Joseon People Were Also 'Stripped Logs' of Unit 731 (Part 1) [If You Know]

Netflix's 'Gyeongseong Creature' Inspired by Unit 731
Highlighting Atrocities of Human Experimentation and Medical Scientists' Organized Crimes
Ishii Established Base by Marrying Kyoto University President's Daughter
Utilizing Infection, Thirst, High-Voltage Current, Cyanide Compounds
Unit 731 Conducted Experiments on at Least 3,000 People

Japan operated Unit 731 near Harbin, China. It was to prepare for biological and chemical warfare in violation of international law. About 3,000 people, called 'Maruta,' were killed through human experimentation and vivisection. The perpetrators were medical scientists and doctors affiliated with university medical faculties at the time. Most of them returned to key positions in the medical and healthcare fields after the war without any punishment, due to concealment of experimental results and immunity deals with the United States.

Why did they commit such horrific atrocities? Various media portray it as the madness of a special group to emphasize the horrors of war. However, they do not point out why they reached such a state. It was not that the war changed them, but rather that they exploited the war. Netflix's "Gyeongseong Creature" precisely highlights this point. Gato (Choi Young-jun), who leads the human experiments, explains to Yoon Chae-ok (Han So-hee) about the human experiments using Najin as follows: "As a pure scientist, curiosity, passion, attachment to my creation. Well, there are complex reasons like that." He does not discriminate by nationality or status in choosing experimental subjects. When Maeda Yukiko (Su-hyun), a Japanese noblewoman who sponsored Ongseong Hospital, suffered from burns and agony, he handed her Najin and encouraged her: "You must choose. Whether to return to Kyoto or continue to open new possibilities."

According to "Unforgettable Memories (1981)" co-authored by Yoshikai Natsuko and Yuasa Ken, many medical students in the early 1940s knew that going to China meant opportunities for human experimentation. Some did not even find it strange. Tsuneishi Keiichi, an assistant professor at Nagasaki University who tracked Unit 731 for decades, described in his book "Organized Crime of Medical Scientists" as follows: "Those who conducted human experiments at the institution run by Ishii Shiro published papers based on their research. Even after the war, they published papers clearly based on human experiments or submitted memories of the unit to medical journals. These were accepted and published as is in academic circles. This shows that human experiments at Ishii's institution were well known in the Japanese medical community."

In "Gyeongseong Creature," human experiments are conducted secretly. Soldiers are trained to keep silent, and those who try to escape are chased down and killed. Another reason the truth about Unit 731 was hidden for so long is that the medical community itself did not feel the need to expose or reveal it. If they did not recognize human experimentation as irrational, such insensitivity deserves strong criticism. Conversely, if they recognized its irrationality and concealed it, it means that the sense of privilege among medical scientists and doctors who shared human experiments only among insiders, and their mindset of considering themselves authorities, have not changed then or now.

'If you know' information is delivered in a disorganized manner. It is a tip for enjoying the movie interestingly.

* Kiyono Genji, a professor at Kyoto Imperial University, was Ishii Shiro's mentor. He sent most pathology students to Ishii's unit and collected large consulting fees. He highly regarded Ishii and his massive research facility.

* Kiyono collected books and transcribed classics in his spare time. The transcribed classics ranged from the Manyoshu (a Japanese poetry anthology) and Fudoki (records of place names, geography, products, and legends submitted to the imperial court in the late Nara period) to Chinese classics. After transcription, he bound the books and asked prominent acquaintances for calligraphy. He freely visited temples in Kyoto to read scriptures. However, on June 30, 1938, he was criminally interrogated following a report by Jingo-ji Temple. Dozens of scriptures were found in his bag. The investigation expanded to his classroom and home. Six hundred thirty stolen scriptures were found from twenty-two temples in Kyoto city. In his office, as many as 1,360 unauthorized loaned books were seized. According to newspaper reports at the time, some of the seized items were already mounted (decorated with paper or cloth on the back or edges) so that the owning temple could not be identified. Kiyono was immediately suspended and imprisoned in Kyoto Prison on July 10, spending six months in custody.

