, it does try to explain why such atrocities may have happened (but not to try to say it was okay or that it diminishes the soldiers' responsibility for committing the act), but by breaking down the history, ideologies, and psychology. This was a very good book. I've done my own share of research into Japanese war crimes, but I learned a lot from this book and its analysis.
Chapter 1: The Sandakan POW Camp and the Geneva Convention
Chapter 2: The Sandakan Death Marches and the Elimination of POWs
Chapter 3: Rape and War: The Japanese Experience
Chapter 4: Judge Webb and Japanese Cannibalism
Chapter 5: Japanese Biological Warfare Plans and Experiments on POWs
Chapter 6: Massacre of Civilians at Kavieng
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Understanding Japanese Brutality in the Asia-Pacific War
The Conclusion is a particularly interesting read, and kind of helps rap everything up, going further into the ideologies that helped skew the ordinary Japanese civilian and soldier's morals, especially from 1910 onwards; the first concept of human rights in Japanese society starting with the Meiji constitution (or rather the perversion of so-called "human rights" by Western standards); the emperor ideology; the family-state concept; gyokusai ideology; the idea of racial superiority; the corruption of Bushido; and so on.
One of the main things that stuck with me from this book was the Sandakan Death Marches. Out of over 2,500 Australian POWs, only 6 survived.
Also, always worth mentioning (and something I've listed before in another book review): The death rate of Allied POWs in Japanese camps was 27% overall. So, a little more than 1 in 4 POWs died in Japanese captivity. And if you break it down by country, for Americans and Australians it was even higher with 1 in 3 dying in the POW camps. Compare that to only 4% of Allied POWs that died in German and Italian camps (1 in every 25).
Chapter 1: The Sandakan POW Camp and the Geneva Convention
Chapter 2: The Sandakan Death Marches and the Elimination of POWs
Chapter 3: Rape and War: The Japanese Experience
Chapter 4: Judge Webb and Japanese Cannibalism
Chapter 5: Japanese Biological Warfare Plans and Experiments on POWs
Chapter 6: Massacre of Civilians at Kavieng
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Understanding Japanese Brutality in the Asia-Pacific War
The Conclusion is a particularly interesting read, and kind of helps rap everything up, going further into the ideologies that helped skew the ordinary Japanese civilian and soldier's morals, especially from 1910 onwards; the first concept of human rights in Japanese society starting with the Meiji constitution (or rather the perversion of so-called "human rights" by Western standards); the emperor ideology; the family-state concept; gyokusai ideology; the idea of racial superiority; the corruption of Bushido; and so on.
One of the main things that stuck with me from this book was the Sandakan Death Marches. Out of over 2,500 Australian POWs, only 6 survived.
Also, always worth mentioning (and something I've listed before in another book review): The death rate of Allied POWs in Japanese camps was 27% overall. So, a little more than 1 in 4 POWs died in Japanese captivity. And if you break it down by country, for Americans and Australians it was even higher with 1 in 3 dying in the POW camps. Compare that to only 4% of Allied POWs that died in German and Italian camps (1 in every 25).
May 9, 2008
A very astute and concise report on Japanese war crimes in the Pacific Theatre of WWII. The atrocities that took place deep in the jungles of Borneo and Papua / New Guinea by Japanese soldiers were among the worst ever seen in modern warfare. Due to the systemic and militarial breakdown of the Japanese government, and their failure to project and problem-shoot isses that would arise while conducting a massive campaign of world domination, they left many soldiers to die fighting battles on terrian they had never before trained in. This breakdown from the top down reduced the troops on the ground to resort to institutionalized cannibalism. Considering war crimes that were in the scientific and technological level, the book goes in depth into the infamous Unit 731, where Japanese scientists were developing biological warfare;i.e. giving fleas the black plauge and releasing them over large swaths of enemy populations.
January 2, 2019
This is an interesting book with much food for thought, which endeavours to map out a new path for academic study of Japanese war crimes. Tanaka looks at some specific war crimes committed by Japanese soldiers and sailors, and tries to show how such things could have occurred through looking at the structure, training and beliefs of Japanese society and the Armed Forces in particular.
