6 days ago
Hidden rosters and the legacy of Japan's germ warfare
Katsutoshi Takegami, a retired cafe owner in the city of Komagane, Nagano Prefecture, was cleaning the storehouse of his home seven years ago when he stumbled across a big wooden box.
When he opened it, he found a trove of documents, diaries and photo albums kept by his late father, Toshiichi Miyashita, who spent nearly 15 years as a nurse soldier for the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.
'My father didn't look like someone who had spent a long time in the military,' Takegami, 77, recalled. 'I was never slapped or beaten, and he remained calm even when he had drinks. He never once raised his voice.'
Intrigued, Takegami obtained Miyashita's military records from the local municipal government. The information he got was astounding: the father had belonged to Unit 1644 in the city of Nanjing in eastern China. Its official responsibility was epidemic control and water purification, but it is believed to have conducted biological weapons research and development in tandem with the infamous Unit 731.
A photo album Takegami discovered in his storehouse shows a portrait of his father, Toshiichi Miyashita. |
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Together with Katsuo Nishiyama, professor emeritus at Shiga University of Medical Science, Takegami has been investigating the details of these lesser-known sister units to gain a fuller understanding of the Imperial Japanese Army's biological warfare network.
In May, the National Archives of Japan disclosed to them rosters containing the names of all personnel who belonged to Unit 1644 , which was based in Nanjing, and Unit 8604, which was based in Guangzhou in southern China.
Compiled in 1945, the lists contain information such as the names of every soldier and military civilian in the units, the dates of their assignments and transfers, their addresses, the names of relatives designated as contact persons, the years of their conscription and their dates of birth. Called rusu meibo, the rosters were created by the Imperial Japanese Army to manage records for units stationed abroad and to facilitate communication between those units and the soldiers' families at home.
The lists show that some 2,500 people belonged to Unit 1644, quite a large operation comparable to Unit 731's 3,700 members, while Unit 8604 had about 1,000 members. The Imperial Japanese Army had two more similar units — Unit 1855 in Beijing and Unit 9420 in Singapore.
A photo album found in the home of Takegami bears a stamp that says "Memories of the Holy War." |
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On Aug. 6, Katsutoshi Takegami shows one of many photos left by his father at his home in Komagane, Nagano Prefecture. |
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Military records of Toshiichi Miyashita describe detailed activities of his stint in the Imperial Japanese Army, including in the biological warfare unit of Unit 1644. |
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After the war, doctors and medical researchers who engaged in human experiments under these units settled into prominent positions in academia and industry. Some are suspected of having obtained advanced medical degrees from top universities using data from the wartime human experiments.
Shiro Ishii, leader of Unit 731, was purged from public service by the Allied Occupation and kept a low profile.
Ryoichi Naito , a physician who worked under Ishii, went on to establish the Japan Blood Bank, the predecessor of Osaka-based pharmaceutical firm Green Cross Corp. The firm was implicated in a HIV-tainted blood scandal in the 1980s.
Tachio Ishikawa, another member who brought back 8,000 slides of pathological samples from Pingfang, became a professor at Kanazawa University.
None of them were tried for war crimes, thanks to immunity granted by the United States in exchange for their research data.
The disclosure of rosters symbolizes how Japan has lagged behind in its efforts to confront the medical community's war responsibility, which has long remained a taboo, Nishiyama said.
Takegami gazes out a glass door at his home in Nagano Prefecture. |
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'Medical education in this country has barely addressed Unit 731,' he said. 'Today, the overwhelming majority of medical students know nothing about it. Without that knowledge, future doctors could end up committing similar acts, or feel they have no choice but to go along. No one in medicine should ever think that way.'
Takegami, for his part, is driven more by his interest in his father's life story. The father had no medical background when he joined the military, but he went on to lead a 20- or 30-member team.
How Miyashita managed to climb the ranks during the war remains unknown. None of the historical materials Takegami has unearthed and the contacts he has tracked down have uncovered any direct involvement by his father in germ warfare. Not yet at least.
'There's a chance he may have been involved,' he said. 'If he had been, it would prove that, in war, anybody can be forced into committing such acts (of brutality).'