* Due to this incident, Hamada Kosaku, president of Kyoto University and Kiyono's friend, withdrew from the next presidential candidacy, and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology halted the presidential election. Hamada suffered severe mental stress and died suddenly a week later. Kiyono left the classroom the following year and cut off contact with students sent to Ishii's unit. It is said that thereafter, the relationship between Unit 731 and the university, as well as technical guidance, was handled by Ishii, Masuda Tomosada, Naito Ryoichi (military physician), and Kimura Ren (microbiology professor). Ishii recalled their reunion at Kiyono's funeral after the war: "Professor Kiyono answered any question with his own ideas. He also said that now we must organize this well and dedicate it to the nation, using it for Japan's final defense, defense against destruction, continuous development, and reconstruction. He came all the way from Ibaraki Prefecture and stayed at my house, worrying all the time."

* After resigning from his professorship, Kiyono actively worked as a consultant for the Pacific Association in Tokyo (a Japanese national research agency established in May 1938 and dissolved in August 1945). As an anthropologist, he advocated the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, mixing superior and inferior races to prosper together. "Along with protecting superior races, their population must be increased to promote development," he argued. "Although racial superiority cannot be judged anthropologically by bone measurements, each race has strengths and weaknesses, and mutual supplementation is the idea of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." During and after the war, Japanese people generally believed the war was for a just cause and endured. However, even such people were shocked by the existence of Ishii's unit, which used numerous prisoners for human experiments, exterminated 404 people with poison gas at the end of the war, and incinerated bodies and destroyed facilities to erase evidence.

* Ishii graduated from Kyoto University Medical School in 1920 and became a lieutenant in the Imperial Guard Infantry Regiment. In 1924, he entered the microbiology laboratory at Kyoto University as a graduate student. He proposed an investigation into encephalitis lethargica, which was rampant in Kagawa Prefecture at the time, attracting the interest of the faculty meeting. Ishii played a leading role in the actual investigation. Later, at Kiyono's funeral, he said: "During my graduate student days, encephalitis lethargica occurred at Kyoto University. I said, 'Other universities are researching hard, but Kyoto University is sleeping. If this continues, Kyoto University will fall behind. We must seize this opportunity to discover the truth about encephalitis lethargica.' Professor Kiyono agreed enthusiastically. Soon, a large organization was established based in Marugame, Kagawa Prefecture. Later, the base moved to Niho District, Kagawa Prefecture, where we gathered materials and corpses from cemeteries to focus on research. We divided into bacterial and viral groups and worked from morning to night filtering with Chamberland filters with Watanabe Hen (who later became a Unit 731 member) to find the causative agent. Finally, we succeeded in animal experiments and presented at a conference in Tokyo. Although we faced many objections, it was eventually recognized as a virus, and a separate edition was published by Nisshin Ikaku, which everyone here probably knows."

* Ishii started the investigation in August 1924, departing from Kyoto and basing at Marugame Garrison Hospital until March the following year. He used 27 monkeys, 40 rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, and other rodents for experiments. He observed pathogenicity by injecting into the occipital region using the so-called Yamaoka method or inoculating into the cornea. This investigation is later evaluated as influencing Ishii's organization of Unit 731. It ignited his obsession with forming a new organization and gained experience in infection principle vivisection using monkeys. He experienced exhuming corpses from cemeteries to investigate lesions and specimens, realizing how important pathological anatomy is in identifying infection causes. He also believed that excessive budgets moved people. Ishii gained social trust and a base for activities by winning the heart of Kiyoko, Kiyono's daughter, during the process of securing project budgets from President Araki Torasaburo.

