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Japan Times
6 days ago
- Health
- Japan Times
The indelible memory of being a part of Unit 731
Despite being 95 years old, Hideo Shimizu still remembers the 4½ months he spent as a teenager with Unit 731, a biological and chemical warfare unit of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, as if they were just yesterday. It was only three days after Shimizu had graduated from grade school in March 1945 that he was recruited into the military at the age of 14 as a 'technical trainee' and sent to the unit's headquarters in the Pingfang district of Harbin, a key city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in present-day northeastern China. He had no idea what was in store for him at the unit when he was assigned to the 'education department' at its headquarters, a three-story modern building equipped with labs and prisons. 'I thought I would be involved in some machine-making,' Shimizu recalled recently at his home in the idyllic, farming village of Miyada in Nagano Prefecture. 'So I was shocked when I entered the room and saw my seniors all dressed in white coats and caps, just like in hospital operating rooms.' Shimizu, a man of short stature with a good posture and lucid mind, is among the few surviving members of Unit 731, whose operations are one of the thorniest of issues for Japan in its involvement in World War II. Declassified U.S. military reports, other historical documents overseas and witness testimonies have established that Unit 731 researched and produced a wide variety of pathogens, including bacteria responsible for the plague, cholera, tetanus and anthrax. Its members are believed to have deliberately infected some 3,000 prisoners — whom the unit referred to as maruta (logs) — with pathogens to test their resistance. If the prisoners recovered, the doses were increased until they died. Unit 731 also conducted experiments involving mustard gas — a chemical warfare agent — and human vivisections on hundreds of prisoners. The victims were mostly Chinese, but some were Russians, Koreans and Mongolians. Last year, under top-level security and surrounded by throngs of reporters, Shimizu returned to China for the first time since the war to offer an apology and a prayer for peace. The Japanese government has acknowledged the existence of Unit 731 but not its experiments on living human beings. In March, during a budget committee session of the Upper House, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani responded to a question by Japanese Communist Party member Taku Yamazoe by saying 'it is difficult for the government to objectively judge' whether such acts took place, and that 'there are no materials inside the government that show details of Unit 731's activities.' Shimizu at his home in Miyada, Nagano Prefecture | JOHAN BROOKS A roster of Unit 731 discovered in 2018 by a group of researchers lists Hideo Shimizu, proving his time in the unit. This helped counter a storm of attacks against Shimizu by online users who said he was making up stories about his past. | JOHAN BROOKS Given his young age at the time, Shimizu's involvement was limited. He said he assisted lab work by observing dead bacteria under the microscope, checking water samples collected from a local river and dissecting rats. Gradually, however, the nature of the unit became clearer to him, he recalled. He was told not to talk about his daily activities with anybody, even with fellow youth soldiers. After the day's work, the young members returned to their dorms and chatted, but only about their hometowns. They often wept out of homesickness, he said. Shimizu said he never participated in or witnessed the vivisections that took place at Unit 731's premises. But one day, his supervisor took him alone on a tour of the unit's specimen room on the second floor of the main building. There, he saw rows of dead prisoners in jars filled with formaldehyde, including that of a woman whose belly was cut open, exposing a fetus inside. Some jars contained only parts of bodies, such as organs; others contained entire bodies, he said. 'I walked through the room crying, as the sting and smell of the formaldehyde hurt my eyes,' he said. 'It was horrendous... I saw the specimen of a baby, too. The supervisor wouldn't say anything. His stance was to show them and make us think what they are for ourselves.' Shimizu also recalled that, at one point, he might have become a test subject, himself. A supervisor brought steamed buns on a tray for him and two other young members to eat. After doing so, Shimizu ran a high fever the next day and was prescribed medicine, but his fever persisted. A nurse soldier who checked in on him every day saw that he was suffering and gave him a shot. He happened to have the same surname as Shimizu, so he probably sympathized with him, he thought. 'He told me never to tell anybody that I got the shot,' he said. After the war, he heard stories of other boy soldiers who had died while at Unit 731 who were said to have been dissected while they were alive. 