The first crime he examines in detail is the Sandakan Death Marches, where he notes how the Japanese mostly used Koreans and Formosans (Taiwanese) as guards for Prisoners of War. The brutal treatment handed out to these guards by their Japanese masters, they passed on to the Prisoners under their control. Tanaka also looks at the way Japan did and did not abide by the Geneva Convention, using prisoners for war work, and progressively starving them as Japan's position in the War became more perilous. While not excusing individual acts by Japanese soldiers and sailors, Tanaka shows the reader how the culture of the Japanese Armed Forces and the pressure of war led to such outcomes. It is interesting to note that in the first of the Sandakan Marches many Japanese also died. The horrific logic of war crimes came into play at Sandakan as well, with earlier outrages driving the Japanese to ensure that they left no witnesses alive.
Tanaka then moves on to the topic of rape and "Comfort Women" (a topic he has written on at some length subsequent to this book). He draws parallels here with both the Russians in Germany and the Allied occupation of Japan. The treatment of women in war is often horrific and Tanaka has some ideas on the transgressive nature of women in uniform, and how male bonding in war can lead to such outrages; ideas that others have written on in more detail.
Tanaka's next subject is Japanese cannibalism, on many levels perhaps the most troubling crime. This practice was quite widespread, and was not always the result of hunger. Sometimes dead Japanese were eaten, and sometimes even shot for food. Tanaka can give no real reason for the cannibalism that makes sense, except where is was obviously driven by hunger... certainly it was something that the Japanese wanted to hide when they could, with Allied discoveries of this practice usually occurring after they surprised groups of Japanese, or made sudden advances on the battlefield. The Allied attitude to reports and evidence of these crimes is interesting as well. While the Americans thought that such things should be publicised in aid of the war effort, the Australians were against the idea because of the distress it may have caused on the home front. That there were so few prosecutions for the crime after the war is put down by Tanaka to the reason that it would have caused distress to families of the victims, and the problem of providing evidence that would stand up in a court-room (i.e. of eye-witnesses to the consumption of the flesh, rather than evidence of cooking etc.).
The next chapter, on Unit 731, investigates the concept of "doubling": how doctors could experiment on live people, and how they justify it. Tanaka also here begins to look at Japanese acknowledgement that what they were doing was wrong, at least to the extent that they wanted to avoid punishment. The members of Unit 731 captured by the US were given immunity from prosecution on the basis that they handed over their research, after the US were assured that no Prisoners were used in experiments. The Soviets later showed that these assurances were lies.
Which brings the reader to the last crime that Tanaka looks at, the massacre of civilians at Kavieng. Tanka uses this incident to look at several things: how the Japanese concept of Gyokusai ("glorious self-annihilation") led to the "strategic necessity" of eliminating civilians, and how the soldiers involved knew they were doing something wrong, as they were ordered not to speak of the killings and rehearsed a cover story to explain the deaths away. What is also interesting in this example is that senior officers ensured the massacre happened in such a way that they could avoid blame. The readiness of such officers to blame conveniently dead colleagues for crimes was also much in evidence after the War.
In his conclusion, Tanaka shows how the Japanese Military moved from being a force that was compassionate to its prisoners and its own members who had been taken prisoner (in the early 20th century), to one where it was better to die than be taken prisoner. This certainly had an effect on how the Japanese treated Allied captives. The Japanese belief in themselves as the chosen race, and in their Emperor as a god, had a malignant effect on their treatment of conquered peoples. Tanaka calls in this book for a new historiography of Japanese war crimes, whereby Japanese - in a similar manner to the Germans - look at the whole of the wartime era, and how as a country they could have come to a point where such horrors were allowed to happen. This new historiography has yet to happen in Japan in any major way, although this book is now over 20 years old.
One for the serious students of the Pacific War, this book is worth reading, although in lacking a bibliography it leaves limited options for further study.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
The first crime he examines in detail is the Sandakan Death Marches, where he notes how the Japanese mostly used Koreans and Formosans (Taiwanese) as guards for Prisoners of War. The brutal treatment handed out to these guards by their Japanese masters, they passed on to the Prisoners under their control. Tanaka also looks at the way Japan did and did not abide by the Geneva Convention, using prisoners for war work, and progressively starving them as Japan's position in the War became more perilous. While not excusing individual acts by Japanese soldiers and sailors, Tanaka shows the reader how the culture of the Japanese Armed Forces and the pressure of war led to such outcomes. It is interesting to note that in the first of the Sandakan Marches many Japanese also died. The horrific logic of war crimes came into play at Sandakan as well, with earlier outrages driving the Japanese to ensure that they left no witnesses alive.