* After completing the encephalitis investigation in Kagawa Prefecture and finishing graduate school, Ishii earned a medical doctorate for his encephalitis research. He briefly worked at Kyoto Garrison Hospital and, in 1928, at Kiyono's recommendation, traveled abroad at his own expense to investigate overseas situations. He visited 25 countries, including Singapore, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and France. Although he left no diaries or reports, it is said he grasped the biological warfare preparations in each country. Ishii once said at Kiyono's funeral: "When I reached England, the United States, France, and Russia, I pondered deeply and realized Japan had a major flaw it had not yet addressed. Domestically, Japan thought it was a great country, proud of rapid growth through incidents like the First Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, Japan-Germany War, Jinan Incident, and Siberian Intervention. But looking at Japan from the world stage, it was not so."

* After returning to Japan, Ishii strongly insisted, "Japan's national defense has flaws. We need to prepare for biological warfare, which is internationally prohibited." At first, no one paid attention. But he mobilized all academic powers to realize biological warfare research by any means. He tried to enforce his personal ideas using the authority of the top medical school. Eventually, with the cooperation of military medical instructor Koizumi, he established a quarantine research laboratory within the military medical school in August 1932, staffed by five military medical officers. By August the following year, the laboratory grew into a huge group with seven military medical officers and 35 agents. All authority over the work was given to Ishii, the chief.

* Ishii and military medical officer Masuda Tomosada traveled to Manchuria soon after establishing the military medical school's quarantine research laboratory, selecting Beiyinhe, about 70 km southeast of Harbin, as the new research facility site. In 1933, they evicted civilians and began construction. Using the alias "Togo Taro," Ishii organized the secret biological research group "Togo Unit (Kamo Unit)." From its inception, they forcibly conducted human experiments such as anthrax inoculation using prisoners. Although Togo Unit was not a prisoner camp, Ishii established a system allowing prisoners and political detainees arrested after the Manchurian Incident (1931) to be used for human experiments under the name "special class (special transfer treatment)" depending on the situation. Lieutenant Commander Endo Saburo of the General Staff, who inspected Togo Unit in 1938, testified after the war about the cruel research conditions, stating that subjects were confined in cages and bacteria were injected into their bodies to observe disease progression. According to testimonies from unit members at the time, human experiments were not limited to infections. They also observed how people survived when given only water in starvation conditions. Experiments included electrocution with high-voltage currents and killing people using cyanide compounds. It is estimated that nearly 200 prisoners were mobilized.

* Kurihara Yoshio, who worked at Togo Unit from 1935 to 1936, testified about the experiment to see how long subjects could survive on water alone: "Under military clerk Sugiwara Satoshi, we experimented on how many days one could live on water alone. The results showed 45 days with normal water and 33 days with distilled water. The person who drank only distilled water pleaded for 'delicious water' as death approached. The one who survived 45 days was a doctor named Zuokuwan."

* Togo Unit was a large-scale facility unsuitable for secret human experiments. Moreover, in September 1934, sixteen detainees escaped, revealing internal secrets. Japan closed the quarantine and water supply department and planned to relocate 15 km southeast of Harbin to Pingfang. In 1935, residents of four surrounding villages were forcibly evicted, and by 1939, Unit 731's headquarters residence, various laboratories, prisons, a dedicated airfield, staff family housing, youth dormitories, and a heating power center were constructed. By 1942, more than 3,000 Japanese lived there.

* The total area of the Pingfang facility was 80 km². It was designated a special military zone, with about 6 km² around the headquarters surrounded by earthen walls, high-voltage wires, and tunnels. The building responsible for major biological weapon research and production was a three-story building covering 100 m². Two special prisons housing human experiment subjects were set up in the courtyard to prevent escape.

* At Unit 731, human experiment subjects were called "Maruta," meaning "peeled logs." They were mainly anti-Manchurian resistance activists captured by the military police, including not only Chinese but also Koreans and Russians. The special transport to Pingfang was called "special class," a name specially designated by the military to supply Maruta. Kawashima Kiyoshi, head of the bacterial production department, admitted in the 1949 Khabarovsk trial that women and children were also held in the special prisons. At least 3,000 were transported and used as experimental subjects, with none surviving.

