War Crimes: Japan's Breach Of International Warfare Laws

During World War II, Japan committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity across various Asian-Pacific nations. These incidents have been referred to as the Asian Holocaust, Japan's Holocaust, and the Rape of Asia. The Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were responsible for a multitude of war crimes, including sexual slavery, massacres, human experimentation, torture, starvation, and forced labor. Japan's actions violated the Hague Conventions, which prohibit the use of poison or poisoned weapons in warfare. Japan also violated the 1930 Forced Labour Convention, the 1921 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children, and the Kellogg–Briand Pact, which outlaws war as an instrument for settling international disputes.

In the aftermath of World War II, the United States led the Allies in the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese state. The Allies punished Japan for its past militarism and expansion by convening war crimes trials in Tokyo. The Allies also dismantled the Japanese Army, banned former military officers from taking roles of political leadership in the new government, and introduced land reform to benefit tenant farmers and reduce the power of rich landowners.

In 1947, the Allies dictated a new constitution to Japan's leaders, which included a clause outlawing war as a means to settle international disputes. This clause, known as Article 9, states that the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. It also stipulates that Japan will not maintain land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential. Article 9 was imposed by the U.S. military occupation to prevent the rearmament of Japan in the post-World War II period.

Japan's use of chemical and biological weapons

During World War II, Japan committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of chemical and biological weapons. Japan's Imperial Army Air Service participated in chemical and biological attacks on civilians during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, violating international agreements that Japan had previously signed, including the Hague Conventions, which prohibited the use of "poison or poisoned weapons" in warfare.

Japan's biological warfare Unit 731, also known as the Kamo Detachment and the Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and World War II. The unit was established in 1936 and was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes committed by the Japanese armed forces.

Unit 731 was led by Lieutenant General Shirō Ishii and was based in the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (now Northeast China). The unit had active branch offices throughout China and Southeast Asia and received generous support from the Japanese government until the end of the war in 1945.

Unit 731 conducted experiments on people who were dehumanized and referred to as "logs". Victims were confined in facilities referred to as "log cabins" and experimented on through disease injections, controlled dehydration, biological weapons testing, hypobaric pressure chamber testing, vivisection, organ harvesting, amputation, and standard weapons testing. Victims included men, women (including pregnant women), and children, with the majority being Chinese and a significant minority being Russian.

In addition to human experimentation, Unit 731 produced biological weapons that were used in areas of China not occupied by Japanese forces, including Chinese cities and towns, water sources, and fields. The unit also developed a defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb, which were used to spread bubonic plague. Some of these bombs were designed with porcelain shells, an idea proposed by Ishii, to enable the safe descent of infected creatures to the ground.

During the war, Unit 731 grew rapidly, with a staff of about 1,000 military and civilian personnel when Ishii took command, expanding to some 3,000 scientists, technicians, and soldiers during the war. It was the world's first major biological warfare installation, with a self-sufficient complex that included research and medical facilities, production factories, animal kennels, power generators, a railroad siding, barracks, and dining halls.

In addition to Unit 731, Japan also had a significant chemical warfare effort. Japan's chemical weapons included poisonous and irritating gases, such as mustard gas, lewisite, cyanic acid gas, white phosphorus, adamsite, and phosgene gas. These weapons were deployed throughout the war with China from 1937 to 1945, with the Japanese military concluding that Chinese forces were unable to retaliate in kind.

The Rape of Nanjing

The Japanese Imperial Army committed numerous atrocities, including rape, torture, looting, and arson. The number of Chinese killed in the massacre has been the subject of much debate, with estimates ranging from 100,000 to over 300,000. The majority of scholars support the validity of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which estimated that at least 200,000 were killed.

The Nanjing Massacre was ordered by Matsui Iwane, commanding general of the Japanese Central China Front Army. The Japanese soldiers carried out Matsui's orders, perpetrating numerous mass executions and tens of thousands of rapes. The army looted and burned the surrounding towns and the city, destroying more than a third of the buildings.

The Nanjing Massacre remains a contentious topic in Sino-Japanese relations, with Japanese nationalists and historical revisionists, including top government officials, denying or minimising the massacre.