'Researchers can get far better data if the subjects are dissected alive... I feel that we boy soldiers were seen as test materials, too.' Then on Aug. 9, 1945, as soon as the Soviet Union invaded the region of Manchuria controlled by Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army ordered the swift destruction of evidence and repatriation of unit members and their families. Within days, the remaining prisoners were killed, the documents, germs and equipment were incinerated, and the facilities were blown up. By Aug. 14, the entire Japanese community of 1,700 people comprising unit members and their families had left Pingfang. The ruins of the power supply squad building of the Unit 731 germ warfare unit located in Harbin in northeast China, photographed in 2005 | REUTERS Shimizu remembers seeing smoke rising from an incinerator in the Unit 731 building on Aug. 11 and thinking that "the maruta" were being cremated. On the morning of Aug. 12, he was ordered to collect the bones of the prisoners and put them into bags. He remembers counting about 30 bodies himself, though other accounts say the unit killed more than 400 remaining prisoners at this stage. The Imperial Japanese Army imposed a strict secrecy oath on members of Unit 731 and banned them from contacting one another after leaving. They were all handed cyanide to take if they were captured by enemy forces. Shimizu said he dumped the cyanide given to him into the ocean when he took a ship back from Busan to the city of Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Upon his return to his Nagano village, Shimizu rebuilt his life and went on to run a construction company and marry a local woman. He kept his past in Unit 731 a secret — even from his wife — until 2015, when he visited a peace museum in the city of Iida and saw a picture of the unit's headquarters. A group of peace educators overheard him speak about the building's details and encouraged him to speak up about his past. Breaking seven decades of silence, he started talking publicly about his experiences. He still has nightmares about his past and recalls in vivid detail how prisoners facing impending doom wrote their wills on the walls of prison cells using their own blood. 'I imagine how they must have felt, living in constant fear of being killed, wondering if it would be today or tomorrow.' Work to uncover sister units continues 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. Katsutoshi Takegami, 77, in his storehouse attic where he discovered his father's Unit 1644 documents | JOHAN BROOKS 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. | JOHAN BROOKS 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. A photo book Katsutoshi Takegami discovered in his storehouse shows a portrait of his father Toshiichi Miyashita. | JOHAN BROOKS 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. 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. Katsutoshi Takegami, 77, shows one of many photos left by his father at his home in Komagane, Nagano Prefecture, on Aug. 6. | JOHAN BROOKS A photo book found in the home of Katsutoshi Takegami bears a stamp that says "Memories of the Holy War." | JOHAN BROOKS '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).'
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NATO fund backs biotech startup in push to counter biological threats
By Supantha Mukherjee STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -The NATO Innovation Fund has made its first investment in a biotechnology company, it said on Monday, seeking to enhance defences against biological threats The fund is co-leading a $35 million fundraising round for Portal Biotech, which uses protein sequencing to detect engineered threats and defend against biological warfare. UK-based Portal Biotech's capability is essential for biosecurity defence and security, said Ana Bernardo-Gancedo, senior associate at NATO Innovation Fund. "We believe that it is absolutely imperative that we are able to detect, monitor and create countermeasures," she said. The fund, created in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, plans to invest more than $1 billion in technologies that would enhance NATO's defences. Portal Biotech uses an AI-backed technology with biological sensors that can work at the single molecule level on-site, giving results within hours. "It's for everything from measuring diseases to better pandemic prevention ... you can take this out of large labs with long turnaround times and into the field," CEO Andy Heron told Reuters. Heron said the company's instruments can detect any pathogen and can be used for continuous monitoring of anything from a field to water supply. "It allows you not just to detect what you did know was out there, but it allows you to detect what you didn't know," he said. Beyond biosecurity, Portal Biotech expects its portable equipment to aid in drug discovery and precision medicine. The company's investors include Earlybird Venture Capital, Science Creates VC, Pillar VC, 8VC, We VC and British Business Bank. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Globe and Mail
16-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Biodefense Market worth $1.81 Billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 15.1%
"Biodefense Market" The Biodefense Market is projected to grow from USD 0.89 billion in 2025 to USD 1.81 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 15.1% during the forecast period. The report " Biodefense Market by Technology (GHz-band Wave, Microwave Heating, RF-EMR, Cold Plasma, Gamma, UV), Product (Decontamination (Sterilization Devices, Disinfection Units), Biosensors, AI Surveillance), Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2030" The biodefense market is projected to grow from USD 0.89 billion in 2025 to USD 1.81 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 15.1% during the forecast period. The biodefense market is driven by increasing bioterrorism, growing geopolitical tensions, biological warfare risks, and advancements in technology. Biodefense encompasses a range of tools and systems designed to detect, prevent, and respond to biological threats, including infectious diseases, bioterrorism, and accidental pathogen releases. These include biosensors, rapid detection platforms, decontamination systems, mobile containment units, and AI-driven surveillance tools. The market for biodefense technology is experiencing strong growth due to