Page 32 - Unit 731

Those on this list were Ishii’s teachers, fellows, and comrades-in-arms. To pursue their experience on the battlefield and in post-war times is a
challenging task, since written documents about them remain undiscovered.

Green Cross Japan and Unit 731
In November 1950, Ryoichi Naitō and Hideo Futaki (二木秀雄), the head of the Tuberculosis Division of Unit 731, co-established the ‘Blood Bank Joint
Stock Company’ to produce blood products in Japan. Ryoichi Naitō was manager of the Epidemic Prevention Research Center, which Shirō Ishii had held
as a colonel. Naitō was also manager of the Ishii Troop headquarters in Tokyo. He gained respect and trust from Shirō Ishii and later played an important
role in dealing with the US after the end of the Second World War.
The company was renamed ‘Green Cross Joint Stock Company’ in 1964. Masaji Kitano joined the company as a director and president of the Tokyo
sub-branch. Kurobuta Ichirō Ota (大田黑猪一郎) from the Epidemic Prevention of Southern Army became the president in the Kyoto sub-branch. More
than ten members of Green Cross were former members of Unit 731.
At the outbreak of Korean War, Ryoichi Naitō used his special relationship with the US to supply the US Army with dried plasma and earn a fortune. In
the 1980s, the news of blood products infected with AIDs shocked the country, and the Green Cross was one of the defendants in the case.

Doctor Susumu Kawakami: Teacher and Subordinate of Shirō Ishii
Susumu Kawakami graduated from the School of Medicine of Kyoto Imperial University and was Shirō Ishii’s pathology instructor. Kawakami was also a
major member in the Harbin sub-branch of Shirankai. From 1937 to 1942, he worked in the Pathology Division of Unit 731, and simultaneously taught at
Keio University as a professor of pathology.
In February 2015, I read some twenty handwritten drafts by Susumu IKawakami in the Unit 731 archive. Kawakami had written these letters to friends
—including Yu Akimoto and Kenji Kiyono of Unit 731—and they were written in Japanese using Chinese brushes; his handwriting looks nice from the
perspective of Chinese calligraphy.
An excerpt from Kawakami’s letter to Yu Akimoto on 20 November 1942 shows in detail his work life—with significant omissions:

I have been in Harbin for five years. This year is the fifth winter. This January I moved to a place near the headquarters. Since the heating system is good in the dorm, I did not feel cold even though it
is minus twelve to thirteen degrees. The workshop headquarters temperature is about 23 degrees, and I need to remove my coat. Depending on conditions, [I will] slightly open the window to let fresh
air in. When the external air meets internal air in the room, it becomes mist, so it is hard to see each other one inch away.
The workload is not busy, but it is not possible to relax. When work becomes busy, especially under emergency conditions, [I need to] work intensely. If not, [I can be] more relaxed. [I come to]
Manchuria in such an intense period, no matter what, I work until today, and I live my days without worry and fear. I wake up at 5 am, usually read scripture five times, [drink] one cup of matcha [a
type of green tea], and after one cup of sencha [a type of green tea] I recite Avatamsaka Sutra for about 500 words. I eat breakfast at 8 am, start working at 9 am and am off at 5pm, take dinner at 6 pm,
shower at 8 pm and go to bed at 9 pm. This is my daily life. I live on the third floor in a single room. 12
Among these letters, as from the medical divisions of Unit 731, there is no mention of war or medical research.
Even though they were strictly monitored by the Unit, it would have been impossible not to mention the nature of their work. From our point of view,