Just read this review, is it true that the Museum's main floor exhibits is authored by Japanese? What is the Official Japanese government view on these events?
Didn't know the Emperor was this close to war, I am so glad his grand children are this different.
Museum Review: Unit 731 Germ Warfare Site, Harbin, China
Nicole Freiner, Bryant University
Part of my summer 2011 was spent on a three-week field study in China as part of the East-West Center’s Asian Studies Development Program. Our trip focused on visiting the Northeast of China, a cultural transmission zone between China, Manchuria, Korea and Japan. One of our site visits was the Unit 7311 museum located near Harbin (Pingfan), China. When I found out that we would be visiting the Unit 731 Museum, I was apprehensive. As a long-time scholar of Japan, it is sometimes difficult for me to acknowledge and accept the evil perpetrated by members of a culture with which I closely identify. However, as a political scientist who teaches regularly on human rights, nationalism and the relationship between culture and state, visiting the museum was important. It is also a goal of mine to use tangible displays of culture and history in the classroom. I believe that museums, like texts, including film and other cultural vehicles, can convey powerful messages to students and the general public, so I went to the museum hoping to take away material which I could use in the classroom.
1. Its official name was the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army.
While most Japan specialists and those who are Japan-interested are aware of the Japanese atrocities committed during World War II, the Nanjing massacre has garnered the most academic and international attention, while in fact Japan’s wartime atrocities across Southeast Asia were extensive, including those committed in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Th e war crimes committed at Unit 731 were disguised as biological and chemical research, but with the de-classification of documents confiscated by the American military2 and the discovery of human skulls buried at a former medical facility in Tokyo,3 the true purpose of the facility was exposed.
At Unit 731, chemical, medical and biological experiments were carried out on Manchurian and Chinese civilians by imperial decree.4 These experiments included research on cholera, anthrax, smallpox, botulism, typhoid, and dysentery. Th e venereal diseases syphilis and gonorrhea were also studied. Prisoners were injected with the diseases in order to study its effects or were infected using fl eas, clothing and supplies. Medical experiments at Unit 731 included vivisection and amputation. Chemical weapons including grenades and bombs using chemical agents were also used on prisoners.
2. Three key documents of clinical observations were de-classified in 1960 :“Th e Report of A” (anthrax), “Th e Report of G” (glanders),and “Th e Report of Q” (bubonic plague) but were interspersed with other documents. Th e publication of a fi nding aid by Greg Bradsher (National Archives and Records Administration) in 2006 allows researchers to easily compile and locate documents on Japan’s war crimes including those related to Unit 731. See Japanese War Crimes
3. Aft er Unit 731 was vacated by the Japanese, evidence of the facility was burned and bodies of victims were shipped back to a medical facility in Tokyo. Ryall, Julian. “Human bones could reveal truth of Japan’s ‘Unit 731’ experiments” Th e Telegraph. February 15th, 2010.
4.Emperor Hirohito toured the facility.
(continue by clicking on the title link)
Didn't know the Emperor was this close to war, I am so glad his grand children are this different.
Museum Review: Unit 731 Germ Warfare Site, Harbin, China
Nicole Freiner, Bryant University
Part of my summer 2011 was spent on a three-week field study in China as part of the East-West Center’s Asian Studies Development Program. Our trip focused on visiting the Northeast of China, a cultural transmission zone between China, Manchuria, Korea and Japan. One of our site visits was the Unit 7311 museum located near Harbin (Pingfan), China. When I found out that we would be visiting the Unit 731 Museum, I was apprehensive. As a long-time scholar of Japan, it is sometimes difficult for me to acknowledge and accept the evil perpetrated by members of a culture with which I closely identify. However, as a political scientist who teaches regularly on human rights, nationalism and the relationship between culture and state, visiting the museum was important. It is also a goal of mine to use tangible displays of culture and history in the classroom. I believe that museums, like texts, including film and other cultural vehicles, can convey powerful messages to students and the general public, so I went to the museum hoping to take away material which I could use in the classroom.
1. Its official name was the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army.
While most Japan specialists and those who are Japan-interested are aware of the Japanese atrocities committed during World War II, the Nanjing massacre has garnered the most academic and international attention, while in fact Japan’s wartime atrocities across Southeast Asia were extensive, including those committed in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Th e war crimes committed at Unit 731 were disguised as biological and chemical research, but with the de-classification of documents confiscated by the American military2 and the discovery of human skulls buried at a former medical facility in Tokyo,3 the true purpose of the facility was exposed.
At Unit 731, chemical, medical and biological experiments were carried out on Manchurian and Chinese civilians by imperial decree.4 These experiments included research on cholera, anthrax, smallpox, botulism, typhoid, and dysentery. Th e venereal diseases syphilis and gonorrhea were also studied. Prisoners were injected with the diseases in order to study its effects or were infected using fl eas, clothing and supplies. Medical experiments at Unit 731 included vivisection and amputation. Chemical weapons including grenades and bombs using chemical agents were also used on prisoners.
2. Three key documents of clinical observations were de-classified in 1960 :“Th e Report of A” (anthrax), “Th e Report of G” (glanders),and “Th e Report of Q” (bubonic plague) but were interspersed with other documents. Th e publication of a fi nding aid by Greg Bradsher (National Archives and Records Administration) in 2006 allows researchers to easily compile and locate documents on Japan’s war crimes including those related to Unit 731. See Japanese War Crimes
3. Aft er Unit 731 was vacated by the Japanese, evidence of the facility was burned and bodies of victims were shipped back to a medical facility in Tokyo. Ryall, Julian. “Human bones could reveal truth of Japan’s ‘Unit 731’ experiments” Th e Telegraph. February 15th, 2010.
4.Emperor Hirohito toured the facility.
(continue by clicking on the title link)
.