* During the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese Army generally showed exemplary humanitarian treatment of prisoners. The abandonment of ethics behind the veil of "military secrets" was largely due to Ishii's racist views, cruelty, and personal flaws as a medical researcher. Especially, the powerful background involving top academic networks, including Kyoto University President Araki Torasaburo and Tokyo University President Nagayo Matao, made the military central command trust Ishii without reservation.

* Togo Unit was only a pilot organization. Ishii aimed to elevate the crude experiments solely for killing to an academic research level by building a new facility. To this end, military medical officer Masuda Tomosada and military physician Naito Ryoichi were sent abroad in 1932 and 1937, respectively, to acquire technology. Meanwhile, efforts were made to attract talent from universities. To fully realize this, Ishii continuously pressured the military central command for an attractive large research facility.

* Until 1936, Togo Unit operated unofficially but was reorganized under the Kwantung Army as the "Kanto Army Quarantine Department." It was an institution mainly for research on acute infectious disease quarantine and biological warfare preparation. In 1938, it was decided to expand facilities in the Harbin area. The budget for biological weapon development was incorporated into the Kwantung Army's special budget, which did not require parliamentary approval. It received an annual budget equivalent to about 9 billion yen in today's value without parliamentary oversight.

* Unit 731 was divided into four main sections: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Section 1 was the bacterial research department, and Section 4 was the bacterial production department. According to testimony by Kawashima, head of the bacterial production department, the latter could produce 300 kg of plague bacteria, 800?900 kg of typhus bacteria, and 1 ton of cholera bacteria in two months. The Japanese military dispersed plague bacteria produced this way in various parts of China. Section 2 was a practical research department consisting of plant extinction and insect research teams and an aviation team. Fleas, the plague vector, were bred here. Section 3 was located next to the army hospital on the Nangang River in Harbin and disguised as a quarantine and water supply institution for Unit 731. In reality, it manufactured ceramic bomb containers filled with plague bacteria.

* Among the key figures in Ishii's unit, three military medical officers served as his right-hand men, supporting Unit 731 as Ishii's brains. Masuda Tomosada, a military medical colonel, entered Kyoto University Medical School as a student of the Army Hygiene Department and graduated in 1926. As a military medical school student and graduate student, he joined the microbiology laboratory under Professor Kimura Ken. Later, as an instructor at the military medical school, he helped establish Togo Unit with Ishii and studied abroad for two years at military medical schools in Germany and France. After returning, he became an officer in the Army Medical Bureau, worked at Unit 731 for two years, and was assigned to the Nanjing Central Quarantine and Water Supply Department, responsible for human experiments and weapon applications. From 1939, he served as unit commander at the military medical school's quarantine research laboratory and Sakae Unit 1644, and from 1941, he led the Kanto Army Quarantine and Water Supply Department following Ishii. After the war, fearing arrest by the U.S. military, he died in a traffic accident in 1952.

* Naito Ryoichi, a military medical lieutenant colonel, was known as another right-hand man of Ishii. He graduated from Kyoto University Medical School in 1931, attended the military medical school and Kyoto University microbiology graduate school, and became a military captain. He studied bacteriology at the Koch Institute in Germany for two years and blood freeze-drying techniques at the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S., then became an instructor at the military medical school. He did not reside at Unit 731 but planned biological warfare research at the military medical school's quarantine research laboratory, supporting Ishii. Fluent in English, he served as an interpreter in immunity negotiations with the U.S. military after the war. After returning, he founded Japan Green Cross but faced difficulties due to AIDS and hepatitis infections during blood product and artificial blood production. It is said he had a falling out with Ishii after the war.

* Another close subordinate of Ishii, Kitano Masaji, a military medical major general, graduated from Tokyo University Medical School in 1920 and was assigned to the 4th Imperial Guard Regiment. From 1923, he worked at the Tokyo Infectious Disease Research Institute and became an instructor at the military medical school. When Unit 731 was established, he was appointed a microbiology professor at the Manchurian Medical University and served as a Kwantung Army advisor. In 1942, he was promoted to military medical major general and appointed the second commander of Unit 731. He mainly devoted himself to research on hemorrhagic fever.

