Rating: 
Summary: Testimonies of the Brain-washed?
Review: 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 Inteligence reports in which some American scientists interviewed Ishii on several occasions just sfter 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 carefull 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 suply 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.
Rating: 
Summary: pathetic?
Review: It was no secret that the Japanese people generally believed they were indeed unique and superior to other people. The Japanese Imperial Army/Navy was indoctrinated with Bushido. This turned their troops into a merciless killing machine. They firmly believed that all killings in the name of serving their emperor were totally justified. They were expected to die gloriously on the battlefield and to resist capture at all cost, because, as they believed their enemy certainly would humiliate them before killing them. Of course, as a self-proclaimed savior to many Asian peoples, or more accurately, as a victorious conqueror, they could do anything they wanted to the vanquished, for the vanquished were but sub-human beings. To humiliate the vanquished and to conduct barbaric, inhumane experiments on the conquered was just a more entertaining part of their killing ritual---an ultimate display of their true Bushido! This was exactly what an "upstanding" Army with an "idealism" meant, and did, to millions of innocent victims in Asia. Their "idealism" meant only enslavement of millions of people, stripped of human dignity, and bowing to the harsh demands of the Japanese. Certainly, the Western Powers have done their share of plundering and exploitation in Asia and elsewhere. Does that mean Japan must join in and outdo them in their exploitation, hurting these people even more? Two wrongs do not make a right. In addtion to the notorious Unit 731, there were unit 100, unit 1644 and numerous other special units whose job was to conduct barbaric experiments on living human beings. These were no small groups, and these were not isolated incidents. It was the rule and not the exception; it was the Japanese government policy! Moreover, it was but the tip of the iceberg in term of Japanese heartless and shameless atrocities. Some atrocity-denier states that "to blame the entire army for the sins of a small group is pathetic". By such (pathetic) logic, are you not saying do not blame Hitler, who is just one person, for killing 6 millions Jews? Are you not saying do not blame the A-bomb, which is just one small weapon? Pathetic?
Rating:
Summary: They will do it again
Review: Japanese and Germans will do it again since their hidden instinct of totalitarianism never die. To prevent the recurrence this small book by Gold would contribute much.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Beginning
Review: Most of the information that you read on World War II involves the battles for Europe or the Pacific. We have books on the German concentration camps. But very few books are written on Japanese atrocities. This is one that should be read. With personal testimonies from the perpetrators this book adds an additional insight into what happened. Along with the almost unreadable atrocities committed on the prisoners of Unit 731 was the almost unbelievable cover up contributed to by the United States government. In exchange for the secrets that the Japanese government had unravelled about biological weapons and the effects of frostbite, etc on the human body. The U.S. government was definately up to speed on what had happened but blocked the Japanese from being held accountable at pacific war crimes trials in exchange for all the information that the Japanese government provided. Everything was turned over to the U.S. This is something that needs to be explored more in depth and I would be interested to read. All in all, this was a very good book. At times the thought of these things being done to human beings is almost incomprehensible, but it did happen. This is a book to read.
Rating:
Summary: we still need the full story
Review: Mr. Gold's book fills an important niche in the historiography of this gruesome crime that even today is not acknowledged by the Japanese government. The testimony of the many participant "butchers" are shocking since so few express genuine remorse for what they did. In absolving former emperor Hirohito of any responsibility for the war, the dye was cast for the latter day denial by both citizens and government. In fact the charter for setting up unit 731 was approved by the emperor. Today while every nazi camp guard is hunted down relentlessly, these major criminals-- who injected horrendous substances into people (i.e. horse urine, acetone etc.) who forced people to drink liquid mustard gas, who subjected people to pressure chambers until their eyes popped, froze/burned people alive to observe their resistance to temperature extremes and dissected women without anesthesia and took their babies and killed them --have gone unpunished.
While we condemn Dr. Mengele and his henchmen, what unit 731 did both in scale and devious ways of torturing and killing people surpasses Mengele. To compound this horrible crime, the estimated 10,000 or so victims who died in these experiments must be turning in their watery graves (their ashes were mostly dumped in the river) to know that general McArthur exchanged the gruesome data of their experiments for the freedom from prosecution of these brutes. All people with a sense of justice should demand that a full accounting be made of this crime of which we still know so little.
Rating:
Summary: The Right History-in side Asian sight
Review: My county is Korea,south.I do not speak english well.But I canspesk...Because Unit 731is realy many Korean,Chinese,Rusianpeople(they are almost children,women,elder.)s kill.It is very cruel way.If you think Nazi's holocost are cruel.HA!You will scared by Japanese Army's commit ments... PLEASE REMEMBER THE TRUE IS NOT EASY AND GRIEF. END
Rating:
Summary: like Joseph Mengala experiments of Nazi Germany?
Review: NO, Japan goverment NEVER admit this happened in history; They just "entered" China; just entered!
Rating:
Summary: this is a record of human's cruelest side done by the japs
Review: Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of the continent. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments. In the first part of Unit 731: Testimony, author Hal Gold draws upon a painstakingly accumulated reservoir of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities. The second half of the book consists almost entirely of the words of former unit members themselves, taken from remarks they made at a traveling Unit 731 exhibition held around Japan in 1994-95. These people recount their vivid firsthand memories of what it was like to cut open pregnant women as they lay awake on the vivisection table, inject plague germs into healthy farmers, and carry buckets of fresh blood and organs through corridors to their appropriate destinations. Unit 731: Testimony represents an essential addition to the growing body of literature on the still-unfolding story of one of the most infamous military outfits in modern history. By showing how the ethics of "normal" men and women, and even an entire profession, can be warped by the fire of war, this important book offers a window on a time of human madness, in the hope that such days will never come again!!!!! For that "an amazon user" person, you said that all these are just lies, they never happened. Let people see you dark, dirty, shameless and cruel side. who can ever make up such a story? and also with all those documentations? japs governm't and japs should face the truth and learn from German. I can say that japanese are the cruelest, most inhumane, stinkiest people ever on this planet!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: bloody facts, guts wrenching story
Review: the arocity commited by jap and the war launched by them is a sign of jap culture, people all over the world should be careful, they attacked China, russia, US, UK, Germany without any sign, just pure dirty stabing from the behind. maybe it's right to use A bomb by President Truman!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Informative
Review: The book deals with the specialized Japanese Unit that focused on immoral and illegal experiments (very much like the Joseph Mengala experiments of Nazi Germany). Not only does the book deal with the 'whats' and 'hows', but also presents the 'whys'. In addition, The stories are often written in the first person account. I especially liked the inclusion of the history of Japanese medicine (particularly its prestige and former exceptional medical record). Also, the focus on Ameican cover up after WWII was relevant.
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