Tanaka then moves on to the topic of rape and "Comfort Women" (a topic he has written on at some length subsequent to this book). He draws parallels here with both the Russians in Germany and the Allied occupation of Japan. The treatment of women in war is often horrific and Tanaka has some ideas on the transgressive nature of women in uniform, and how male bonding in war can lead to such outrages; ideas that others have written on in more detail.
Tanaka's next subject is Japanese cannibalism, on many levels perhaps the most troubling crime. This practice was quite widespread, and was not always the result of hunger. Sometimes dead Japanese were eaten, and sometimes even shot for food. Tanaka can give no real reason for the cannibalism that makes sense, except where is was obviously driven by hunger... certainly it was something that the Japanese wanted to hide when they could, with Allied discoveries of this practice usually occurring after they surprised groups of Japanese, or made sudden advances on the battlefield. The Allied attitude to reports and evidence of these crimes is interesting as well. While the Americans thought that such things should be publicised in aid of the war effort, the Australians were against the idea because of the distress it may have caused on the home front. That there were so few prosecutions for the crime after the war is put down by Tanaka to the reason that it would have caused distress to families of the victims, and the problem of providing evidence that would stand up in a court-room (i.e. of eye-witnesses to the consumption of the flesh, rather than evidence of cooking etc.).
The next chapter, on Unit 731, investigates the concept of "doubling": how doctors could experiment on live people, and how they justify it. Tanaka also here begins to look at Japanese acknowledgement that what they were doing was wrong, at least to the extent that they wanted to avoid punishment. The members of Unit 731 captured by the US were given immunity from prosecution on the basis that they handed over their research, after the US were assured that no Prisoners were used in experiments. The Soviets later showed that these assurances were lies.
Which brings the reader to the last crime that Tanaka looks at, the massacre of civilians at Kavieng. Tanka uses this incident to look at several things: how the Japanese concept of Gyokusai ("glorious self-annihilation") led to the "strategic necessity" of eliminating civilians, and how the soldiers involved knew they were doing something wrong, as they were ordered not to speak of the killings and rehearsed a cover story to explain the deaths away. What is also interesting in this example is that senior officers ensured the massacre happened in such a way that they could avoid blame. The readiness of such officers to blame conveniently dead colleagues for crimes was also much in evidence after the War.
In his conclusion, Tanaka shows how the Japanese Military moved from being a force that was compassionate to its prisoners and its own members who had been taken prisoner (in the early 20th century), to one where it was better to die than be taken prisoner. This certainly had an effect on how the Japanese treated Allied captives. The Japanese belief in themselves as the chosen race, and in their Emperor as a god, had a malignant effect on their treatment of conquered peoples. Tanaka calls in this book for a new historiography of Japanese war crimes, whereby Japanese - in a similar manner to the Germans - look at the whole of the wartime era, and how as a country they could have come to a point where such horrors were allowed to happen. This new historiography has yet to happen in Japan in any major way, although this book is now over 20 years old.
One for the serious students of the Pacific War, this book is worth reading, although in lacking a bibliography it leaves limited options for further study.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
June 8, 2017
A troubling, if dry, read about events rarely discussed in WWII documentaries. The author illustrates the why behind many of the crimes and points out how the crimes aren't unique to Japanese soldiers--they were just more systematic in some of them.
March 25, 2016
This book is an in-depth look at some specific incidences of Japanese war crimes committed during World War II. The author covers the unwarranted massacres of POWs, the forced prostitution of women, wartime cannibalism, plans for bacteriological warfare and the massacre of innocent civilians. The events described were compiled out of interviews, letters, as well as documents and eye-witness accounts from the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal . There is a lot of detail included, but it is a well-organized book and easily read.
The author also looks beyond the acts themselves to determine how ordinary people can change during war in such manner where they can commit such atrocities, as well as the state’s involvement in those psychological changes.
The author also looks beyond the acts themselves to determine how ordinary people can change during war in such manner where they can commit such atrocities, as well as the state’s involvement in those psychological changes.
April 25, 2021
Japanese war crimes during World War II was something that was rarely, if ever, mentioned during my college studies. I learned a lot from this book about how prisoners of war were treated, how civilian populations were treated, and certainly about the competitions between Japanese soldiers for the shenanagins they got up to. I think this was a very important book, and I am glad that I found it.
February 14, 2025
i really liked it...and now 15 reviews 14 feb 2025. i guess there are no key reaction words in the title that might keep most poets curious
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July 6, 2018940.5405 T1619h 2018
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