Japanese War Crimes

by Li,Peter

• ISBN13: 9780765808905
• ISBN10: 0765808900
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781351511087
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The question of national responsibility for crimes against humanity became an urgent topic due to the charge of ethnic cleansing against the previous Yugoslav government. But that was not the first such urging of legal and moral responsibility for war crimes. While the Nazi German regime has been prototypical, the actions of the Japanese military regime have been receiving increasing prominence and attention. Indeed, Peter Li's volume examines the phenomenon of denial as well as the deeds of destruction.Certainly one of the most troublesome unresolved problems facing many Asian and Western countries after the Asia Pacific war (1931-1945) is the question of the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army throughout Asia and the Japanese government's repeated attempts to whitewash their wartime responsibilities. The psychological and physical wounds suffered by victims, their families, and relations remain unhealed after more than half a century, and the issue is now pressing. This collection undertakes the critical task of addressing some of the multifaceted and complex issues of Japanese war crimes and redress.This collection is divided into five themes. In "It's Never Too Late to Seek Justice, " the issues of reconciliation, accountability, and Emperor Hirohito's responsibility for war crimes are explored. "The American POW Experience Remembered" includes a moving account of the Bataan Death March by an American ex-soldier. "Psychological Responses" discusses the socio-psychological affects of the Nanjing Massacre and Japanese vivisection on Chinese subjects. The way in which Japanese war atrocities have been dealt with in the theater and cinema is the focus of "ArtisticResponses." And central to "History Must not Forget" are the questions of memory, trauma, biological warfare, and redress. Included in this volume are samples of the many presentations given at the International Citizens' For

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Peter Li
An Overview: Japan's War Responsibility and the Pan-Asian Movement for Redress and Compensation	1	(10)
Paul Schalow
I. It's Never Too Late to Seek Justice
Japan's War Crimes: Has Justice Been Served?	11	(8)
Michael M. Honda
Probing the Issues of Reconciliation More than Fifty Years after the Asia-Pacific War	19	(14)
Ivy Lee
Victor's Justice and Japan's Amnesia: The Tokyo War Crimes Trial Reconsidered	33	(26)
Maria Hsia Chang
Robert P. Barker
Hirohito's War Crimes Responsibility: The Unrepentant Emperor	59	(10)
Peter Li
Accountability, Justice, and the Importance of Memory in the ``Era of War''	69	(12)
Manuel Prutschi
Mark Weintraub
II. The American POW Experience Remembered
The Bataan Death March	81	(26)
Lester I. Tenney
Mitsui: ``We Will Send You To Omuta''	107	(12)
Linda Goetz Holmes
III. Psychological Responses
The Nanjing Massacre: The Socio-Psychological Effects	119	(12)
Zhang Lianhong
Peter Li
One Army Surgeon's Account of Vivisection on Human Subjects in China	131	(40)
Noda Masaaki
Paul Schalow
IV. Artistic Responses
Reunion: A Play in 2 Acts, 5 Scenes, and an Epilogue (Excerpts)	171	(32)
Yoshiji Watanabe
Cinematic Representations of the Rape of Nanking	203	(24)
Michael Berry
V. History Will Not Forget
The Nanking Holocaust: Memory, Trauma and Reconciliation	227	(16)
Peter Li
The Great Asian-Pacific Crescent of Pain: Japan's War from Manchuria to Hiroshima, 1931 to 1945	243	(16)
Werner Gruhl
Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery: Memory, Identity, and Society	259	(22)
Yayori Matsui
The Looting of Books in Nanjing	281	(8)
Zhao Jianmin
Peter Li
Japan's Biochemical Warfare and Experimentation in China	289	(12)
Peter Li
Japan's Historical Myopia	301	(14)
Daniel A. Metraux
War Crimes and Redress: A Canadian Jewish Perspective	315	(10)
Manuel Prutschi
Mark Weintraub
Appendix: The Tokyo Appeal	325	(4)
About the Contributors	329	(4)
Index	333