TOKYO, March 19 (Xinhua) — Seiya Matsuno has spent a few years finding out fashionable Japanese historical past and the darkest chapters inside it.
A researcher on the International Peace Research Institute of Meiji Gakuin University in Japan, Matsuno has lengthy targeted on Japan’s historical past of aggression in opposition to China.
In a current interview with Xinhua, he disclosed new particulars in regards to the Japanese military’s germ-warfare models in China. Stressing the significance of clarifying the reality of historical past, he mentioned it’s essential to “lay a solid foundation” to stop the “tragic history and war crimes” of Japanese militarist aggression in opposition to China from taking place once more.
In 2024, Matsuno found a roster on the National Archives of Japan containing data on technicians who served within the Japanese germ-warfare detachments throughout World War II.
He subsequently performed an in-depth evaluation of the fabric, and a paper based mostly on his findings was not too long ago revealed in Japan, shedding new gentle on the little-known operations of those infamous models.
Matsuno mentioned earlier analysis has established that technicians performed a significant function within the germ-warfare models. They had been the primary personnel liable for conducting human experimentation and creating organic weapons, and loved therapy equal to that of senior officers.
His new research revealed some stark findings. Based on data of awards, efficiency evaluations, and promotions within the roster, Matsuno discovered that some technicians from the notorious Unit 731 who dedicated atrocities throughout Japan’s invasion of China had been repeatedly rated “excellent” and given excessive evaluations.
Among them had been Ando Koji, head of Unit 731’s department in Dalian, northeast China, and Yoshimura Hisato who repeatedly subjected dwelling human beings to frostbite experiments, together with a number of others.
Matsuno mentioned the truth that these people acquired excessive evaluations throughout the navy lays naked the true nature of the bacteriological warfare models.
Deceptively dubbed the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army, Unit 731 was in actuality a top-secret organic and chemical warfare analysis base established by Japanese aggressors within the northeastern Chinese metropolis of Harbin throughout World War II.
Historical data present that not less than 3,000 individuals had been used for human experiments by Unit 731, and greater than 300,000 individuals in China had been killed by Japan’s organic weapons.
For Matsuno, the importance of his analysis extends past historical past.
“The war of aggression against China by the Japanese militarism is an extremely tragic chapter of history,” he mentioned. “Clarifying the truth of history is of vital importance. We must seriously examine why such brutal acts occurred, and the historical context that made them possible.”
Matsuno believes that such efforts are important to establishing a strong basis to stop the tragic historical past and struggle crimes from recurring, and to make sure that science and expertise are by no means once more misused for warfare.
“With this understanding in mind,” Matsuno informed Xinhua, “I will continue working to uncover and study new historical materials.”