Page 122 - Unit 731 Testimony

the only court examination of Unit 731 members, the Khabarovsk trials
[there were, in fact, trials in China, too], and in the second part of these
records was a lengthy record which was released in Japan in the early part

of 1950. There was doubt as to its authenticity, but careful corroboration
showed it to be true, and within the records it was reported that there was a
venereal disease research group within Unit 731. One Japanese writer,
Morimura Seiichi, the novelist who has gained a name as a researcher and
writer on Unit 731, wrote that venereal disease research was conducted by
the tuberculosis research group in Unit 731, under the group leader Futagi.
This was supported by the Khabarovsk court records. Morimura was

researching former unit members for his writings. He searched out Futagi in
Tokyo and found him still healthy, but unwilling to speak on his past work
with Unit 731. Futagi later died with his lips sealed.
With the team leader gone, the probe continued, looking for possible

survivors among other members of the same team. I searched municipal
records and located one man who was then in a hospital in Nagano
Prefecture. I traveled there and spoke with him at his bedside. I asked about
Unit 731 and he spoke freely about different aspects and activities. Then I
asked him about experiments on women. He attitude changed, his lips
closed tightly, and he refused to speak further.

I saw that he was fatigued, and since he was over eighty years old, I
didn't want to press him in his condition, so I left the hospital. But the
subject was on my mind. I decided to go back again the next day. I avoided
any mention of experiments on women, and we talked about his postwar

life. He told me of how he had come back to Japan, given up his intentions
of working as a doctor, and lived secluded in the country, subsisting on the
food he grew himself.
I heard his story, thanked him for spending time with me and started to
leave the room to return to Tokyo. Just as I reached the door he called to me

to wait.
"Last night I thought about our talk," he told me. "I had decided to take
this with me to hell, but I thought it over and now I want to leave it in this

world." Tears came to his eyes—like a waterfall. Until then he had shown
no emotion, but at that moment he changed, and told his story.
He had performed vivisections on six living women. The one
experience he did not want to speak of was that concerning a Chinese