increasing global concerns over pandemics, biological warfare, and emerging infectious diseases. Download PDF Brochure @ Browse 196 market data Tables and 56 Figures spread through 217 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Biodefense Market" Based on application, the hospitals & medical institutes segment is expected to account for the largest share of the biodefense market during the forecast period. Based on application, the hospitals & medical institutes segment is expected to account for the largest share of the Biodefense Industry during the forecast period. Hospitals are the initial point of contact for the identification of unusual infections or exposure to biological agents, and hence, they must have sophisticated containment systems, sterilization apparatus, and pathogen detection instruments in real time. With increasing bioterrorism, governments and health agencies are investing heavily in the upgrade of hospital biosafety facilities, such as Class III biological safety cabinets, mobile isolation units, and UV sterilization technology, all of which are becoming essential for modern biodefense infrastructure. These facilities need safe conditions to work with high-risk pathogens, which fuels the demand for low-temperature sterilizers, decontamination chambers, and air purification. The growing incorporation of digital surveillance platforms and smart biodefense technologies in healthcare facilities further solidifies their role in early detection and quick response, making hospitals & medical institutes the largest application segment of the biodefense market. Based on technology, the AI technologies segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Based on technology, the AI technologies segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to its significant contributions toward monitoring real-time pathogens, forecasting, and fast decision-making. AI facilitates the convergence and synthesis of large-scale environmental data and enables early threat detection and quick response coordination. Governments and health organizations globally are increasingly using AI platforms to track bio-threats across borders and to automatically report disease transmission for strategic purposes. Additionally, AI technologies are being integrated into biosensor networks, autonomous disinfecting robots, and predictive modeling applications utilized in hospitals, airports, and military bases. The increasing focus on digitally empowered biodefense infrastructure, coupled with significant investments by public and private sectors, is expected to fuel the growth of the AI segment in the global market. Asia Pacific is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is projected to register the highest CAGR in the biodefense market through the forecast period due to increasing investments in public health infrastructure, infectious disease surveillance, and military biosafety capacities. China, India, Japan, and Australia are comprehensively developing their biodefense capabilities. These countries are investing in mobile biosafety laboratories, near-real-time pathogen detection systems, and next-generation decontamination technologies to anticipate future biological threats. Also, the region is experiencing growth in biotechnology R&D, cross-border health security efforts, and government-backed biodefense programs. The growth of local biotech and med-tech firms is also propelling innovation in AI-powered disease monitoring, biosensors, and portable sterilizers for civilian and military applications. The growing population, susceptibility to zoonotic disease, and proactive policy changes are driving significant growth in the regional biodefense market. STERIS (US), ASP International GmbH (a subsidiary of Fortive) (US), Ushio Inc. (Japan), Sotera Health Company (US), and Bioquell, An Ecolab Solution (UK) are the major key players in the Biodefense Companies. These companies have strong distribution networks across regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. About MarketsandMarkets™ MarketsandMarkets™ has been recognized as one of America's Best Management Consulting Firms by Forbes, as per their recent report. MarketsandMarkets™ is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. With the widest lens on emerging technologies, we are proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients across the globe. Today, 80% of Fortune 2000 companies rely on MarketsandMarkets, and 90 of the top 100 companies in each sector trust us to accelerate their revenue growth. With a global clientele of over 13,000 organizations, we help businesses thrive in a disruptive ecosystem. 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Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
JFK Files: From Ticks To Tricks, How The U.S. Planned To Sabotage Cuba
Join experts Dennis McCuistion and Dory Wiley for an explosive panel discussion at The Dallas Express' 'Who Killed JFK?' event on June 9, 2025. , , or today! A newly declassified document shows U.S. officials contemplated disguising biological warfare against Cuba as a natural disaster in 1962. The file, titled MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE SPECIAL GROUP ON MONGOOSE 6 SEP 62, suggests top U.S. intelligence and defense officials, including the CIA, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the State Department, discussed the possibility of using covert biological agents to induce crop failure in Cuba during the Cold War. In a section of the document, General Marshall Carter of the Army discussed the 'extreme sensitivity' of such operations but proposed methods to make crop failures 'appear (to be) of natural origin.' McGeorge Bundy, then President John F Kennedy's National Security