Page 35 - Unit 731

bear responsibility to help the needy. In the grip of extreme militarism, these men abandoned their consciences and carried out human experimentation and
biological warfare. They chose to become war criminals and committed crimes without considering their role as doctors or their medical ethics. Their cases
reflect how Japanese citizens and society ignored international regulations and social order under the influence of extreme militarism.
After the Second World War, these medical doctors escaped the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials. They should have been imprisoned, but they rose to
socially prominent positions in Japanese Government and military departments. The leader of the Anthrax Division, Hajime Uemura (植村肇), became the
chief textbook investigator of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture; Minao Nagatomo (長友浪男) became the vice-governor of Hokkaido;
Junnichi Kaneko (金子順一) became the chief investigator of Ministry of Defense; Hideyoshi Nakakuro (中黑秀外之), the principal of Health School in
Ministry of Defence; and Miho Masuda (增田美保), professor in the National Defence Academy of Japan. Those who were in medical services, including
the head of Plant Research Division Yukimasa Yagisawa (八木澤行正) and the head of Dysentery Research Division Shinpei Ejima (江島真平), joined
staff at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. Shiro Kasahara (笠原四郎) from Virus Research Division was appointed as the vice-director of The
Kitasato Institution.
Some former members of Unit 731 started careers in academic institutions and universities. Hisato Yoshimura from the Frostbite Division was
appointed principal of Kyoto Imperial University, while the head of Pathology Division Tachiomaru Ishikawa became principal of Kanazawa University.
Kōzō Okamoto, the former member of Pathology Division, worked at Kyoto University as chairperson in the Department of Medicine. Head of
Entomology Hideo Tanaka worked at the Department of Medicine in Osaka City University. The head of Typhoid Fever Division Seiwa Tanabe and the
head of Cholera Division Masao Minato were appointed professors in Kyoto University. Tadashi Miyagawa (宮川正) from the X-ray Division became a
professor in Tokyo University. Several members of Unit 731, such as Toyokichi Eguchi (江口豐潔) from The Third Division, Tarō Sonoda (園田太郎) of
the Education Division, and Keiichi Noguchi of the Plague Division, established their own medical enterprises and private hospitals. They enjoyed lives of
wealth and security.
Those who escaped trial became key members in post-war Japan and sowed the seed of the resurrection of militarism. Indeed, the lack of proper
prosecution of war crimes has had serious effects on post-war Japanese society. Just as there was no proper trial for many war criminals such as members
of Unit 731, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito remained innocent of his responsibility in the aggressive war against China. All these unsolved issues paved the way
for the rise of the far right-wing in Japan, and the amendment of history textbooks resurrects Japanese militarism in modern Japanese society.