* From 1933, Ishii gathered researchers for Unit 731, mainly young faculty members from university medical schools. They included Yoshimura Hisato, Ishikawa Tachiomaru, Okamoto Kozo, Tabei Kanau, Saito Koichiro, Ishino Takujiro, Hayashi Ichiro, Minato Masao, and Tanaka Hideo from Kyoto Imperial University. All were hired in 1938 as "Army officers and Kanto Army Quarantine and Water Supply Department members." Among them, Ishikawa returned with plague dissection specimens and became a professor at Kanazawa University. He provided specimens to the U.S. after the war to avoid war responsibility. Hayashi disliked Unit 731 and fled home shortly after, reportedly pursued by an enraged Ishii for a long time. Ishino discovered through experiments using prisoners that survival was possible even after removing four-fifths of the liver. After the war, he opened Ishino Surgical Clinic in Kyoto's Sakyo Ward.

* The most effective biological weapon developed by Unit 731 was the plague bomb. They did not scatter the bacteria directly but infected fleas, the vector, with plague bacteria, mixed them in a buffer, or placed them in ceramic bombs for dispersal. Norbert H. Fell, who collected testimonies from former unit members after the war, reported in June 1947: "We extensively studied flea breeding and infection methods through rats. Plague fleas survived about 30 days under optimal conditions, maintaining infectivity. In a room with 20 fleas per square meter, Maruta were freely moved, and six out of ten were infected, with four dying." Many bacteria dispersed in China were actually plague fleas.

* Yoshizuka Yoshio, a former Unit 731 youth member, explained human experiments conducted to verify the relationship between plague and vaccines: "Even carefully made bacteria are useless if they lack infectivity or lethality. So we always focused on how to make bacteria more toxic and lethal. Generally, experiments were conducted using lab mice or rats, killing them in large numbers. But we also conducted simple experiments on humans. Through this method, I killed five people."

* Yoshimura Hisato studied frostbite at Unit 731 from 1938 to 1945. The experiment involved artificially freezing subjects' hands and feet and observing them. In 1941, Yoshimura gave a lecture on his research results at the Harbin branch of the Manchurian Medical Association, presenting graphs measuring skin temperature and volume changes of fingers when frozen. He later republished the same research results in English papers after the war, including experiments on newborns three days old.

* Kasahara Shiro, assigned to Unit 731, published a paper in 1944 confirming the pathogen of hemorrhagic fever. Hemorrhagic fever was an epidemic near northeastern China and the Soviet border, called "Sunwu fever." Kasahara admitted after the war to conducting vivisection experiments on Maruta.

* In 1998, a box containing many skulls was discovered in the area where the Nanjing Sakae Unit 1644 bacterial factory was located. Forensic experts and related specialists studied the remains and identified 41 skulls. Ages ranged from 17 to 38 years. Among them, 27 were male, one female, and the rest unidentifiable. The bones were blackened and treated with sulfuric acid. Genetic tests confirmed the presence of cholera enterotoxin genes, identifying them as victims of bacterial human experiments. The report, along with excavated bones and artifacts, is preserved at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.

* Around the time Unit 731 was established, the Kwantung Army Military Horse Quarantine Depot (Unit 100) was set up in Xinjing (Changchun). Experiments on livestock and humans were conducted there. Kazuo Mitomo, a sergeant, testified at the Khabarovsk trial that he assisted in poison experiments.