Advisor, reportedly said such sabotage would be acceptable if it could be plausibly denied and blamed on local disaffection or natural causes—urging caution against 'external activities such as release of chemicals… unless they could be completely covered up.' The document is heavily redacted and appears incomplete, cutting off mid-sentence. Two overlapping versions of the minutes appear in the file, one containing handwritten notes and markings and another including stamps indicating that the CIA objected to its release as recently as 2016. Despite no objection from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA marked the document 'Top Secret,' not releasing it until this year. Also included in the file is a note that 'the Attorney General and Mr. Bundy said that no reprisals against exiles who undertake active operations on their own are contemplated.' The Attorney General at the time was Robert F. Kennedy, President Kennedy's brother, indicating he was directly involved in deliberations over sabotage operations against Cuba, although his views were not recorded on the biological warfare element. Though the list of 'contemplated actions' referenced in the meeting is not included in this batch of released materials, the document indicates that the group spent significant time considering biological sabotage. Throughout the conversation, the assumption is that the United States not only had the capability to develop such agents but also the logistical means to deploy them covertly in a hostile nation. These revelations deepen the historical record of Operation Mongoose, a covert anti-Castro campaign launched in 1961 following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. As noted by the State Department's Office of the Historian, Operation Mongoose was designed 'to remove the Communist Castro regime from power in Cuba.' Directed by Air Force General Edward Lansdale, the program involved coordinated psychological, political, military, and intelligence efforts, including propaganda dissemination, sabotage missions, and assassination attempts. The State Department Historian notes that Lansdale's plan laid out a six-phase strategy presented to Robert Kennedy in February 1962 and to President Kennedy in March. Monthly initiatives were set in motion to destabilize the Cuban government, culminating in preparations for a potential military intervention in October 1962. Though many of these operations were deployed, the military intervention never occurred. The newly revealed document echoes earlier reporting from The Dallas Express, which uncovered evidence of biological tactics being used to manipulate international opinion. That report, titled JFK Files: From Hoof to Hoax, Revealing the Army's Epidemic PR Stunt, cited an Army intelligence memorandum describing how U.S. operatives influenced Mexican media to report outbreaks of hoof-and-mouth and smallpox in Cuba. The effort apparently discouraged Mexican professionals from attending an architecture conference in Havana under the guise of a public health scare. It remains unclear whether the reported epidemic ever existed—or whether it was planted as part of a psychological operation. These disclosures align with firsthand accounts like that of Kris Newby, author and science journalist, who told Corporate Crime Reporter in 2024 about a conversation with a former CIA operative who claimed he had 'dropped infected ticks on Cuban sugar cane workers in 1962.' Newby, who has extensively researched the origins of Lyme disease, said the man admitted the goal was to cripple Cuba's economy by targeting its most lucrative crop—sugar. Newby said she later verified aspects of the man's story, tracing it back to Operation Mongoose. The tactic, she explained, aimed to weaken the Cuban labor force and induce economic collapse, consistent with broader U.S. objectives in the region. Newby wrote the 2020 non-fiction Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons. These new documents and testimonies suggest that U.S. intelligence agencies had the means to execute a biological attack, as well as to control the media coverage around it. As DX reported, the Army previously used fabricated or exaggerated outbreaks to shape international perception and discourage engagement with Cuba. The covert planting of diseases—or even rumors of diseases—was part of a larger strategy of media manipulation and subversion. Such operations were conducted in a geopolitical context marked by Cold War paranoia, heightened by the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Fidel Castro's growing ties with the Soviet Union led U.S. intelligence officials to view Cuba not just as a local threat but as a potential launching point for communist influence throughout Latin America, DX reported. A 2017 CBS report on a prior batch of JFK files revealed that the CIA had even considered staging bombings in Miami to justify retaliation against Cuba. The declassified materials documented deliberations over creating a wave of staged terrorist attacks to justify military action. In the years since these operations were conceived, U.S. policy ostensibly moved away from biological weapons. On November 25, 1969, President Richard Nixon formally renounced the use of biological warfare, ordering the end of all offensive biological research. Fort Detrick, once an apparent nerve center of such experimentation, allegedly shifted to focus solely on defensive research and diagnostics. The Mongoose meeting minutes were obtained by The Dallas Express in the outlet's ongoing processing of the approximately 80,000 files related to the assassination of President John F Kennedy that were declassified by the Trump administration earlier this spring.
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.
