Page 4 - Unit 731

Acknowledgements

The early parts of this book were initiated by Yan-jun Yang, professor in the Harbin Academy of Social Sciences and deputy curator of the Museum of the
War Crimes by the Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731.
Yang, a specialist in details of the compound left by Unit 731, had studied the victimisation of live humans by Japanese scientists of the unit. He had
been eager to put his research into proper historical context and to introduce his findings to the Western world for some time with little result.
In the summer of 2013, at the suggestion of Dr Don Tow, President of the New Jersey Alliance for Learning and Preserving the History of World War
II in Asia, Yang invited Dr Yue-him Tam, Professor of History at Macalester College, St Paul, Minnesota, USA, to co-author a book. A specialist in
Japanese Studies, Dr Tam is one of the very few scholars in the West to study and teach the history of Imperial Japan’s war crimes in Asia during the
Second World War and the memory issues in the post-war decades. Coincidentally, Dr Tam is Yang’s long-time friend and mentor in the study of Sino-
Japanese relations with special references to war crimes by Imperial Japan and issues of post-war remembrance.
Working closely together, Yang and Tam have expanded the historical perspectives of the book. As Dr Tam was responsible for rendering the text into
English, he has sought editorial assistance from special readers: Mr Wilson Lee and Miss Yilin Wong, then PhD students in Japanese Studies at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong, helped render technical Japanese terms into readable English, while breathing fresh air into the text from vantage points
of the younger generation. The authors are also grateful to Ms Karin Winegar, a veteran freelance journalist and independent author based in St Paul,
Minnesota, who helped make unprecedented gruesome issues of biochemical warfare easily understandable to Western readers. Ms Winegar also
streamlined the narrative in English by clarifying technical and academic jargon.
The co-authors extend their special gratitude to the editors at Fonthill Media for their patience and understanding of our delay in submitting our
manuscripts. We also take responsibility for any factual errors in the book. We are particularly moved by their endorsement of our belief that worldwide
peace, justice, and prosperity will prevail and endure so long as nations shall do unto others as they would have others do unto them.