The Unspeakable Things That Happened In Unit 731
Japan has a unique history. From the early 17th century until the mid-19th century, the island-nation was isolated from the world by order of the ruling Shoguns, the military-leaders who ruled in the name of the emperor. Foreigners were only allowed on one small island near Nagasaki, and no Japanese at all were allowed to leave - ever.
This all changed in 1853-54, when American naval officer Matthew C. Perry forcibly opened Japan to international trade. What the naval officers and Marines in Perry's fleet saw when they came ashore in Japan shocked them - Japan had been suspended in time since the early 1600s. Its buildings, clothing, and especially weapons, were 200 years behind America and the Western world.
At the same time, China was becoming almost a vassal state of European countries. Sections of the country were under virtual foreign rule, and the Chinese had been forced to sign a series of what historians call “The Unequal Treaties.” Foreigners enjoyed favorable trade conditions which allowed them to profit greatly while many Chinese suffered. Additionally, in those parts of China, known as “concessions”, under European control or influence, European citizens and soldiers, and later, Americans, were subject to their own law - not that of China. This included crimes committed against Chinese. For all of these reasons and more, the Japanese were determined not to let that happen to their own country.
Playing one nation against another and occasionally using the threat of violent uprisings against the Western Powers who came to trade in Japan, while at the same time understanding the limits of their own power and compromising with the West when necessary, the Japanese set themselves two main goals: to modernize their country as quickly as possible, and to prevent the Western countries from doing to Japan what they were doing in China.
The Japanese exploited the Chinese under their control economically. China also became one vast laboratory. Its people were subject to not only modern warfare, but were subjects for the Japanese military to learn about chemical and biological weapons. The war itself cost China millions of people, but in the military and among civilians. The estimates of Chinese losses from 1936-45 range from ten to twenty million people.
Doing his best to increase that total was a monster named Shiro Ishii. Ishii, like Mengele at Auschwitz, was a doctor. He was born in 1892 into an established middle-class family and became a doctor. In 1921, he joined the army as a surgeon. Ishii was fascinated by the process of infection, and after a trip to the battlefields of WWI Europe, became interested in the possibilities of chemical and biological weapons.
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Yet Japan even to this day fails to acknowledge these crimes.
Unlike Germany, Japan is exceptional at denying its own history.
What’s even scarier about Unit 731 is that we probably will never know the exact amount of victims that went in there, since so many of the records were expunged at the end of the war.
My granny was born in northern China in 1915 (she died several years ago). People of her generation hate the Japanese. The stories they told us, the bombings of rural villages, the mass murder of innocent civilians, the rape of young girls, pregnant women, women of all ages, and the forced rape between parent and child. Soldiers bayonet babies and beheaded people as sport. What's shocking is how much the Japanese soldiers enjoyed killing and torture against defenseless people. Not an ounce of compassion. My granny saw these things with her own eyes. I never doubted her, she had no reason to lie to me. Her generation is gone now, but I hope truth never dies. . Japan can NEVER run away from the truth.
I am a Japanese person and I NEVER KNEW THIS. I genuinely thank you for informing me of the unthinkably horrifying atrocities that Japan has committed. I am absolutely appalled by this and I sincerely apologise to anyone affected in behalf of my country. History must not repeat itself.
I’m a US citizen, born and raised. In my highschool, my history teacher wasn’t afraid to talk about Japan’s crimes during WWII outside of just pearl harbor. He talked about the atrocities they committed on other asian countries such as Korea, China, Filippines, and so many more. And how they haven’t apologized or even acknowledged that these tragedies happened and were caused by them. It disturbed me to no end. And to my shock, not many people in my country know of this as well. This should definitely be spoken about more, this kind of history needs to be known.
I am an immigrant from Nanking China to Canada, when I first came here at 14 it really shocked me that literally nobody knows the war crimes committed by Japan during WWII, and in history class the rape of Nanking is literally one single page in world history. Thank you for spreading awareness. Many nantionalistic and facistic ideology is on the rise once more in many countries, and people need to learn the history of what that leads to.
As a korean, my grandparents were effected by the Imperial Japanese military. Because of them, my grandma lost both of her parents, and because of them, my grandpas brother was killed and his mother was raped. Im a first gen Korean American, but this still effects my family. It wasnt just China, it was Korea, Filippines, and many more. And the fact that Japan never apologized with remorse and never acknowledged this happened angers me.
I’m a Japanese. Many Japanese people ignore it even today. The sentence of unit 731 removed from the history textbook. I hope that Japanese Government make an official apology and more people learn about this tragedy.
Those poor, poor victims. I can't imagine the pain and horror and helplessness they must've felt, only to be almost forgotten now. Thank you for making this video.
it chills me to the bone to know how people can be so unaffected by the pain of other. how a human being can have absolutely zero empathy,how cruel we can get. it's terryfing
I am Chinese. Since childhood, Chinese people have been well aware of the war crimes committed by Nazi Germany. However, perhaps people in Western countries are not very familiar with the atrocities committed by Japan against China during World War II. I am very grateful to you for allowing more non-English speaking countries to understand this history. All inhumane atrocities committed by humanity should be remembered. Thank you!
If any Japanese people see this, please know that this isn’t about attacking on good nation of Japan. It is about making sure this part of history doesn’t repeat. The only way to do it that is acknowledge it and keep it in the memory. Only then we, as humanity, won’t have to face this kind crimes against humanity.
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Unit 731 actually did countless sadistic experiments even the vilest fictional supervillain barely dreams of...and some people still try to downplay these atrocities. If this was the plot of a horror movie, it wouldn't be out of place. But because it touches on politics and the egos of powerful people, it remains a gaping wound instead of an actual compensation or even just an acknowledgement.
As a indian here japan did attack us , the imphal and kohima war, in the Northeast india, it was brutal, they even ate the indian soldiers, cannibalism was pretty common. I hope japan formally apologize to all countries for these brutal atrocities committed by them, my respect to china and korea 🌷and other fellow nations.
My father (a Japanese national) told me about Unit 731's atrocities and warcrimes. He said that the subject of WWII in general is still raw for many Japanese, but that still doesn't excuse their lack of referring to the treatment of occupied country's people (especially China, Korea, Malaysia and the Phillipines). The Japanese government is yet to properly confirm Unit 731's existence, let alone its role in WWII. There may perhaps be some influence from countries such as the US, which employed scientists from the unit after the end of the war. These scientists had "valuable" experience in fields such as bio-weapon creation and effects, thus the US deemed it necessary to give them a role in the coming arms-race with the USSR. No members of Unit 731 were convicted of war crimes, or in fact, legally accused of any.
As a Japanese person, I am shocked by this clip. I was taught in school that Japan was defending the whole East Asia countries, as a leader, from invasions of westerner thus we fought fearlessly in wwi. However, seems like the rest of the world doesn't buy this story. If Unit 731 is true, government should apologize instead of hiding from it. Nobody knows about it in Japan.
Both my chinese grandparents immensely hate Japanese because of the atrocities they did to the Chinese people.