Page 29 - Unit 731

Magazine) that appeared during wartime. From the contents and number of papers, Kitano was a scholar who made contributions to the field. It is clear that
both Kitano and Ishii shared a number of similarities: they were both doctors of medicine, professional researchers, lieutenant-general army surgeons,
commanders, and pioneers in carrying out bacteriological warfare and human experimentation (see Fig. 7).
Chart 1: Research papers published by Masaji Kitano in Gunidan zasshi

Number Title Year and volume
1 ‘Based on the Start of Hiroshima Army Preparation Hospital’ 1931 Vol. 204
2 ‘About the Process of Smallpox Vaccination’ 1931 Vol. 205
3 ‘Observation of the Statistics on Dengue Fever among Japanese Army’ 1931 Vol. 220
4 ‘Three types of Statistics on Dysentery among Japanese Army ‘ 1931 Vol. 221
5 ‘About Bacteria Carrier Symptoms among Imperial Army’ 1931 Vol. 223
6 ‘About Description on Freeze-Dried Smallpox Vaccine’ 1932 Vol. 223
7 ‘Investigation on Infectious Disease’ 1932 Vol. 225
8 ‘About Statistics on Early Precaution of Infectious Disease Carriers’ 1932 Vol. 230
9 ‘About Statistics on Early Precaution of Infectious Disease Carriers’ 1932 Vol. 231
10 ‘Research on Enteric Fevers and Paratyphoid among Japanese Army (First Report)’ 1932 Vol. 232
11 ‘About Reaction after Vaccines for Enteric Fevers and A Type and B Type Paratyphoid’ 1932 Vol. 232
12 ‘About the Type of Dysentery among Japanese Army’ 1932 Vol. 233
13 ‘Observation of the Statistics on Food Poisoning among Japanese Army’ 1932 Vol. 233
14 ‘Observation of the Statistics on Carries of Enteric Fevers and Paratyphoid after Vaccine’ 1932 Vol. 234
15 ‘About the Reaction of Vaccine of Plague’ 1933 Vol. 234
16 ‘About the Result on Dysentery Vaccine and Medicine among Japanese Army’ 1933 Vol. 234
17 ‘About Regulations of the Conference on International Armed Force Medical’ 1933 Vol. 246
18 ‘About International Regulations of Medical Plane’ 1933 Vol. 246
19 ‘About the Function and Duty of Committee of International Armed Force Medical Conference’ 1934 Vol. 247
20 ‘About the Latest Trend of Medical Plane’ 1934 Vol. 248
21 ‘About Automatic Washing and Disinfection Machine’ 1935 Vol. 267
22 ‘About Prevention of the Spread of Encephalitis lethargica in Japan’ 1935 Vol. 269
23 ‘About Dysentery Carriers among Japanese Army’ 1935 Vol. 270
24 ‘About Research on the Popularity of Dysentery among Japanese Army (First Report)’ 1936 Vol. 282
25 ‘About Ophthalmic Myiasis in Mongolia’ 1937 Vol. 299
26 ‘About Air Transportation of Injured Red Army’ 1937 Vol. 301
Masaji Kitano was released from Shanghai on 9 January 1946. Upon his return to Japan, he was investigated by the US Army on 6 February. He submitted
a seventeen-page written statement regarding Ishii’s troops on 1 April 1947. Early in the war, Masaji Kitano was also a member of the Japanese Expedition
First Antarctica Special Committee and Pertussis Research Center, set up by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
After the death of Shirō Ishii in October 1953, Kitano became the person in charge of Ishii’s funeral. In 1971, Japanese reporter Katsuichi Honda
visited the former Manchukuo Medical University at Shenyang, where he discovered the statistics on human experimentation that appeared in many of
Kitano’s research papers. When Honda returned to Japan, he interviewed Masaji Kitano by telephone, but Kitano either kept silent, refused to reply, or
rejected Honda’s narrative. In the 1970s, Japanese television broadcasting company TBS attempted to interview Masaji Kitano, who refused the interview
request, saying, ‘I want to forget what happened in Unit 731. I do not want to recall that memory.’ The TBS reporter continued: ‘Do you mean human
experimentation?’ Kitano replied, ‘Yes.’ Public materials pertaining to Masaji Kitano remain undisclosed since then. On 17 May 1986, Kitano died at the
age of ninety-one.

Hisato Yoshimura: Principal of Kyoto Prefectural Medical University and Head of Frostbite Laboratory at Unit 731
Biography of Hisato Yoshimura
Hisato Yoshimura (吉村寿人) was born in 1907 in Hyogo prefecture, Japan. He studied at the School of Medicine in the Kyoto Imperial University from
1926 to 1930 and was elected student union chairperson. After graduating, Yoshimura was hired by Professor Rinnosuke Shōji from the School of
Medicine as his assistant in the Department of Physiology for the research project ‘PH measurement of blood’. In 1936, Yoshimura received a doctoral
degree that allowed him to start his career as lecturer in physiology. On the recommendation of Professor Rinnosuke Shōji in 1938, he joined Unit 731 as a
technician in the first frostbite experiment laboratory.
Yoshimura returned to Japan from Harbin in August 1945. In September, he became a lecturer in the Aeromedical Studies at Kyoto Imperial
University. Nine months later, in 1946, Yoshimura worked as a professor of physiology in Hyogo Medical University (now the Department of Medicine of
Kobe University). The principal of the university was Yoshimura’s former teacher, Professor Rinnosuke Shōji. Yoshimura transferred to the Department of
Physiology in Kyoto Medical University and started long-term research, including a paper titled ‘Physical Effects of the Lack of Protein’. In 1962,
Yoshimura was elected chairperson of the Japan Weather Association, and was president of Kyoto Medical University from March 1967 to 1969. He left
the University in March 1970. Before he took over the post of professor in Hyogo Medical University, Yoshimura was a professor at Kobe Women’s
University, head of the Pollution Research Center in Kyusei Kaikan, and held other positions. In 1978, Yoshimura was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun
Third Class. Two years later, he retired from his position in Hyogo Medicine University and transferred to Kobe Women’s University again. He died 29
November 1990 at the age of eighty-three.
Human Experimentation by Hisato Yoshimura
Hisato Yoshimura conducted frostbite experiments in Unit 731 from 1938 to 1945 as a member of the human experimentation team. He was the first in
medical history to use living human beings for such experiments. The archaeological site of Unit 731 preserved the large-scale frostbite experiment
laboratory. Yoshimura and his team members chose to conceal the truth, and none of them provided accurate oral accounts of the events. The author can
only rely on Yoshimura’s research papers and other oral accounts from old veterans in understanding what took place in that laboratory.
Oral Accounts of Frostbite Experiments on Living Human Beings