Latest news with #KatsuoNishiyama
LeMonde
29-05-2025
- Health
- LeMonde
In Japan, newly released archives reveal the scale of human experimentation between 1938 and 1945
Service records of officers and soldiers before Japan's defeat in 1945, made public on May 15 by the country's National Archives, revealed that some were assigned to secret units in China: one in Nanjing, identified as Unit 1,644, and another in Guangzhou, numbered 8,604. The military personnel in these units reportedly conducted bacteriological experiments on human subjects. Until now only Unit 731, located near Harbin – now in China's Heilongjiang province and then the capital of Manchukuo, a puppet state controlled by Tokyo – was known for carrying out such activities from 1938 until the end of World War II. "The service records confirm the existence in China of a network of units conducting these experiments and coordinating their activities," explained Katsuo Nishiyama, emeritus professor at Shiga University of Medical Science and a specialist in Japan's imperial-era biological weapons programs. Units 1,644 and 8,604 − with the one in Nanjing being the largest − were overseen, like Unit 731, by the Tokyo-based Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department. Their primary activity reportedly involved experimenting on humans to enable Japan to develop biological weapons, in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting chemical and biological weapons.
Japan Times
21-05-2025
- Health
- Japan Times
Name lists of former Imperial Japanese Army biowarfare units released
The National Archives of Japan has disclosed to researchers the names of members of biological warfare units that the former Imperial Japanese Army had stationed in China. Researchers hope the disclosure of the name lists will uncover many mysteries surrounding such units, of which only Unit 731, which was involved in the development of biological weapons and human experimentation in China, is widely known. The lists contain the names of members of Unit 1644, which was based in Nanjing, eastern China, and Unit 8604, which was based in Guangzhou, southern China. According to the National Archives, the lists for the two units were transferred to it from the health ministry in fiscal 2024, which ended in March. Katsuo Nishiyama, professor emeritus at Shiga University of Medical Science, applied for access to the lists this spring. Compiled in 1945, the lists contain unit members' names, registered domiciles, military ranks and information on their homes. Some 2,000 people are on the list for Unit 1644, while about 850 names are on that for Unit 8604. Both lists are believed to contain the names of all members of the two units. Unit 731 was based in the outskirts of Harbin in what was then Manchuria, now northeastern China, where Japan had a puppet state. It is said to have conducted studies on biological weapons using plague bacterium. The list for Unit 1644 has been found to include the names of members transferred from Unit 731. "This may be a new step toward a full understanding of the actual situation," Nishiyama, 83, said of the disclosure.
Asahi Shimbun
15-05-2025
- Health
- Asahi Shimbun
New documents shed light on secret wartime germ units
One of the declassified rosters of the wartime Unit 1644 of the Imperial Japanese Army (Ryota Goto) Previously classified personnel rosters of lesser-known wartime bacteriological units deployed in China, hidden since the end of World War II, have been released, which will help researchers better understand the nation's germ warfare effort. The National Archives of Japan made public the rosters from 1945, which detail the names, addresses and prior affiliations of members of Unit 1644, based in Nanjing, and Unit 8604, based in Guangzhou. These units are believed to have conducted human experimentation similar to the infamous Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army during the war. The newly released lists of Unit 1644 include names that also appear in Unit 731 records, according to Katsuo Nishiyama, a professor emeritus at Shiga University of Medical Science, who has studied Japan's wartime medical and biological programs. 'This confirms cooperation between these units,' Nishiyama said. 'It's a crucial piece of evidence that could shed light on a coordinated network of germ warfare divisions within the Japanese military.' He hopes additional testimonies and documents will surface in the wake of this disclosure. Both Unit 1644 and Unit 8604 were part of the Imperial Japanese Army's epidemic prevention and water purification departments and are also believed to have been involved in the development of biological weapons. They likely operated under similar mandates to Unit 731, which was stationed in northeast China and is widely known for its brutal biological warfare experiments on Chinese prisoners of war and other victims. The lack of surviving witnesses and documentation has made studying the activities and research of Unit 1644 particularly difficult. One of the few references to the unit came from the late Shigeo Ban, a former member of the top-secret Noborito Laboratory, which conducted research on secret weapons and intelligence operations for the military. In his memoir, Ban recalled a 1941 trip to Nanjing during which he witnessed a military doctor from Unit 1644 conducting live human experiments on Chinese prisoners of war.
