Page 62 - Unit 731

veterans who participated in massacres in China, and Chinese victims who suffered from the disaster. I could not ignore the emotional damage to my own
nation, and I started recording this history to share with people around me, as well as through the internet, in order to reveal this utterly unmitigated evil.
As for those who are still covering this up, those who publish falsified history textbooks, what do they think about the real history?
While I personally do not have a religion or believe in an afterlife, I do believe in and hope for justice. I feel the perpetrators—in this case, the Japanese
government, the military, and supporters—were unable to accept justifiable trial and punishment.
After wartime bloodshed, peace and world order are restored, but the cycle of war and peace will begin again. Must we suffer this endlessly?
As a student, I often contemplated the value of life, faith, and desire. As we learn more history of the Second World War and walk through these
historical sites, horrific scenes make us doubt the truth of our stated beliefs about the value of life. When I visited Germany for fieldwork on this book, I
saw high-tech development in industrial technology and sophisticated social management. These seem vastly distant from the war history of that country.
The world has bought us illusions in order to enable us to accept and live in the present. We try to forget war, death, lies, and conflict. When one tries to
trace the past, the facts discourage us from seeking the truth. I think of the destiny of human beings: were the Jews alive during the Second World War
born to face death and danger? From this point of view, I wonder what the Japanese Army surgeons felt when they took scalpels to the bodies of hopeless
Chinese, Russians, and Koreans on the operating table.
Is all this not worthy of serious investigation? Is nationality defining our destiny? The instigators of war steal land, utilise military power to occupy
weaker nations, kill the innocent, and shatter order. Today, similar situations take place throughout the world, there is little sign of true world peace. The
world is the same, as the Bible says: ‘The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no
new thing under the sun’. 2

Why Do We Record History?
I was once asked, ‘As a member of a younger generation who did not suffer from war and was born after the opening of China, why do you study Chinese
history, especially focusing on the most humiliating era?’ I told them my reasons.
Initially, I studied this specific aspect of Chinese history because of my job. As I learned through copious research, however, I uncovered cruelty
beyond human imagining. All these acts happened in the land we Chinese are living in, and unfortunately, there are far too many people in China and the
rest of the world who have not heard this history.
There is a Chinese saying: ‘When there are adequate stores, they will know decorum; when the people have enough of food and clothing, they will
know honour’. We are living in a materialistic world, but we forget to learn about our past, and there is an urgent need to reveal it to people, such as those
whose only aim is making a fortune.
I used to think the current world situation might be changed. India’s statesman Gandhi said, ‘You must be the change you want to see in the world,’ so I
started with myself, and I began to record this largely untold history. Every time I met with family members of the victims of Unit 731, I had a strong urge
to tell the world what happened in Unit 731. Through our conversations, I gathered better understanding of how history has treated these families and of
their pain. They became the driving force for me to carry on my investigation.
Is history important? I am asked why history matters, why historical research on Unit 731 is still essential. I replied, explained, and argued with those
who want to leave it in the past, those who said the surviving sites are sufficient.
One Japanese person I interviewed told me: ‘If you [the Chinese] all forget the history, how can you assume we [the Japanese] will remember?’ All
historical events, good and bad, are worth recording and are important to a country and to a nation state. These are all part of our collective experience. As
professional researchers, we have the responsibility to document history, reveal the truth to the public, and tell the world what exactly has taken place. Only
through recording history can we tell both Chinese and foreigners the causes for each event, and in preserving historical sites, we express their value. Being
objective and conducting reliable historical research are the key to the world’s respect.

Assessing Student Recognition of Unit 731 and Auschwitz
The Research Society for the Fifteen Years’ War and the Japanese Medical Science and Service collected data from surveys on 10 October 2010 to assess
recognition of Unit 731 and Auschwitz among Japanese undergraduate and graduate medical students. The survey found the following that 68 per cent of
students know about Auschwitz; 27 per cent of them have heard of it; 5 per cent of them did not know what Auschwitz is; 17 per cent knew about Unit
731; 21 per cent of them have heard the name; and 62 per cent knew nothing about Unit 731.
Regarding Unit 731, the survey posed the question: do you think the medical field should attest to their roles and apologise? The results show that 69
per cent of students thought the medical field should attest and apologise in public; 25 per cent were unsure if this is necessary; and 6 per cent of them
rejected the suggestion.
When asked if it affects current issues, 75 per cent of the students agreed, 6 per cent of them disagreed, while 19 per cent were unsure.
In general, recognition of the history of Unit 731 among medical students in Japan is low. The fact that 62 per cent of them have no knowledge of Unit
731 cannot compare with the high recognition of Auschwitz among European students. Since the surveys were conducted in Tokyo among presumably
well-educated subjects, recognition of Unit 731 might be even lower in other prefectures in Japan. As Unit 731 has seldom appears in Japanese history
textbooks, it may be forgotten as time goes by.
Fortunately, this survey revealed a positive result as well: more than half of those surveyed agreed that official attestations and apologies should be
made by the Japanese medical field, reflecting that the public now understands the relationship between war crimes and the responsibility of the medical
field, as well as the interrelated influence of international affairs.
Many Japanese scholars told me more than 99 per cent of Japanese have never heard of Unit 731. Despite this, Japanese author Seiichi Morimura’s
work Akuma no Housyoku (悪魔の飽食The Devil’s Gluttony) published in 1981 has been reprinted more than fifty times and sold over 3 million copies.
As of today, the population of Japan exceeds 126 million, meaning 2.3 per cent of the population have heard of Unit 731. Thus, Morimura made a great
contribution to improve low recognition of Unit 731 in Japan.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, the US cooperated with its ally Japan, which was nicknamed the ‘Aircraft carrier that never sinks’, to fight
Communism. Some of the dried plasma used in the war was supplied by the ‘Green Cross’, a pharmaceutical corporation established by Ryoichi Naitō of
the former Unit 731. Japan supplied materials to the Korean front without directly supplying manpower, making huge profits and enabling its economy to
recover at high speed. The development of Japan’s electrical, motor, and light industries were vigorous enough that Japan hosted its first Olympic Games
in 1964, just nineteen years after its surrender.
As Chinese, we are happy to witness our close neighbour’s economy, culture, society, and the well-being of its people thriving. Although Japan has
enjoyed phenomenal development to the degree its history in the Second World War and its invasion of China are deliberately forgotten by many of its
people, we must stay alert.
About thirty Japanese Prime Ministers have been in office since the end of the Second World War. Beginning with Yoshida Shigeru in 1951, many of
them have visited the Yasukuni Shrine. Prior to the 1970s, Prime Ministers visited in private and avoided 15 August (the date of Japan’s surrender). Miki
Takeo was the first to visit Yasukuni Shrine on that date and did so privately. In 1982, Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo visited it as the Chief Cabinet