Unit 731: Testimony by Hal Gold see more by Hal Gold Studio Tuttle PublishingLabel Tuttle Publishing

Closer Look List Price: £12.50 From: Tuttle Publishing From: Tuttle Publishing Salesrank: 260990 Released: 2004-05-04 Our Price: £6.94 You Save: £ 5.56 (44%)! Offers New & Used Starting from £4.18  Pages: 256 Format: Paperback Amazon Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Customer Rating: Also Shop International: (Not all items available internationally)          Customer Reviews: A big disappointment As someone who loves learning history and particularly military history I was happy when I found this book. I have read much WW2 history and have come upon references to Unit 731, and was intrigued and wanted to find out more. I was aware of the medical experiments carried out by the Nazis, but so very little is written about the Japanese. Unfortunately when I started to read I was disappointed almost from the start. There was no background into why the project started, who were the key players and why these crimes were never raised at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East trials at the end of the war. The narrative was sloppy and disjointed. I was appreciative of the fact that, unlike the Nazis, the Japanese did not leave any survivors and that nearly all the records and buildings used by the medical fraternity were destroyed. All in all I found this book disappointing and unfulfilling and knew no more than I did before I started reading this work. If you want to read a better account of the medical experimentation of the Japanese Imperial Army I would recommend Sheldon H Harries "Factories of Death". SETSEUN IS AN IDIOT yes setseun, it is all made up against such a "grate" people, if you dont mind me quoting you. The documents, the eye witness accounts, even the mass graves of the innocent people murdered, its all just made up. the chinese put FAKE corpses there, thats right! moron. if you're country really WAS a 'great' country you would have the 'honour' that you talk about all the time, to admit it like a MAN. you coward. Testimonies of the Brainwashed? It is true that while the "Nanking Massacre/Rape of Nanking" has loads of "eyewitness" documents of "objective" foreigners (that actually validate the so-called "massacre" never happened, by the way,) this infamous biological warfare of Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army has very few and unreliable sources. And it is also true that the U.S. government used the information of Japanese BW to their advantage after the war ended and the Japanese men who involved themselves in the unit's activity, including the leader of the unit Ishii Shiro himeself, escaped from the indictments of the Tokyo Trial. However, those facts substantiate nothing but only produce more speculations. In fact, according to the U.S. Army Intelligence reports in which some American scientists interviewed Ishii on several occasions just after the war, only two subjects (anthrax and the black plague) were recognised of the validity amongst other researches of the unit and they were perfectly preventable. In other words, it may have not been worth protecting the scientists of the unit from the trial, after all. Anyway, main point of the accusers of the atrocities of the unit 731 lies on the barbaric acts of experiments on living human beings. Reliability of those testimonies of both sides of the crime is, then, crucial. Those testimonies are mainly taken from the accounts in trials in both China and Soviet Union. Let us not forget now that in those communist countries trials were, and maybe still are, in form of "People's Trial" or "secret" trials in which one never be able to expect a fair trial. Besides, both China and Soviet Union had been developing so-called by the Chinese "brain-washing" techniques in those days. How can you be so sure those testimonies are not the products of those "people's trials" and the "brain-washing" when the existing documented evidences of the atrocity of the unit are only in Chinese language? Although you can see the Chinese "survivors" of the unit's biological experiments from time to time on documentary films made by the Chinese or the left-wing Japanese, how can you be so sure that those "survivors" are genuine when there is a salient fact that there were some serious outbreaks of the black plague and cholera and so on in the region of China and in the period they are talking about. I am not saying those testimonies are all fake/fabrication, but one should be careful when they deal with those "evidences" provided by the communists China and Russia. As for the responsibility of the Emperor Showa on those atrocities, if they really happened, you should refer to many Japanese Army documents that actually indicate the Emperor was of very little knowledge on this matter. He had understood this project as just a self-defence research against the biological warfare of China and Soviet Union which was, by the way, response to the true danger. It is certain, however, that the Emperor was totally disapproval of Ishii's project anyway. That is why, in fact, the unit 731 had insufficient supply to carry out the project properly and Ishii resented it so much. I am quite sure, somehow, that this atrocity story may turn out in the future, when more of sufficient documents were declassified by the U.S. government, as a story of a poor "mad" scientist who was not quite a "genius" but too ambitious and too overestimated by his enemies, which was, I would say, tragic. Mixed Feelings This book is extremely disturbing; might haunt you during your sleep. It is a conspiracy theory based on documents found, and from interviews of victims and war criminals (Not convicted) while degree of the truth contained is unknown, I believe it is NOT entirely propaganda. It’s very interesting that in Germany and in Austria, if you state that the Holocaust never happened, you will be arrested. But in Japan, people can deny the Nanking and Unit 731 freely. Why is this? Is the Japanese government is too ashamed to apologize? Is there not enough evidence to convince the public? Is Japan too fed up with previous false claims made towards its war crimes in WW2? I think it’s all of the above. The Unit 731 existed and probably has committed many of the crimes stated in this book. But there is not enough evidence to prove how horrible this was. Japan does not want to and need to apologize. (From political aspect; not my opinion) Also because Japan thinks they are the victim of WW2 since the atomic bombs killed city full of innocent civilians in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki. By apologizing to the WW2 victims; Japan would have to make compensations. Most likely by giving financial support or WORKING VISAS. Giving working visas to poor workers from Asia, is the last thing Japan wants since great portion of these workers come to Japan for prostitution, theft, burglary, drug trafficking and as spies. Yes every drug dealer I have seen was a foreigner, and every red-light district type places had foreign workers coming in and out, 2 of my neighbors houses were broken into by a foreign criminal organization. BUT I used to work for a Chinese family owned company in Japan; they were honest, hardworking and warm loving people. There are also an enormous number of honest hard workers but the Japanese gov't does not believe they benefit from them. **Word "foreigner" is used to avoid singling out nationalities. I strongly urge people to understand this complex situation before saying "ITS ALL LIES!" or "JAPANESE ARE HORRIBLE PEOPLE" I saw the Chinese movie about the Unit 731. I literally cried when I saw the intro statement "Friendship is Friendship" If it's possible for you... Go to Harbin City, Hei Long Jiang Province, China. Go to the musume of 731 unit. Go to rent a video of ducumentary of old 731 members' conference held in Tokyo. Who is lying? History won't. Chinese like make this kind of bloody and miserable history for their own? Did they claim a word of "sorry" for these? Related Categories: >> >>Books >>Special Features >>Look Inside!