The use of human shields

During World War II, the Japanese military used civilians as human shields in the Battle of Manila in 1945. The Japanese defenders held thousands of Filipino men, women, and children hostage, using them as human shields. Many died in the bombardment and subsequent battles that followed as the walled city was cleared in bitter street-to-street fighting.

The Japanese also used civilians as human shields in Manila when they did not allow the presence of the civilian population to interfere with their operations. They actively used the population as both shields and targets. On one occasion, an American forward observer spotted Japanese troops moving supplies while holding Filipinos at gunpoint, including a Filipino girl tied naked to a tree, to avoid drawing American artillery fire.

An American WWII veteran who fought in the 1945 Battle of Manila stated:

> The Japanese would use Philippine civilians as human shields when they were trying to get away. The Japs would grab them and drag them in front of them. We couldn't shoot at the Japanese when they had the civilians in front of them.

When American forces reached Intramuros, they realized 4,000 Filipino civilians were held hostage within the wall, most of whom were rounded up by the Japanese and used as human shields. U.S. commanders demanded that the Japanese soldiers surrender or release the hostages but were met with silence. The use of human shields, along with the Manila massacre by the Japanese, resulted in the deaths of 100,000 civilians in the battle.

The prohibition of using enemy nationals as human shields is based on Article 23 under Section II of the 1907 Fourth Hague Convention, which states:

> A belligerent is [...] forbidden to compel the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country.

The application is limited to only enemy nationals and does not apply to the same persons exposed to dangers from aerial and naval attacks since the Fourth Hague Convention only governs land warfare. The 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits parties to the international conflict from using protected persons regardless of nationality as human shields against any type of enemy attacks, closing the gaps mentioned in the preceding sentence.

The use of comfort women

The use of "comfort women" was a euphemism for the sexual slavery of women in military brothels in occupied countries. The women, mostly from Korea, were either abducted and sent to "comfort stations" in Japan and Japanese-occupied areas, or lured by false promises of employment. The Japanese government operated this system of brothels from 1932 to 1945, with estimates of the number of women involved ranging up to 200,000.

Groups of these women and their family members have sued the Japanese government in a range of courts, including Japanese, American, and South Korean courts, alleging kidnapping, forced labor, rape, and other violations of international law. In November 2023, the High Court in Seoul, South Korea, held Japan liable for damages to a group of plaintiffs who had been used as "comfort women". The court rejected Japan's claim of state or sovereign immunity, holding that a state cannot have immunity for illegal acts committed against nationals of the forum state within the forum state's territory, outside of an armed conflict.

The issue of comfort women has been a major diplomatic issue in Japan-South Korea relations since the 1990s. In 1995, the Japanese government established the Asian Women's Fund to carry out medical and welfare projects and provide "atonement money" to former comfort women. Successive Japanese Prime Ministers have also sent letters expressing their "apology and remorse" to former comfort women. However, some have criticized these apologies as insincere, and many survivors have refused to accept the money provided by the Asian Women's Fund.

The mistreatment of prisoners of war

The Geneva Conventions of 1929 and 1949, as well as the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, outline the rights of prisoners of war and require that they be treated humanely. The Geneva Conventions specify that prisoners of war must be afforded certain protections, including the right to housing, food, hygiene, and medical care. They also prohibit acts of violence, intimidation, and insults against prisoners of war.

Despite these international agreements, the Japanese military committed numerous atrocities against prisoners of war during World War II. One common form of mistreatment was torture, which was often used to extract military intelligence from prisoners. This included methods such as "simulated drowning," where water was poured over a prisoner's head until they suffocated and lost consciousness. Another form of mistreatment was the execution of captured Allied airmen and seamen, which was done in accordance with official Japanese policy. In addition, the Japanese military frequently used prisoners of war as human shields, placing them in front of their positions to deter enemy attacks.

The widespread mistreatment of prisoners of war by the Japanese military during World War II was a clear violation of international law and resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners. These actions were condemned by the international community and led to the prosecution of Japanese war criminals in the Tokyo Trials and other courts around the world.

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