* Biological weapon attacks centered on plague bombs were confirmed more than seven times. Most were jointly executed by Unit 731 and Unit 1644 under Ishii's command. The power of biological weapon dispersal lay in causing secondary and tertiary infections through the movement of infected individuals. For example, a plague bomb dropped on Qi County on October 4, 1940, caused over 1,500 deaths. A railway worker infected during a business trip to Qizhou returned 120 km away to Yiwu, where over 200 deaths occurred. In surrounding villages like Songshan, more than 400 residents, about one-third of the population, died from the same cause. Additionally, plague fleas dropped on November 4, 1940, spread to nearby villages, causing over 7,000 deaths. The expansion of victims from bacterial infections made the plague epidemic appear natural, helping conceal bacterial dispersal. The Supreme Court confirmed in May 2007 that the number of biological warfare victims was about 10,000. This figure is based on confirmed reports from residents. The actual number may be higher, considering victims with no reporters due to entire family deaths or unidentified victims.

* Asahi Shimbun disclosed internal documents of Unit 731 in October 2011, recording biological weapon attacks. It included part of a medical doctoral thesis submitted to Tokyo University in 1948 by Unit 731 medical scientist Kaneko Junichi titled "PX (Plague-Infected Flea) Effective Acid Treatment Method." According to it, the number of infected, including secondary infections, was 25,964. This material embarrassed the Japanese government, which had consistently denied biological warfare due to lack of evidence.

* Unit 731 developed not only biological weapons but also chemical weapons in cooperation with Unit 516. Human experiments measuring the effects of mustard gas (vesicant gas) were conducted in the northern Muntan District. Sixteen subjects were placed under different conditions, and 10,000 rounds of mustard gas ammunition were fired in three areas, observing and recording human effects.

* Ishiyama Fukujir?, a professor of the First Surgery Department at Kyushu Imperial University Medical School, and his students killed eight captured U.S. B29 crew members in surgical experiments in May?June 1945. They removed lungs, gallbladders, and performed brain surgeries.

* Tanimura Kazuharu, a military medical major and army doctor at Daedong Army Hospital, organized a winter hygiene research team and conducted outdoor exercises studying frostbite, surgery, hemostasis, and transfusion in Inner Mongolia. Eight Chinese subjects wore wet socks or gloves. Tanimura intoxicated, starved, and administered atropine to them, experimenting with frostbite under various conditions. After experiments, they were mercilessly killed.

* Apart from Unit 731, army hospitals across China frequently anesthetized Chinese prisoners under the pretext of "surgical practice," vivisected, and killed them. Most were conducted as training for new military doctors on how to treat wounded soldiers on the front lines.

* Japan established the Korean Medical Clinic in 1907. The first director was Army Medical Inspector Sato Susumu. Military doctors were appointed to all Jaehoe Clinics established in each province. The inspector planned to convert hospitals into military hygiene facilities in emergencies.

* The Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, and Japanese military brothels rapidly increased. Military doctors conducted venereal disease tests on military comfort women to prevent transmission to soldiers. Many comfort women were girls from the Korean Peninsula.

* Hirai Masatami, a military medical lieutenant colonel, gave a special lecture titled "On Military Pathology" at the 1941 Japanese Pathological Society General Meeting. "From July 11, 1937, the outbreak date, to July 10, 1940, the number of autopsies in the entire army was reported as 1,886, and adding 218 conducted by special research teams, it reached about 2,000. About 200, one-tenth, were sent to the military medical school, and about 200 autopsy specimens were used in unpublished research reports." This statement is presumed related to over 100 skeletal remains discovered in 1989 at the demolished site of the Army Medical School in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

References: "15-Year War and Japanese Medical Research Association" edited by Saori Hasegawa - translated by Choi Gyu-jin, published by Health Media Cooperative "Everyone Knows but No One Knows Unit 731 (2020)"; Kim Chang-kwon, "Accusing Japan's Kwantung Army Unit 731 (2014)"; War and Medical Ethics Verification Promotion Association, translated by Akira Suzuki, supervised by Lim Sang-hyuk, published by Health Media "Unit 731 and Doctors (2015)"; Nishino Rumiko, translated by Korean Translation Institute, published by Yerimdang "Stories of Unit 731 (1995)"; Jin Cheong-min, translated by Ha Sung-geum, published by Kyomunsa (Cheongmungak) "Uncovering the Truth of Japan's Unit 731 Biological Warfare (2010)," etc.