Page 54 - Marutas of Unit 731
P. 54
According to testimony given by a technician, Ogawa Fukumatsu, in a
video inter view years aer the war, he stated, “I participated in vivisections.
I did them ever y day. I cannot remember the amount of people dissected. At
rst, I refused to do it. But then, they would not allow me to eat because it
was an order ; gradually I changed.”
Masakuni Kuri testi ed as well. “I did vivisection at the time.
Experiments were conducted on a Chines e woman with syphilis. Because
she was alive, the blood poured out like water from a tap.”
Ken Yuasa, a former doctor of Unit 731 stated in a video inter view, “In
the room, there were over 10 surgeons waiting for practice. A nurse about 20
years old stood beside the operating table. It was not quiet. Ever yone was
laughing and joking just as usual. en the exper iment started. is time it
was a Chinese man. I don’t know how he was captured. We did not care
whether he was innocent or not. Someone pushed him hard and he cried
while kneeling on the ground struggling backward. I also pushed him really
hard. Later he seemed exhausted and gave up hope. e nurse said to him in
Chinese that he could sleep and that the anesthet ic would prevent any pain.
He walked toward the operating table and laid on it. e vivisectionist
wasn’t ver y skilled. He cut a big opening on the belly, poured out the
intestine, caught them and connected them. I stood aside to direct. e man
was still in front of me as if he was dead. Altogether, six exper iments were
done on him including one where his arm was amputated. Almost one and a
half hour later, the operation ended and he was dead.”
Ishii’s network had recruited Youth Corps members for vivisection as
well. Since wartime Japan fostered a sense of nationalism in ever yone,
children were encouraged to report to the school principal any anti-war
sentiments of their parents. e police were then to investigate the parents.
Many children were also encouraged by their teachers to enter the Youth
