Bones discovered at a Tokyo Army Medical School during the war have been uncovered and are thought to be related to Unit 731 victims. They are currently being looked at and are awaiting identification.
Activists, scholars, and specialists marked the 35 celebration of the finding, renewing calls for an independent investigation into the bones ‘ connection to people virus war experiments.
Product 731, headquartered in then-Japanese-controlled north China, was responsible for injecting prisoners of war with dysentery, typhoid, and other conditions, performing unwanted amputations and tissue removals, and freezing prisoners to suicide in energy tests. Japan’s government has acknowledged merely that System 731 existed.
During development at the site of the war Army Medical School in 1989, about a dozen skulls, many of which had slashes, and parts of another skeletons were discovered. Many people were astonished by the school’s ties to a virus and biological warfare system because of its close ties to the institution.
Based on interviews with 290 people associated with the class, a past Health Ministry research conducted in 2001 determined that the bones were most likely those of people who had been transported from combat zones or who had been medically educated. Some interviewees, but, mentioned specimens from the system being kept at the school and suggested contacts to Unit 731.
According to an anthropological analysis conducted in 1992, the bones were derived from at least 62 and perhaps more than 100 different body, generally adults from regions of Asia outside Japan. It claimed that some skulls had holes and cuts left after death, but that System 731 had not found any proof that the bones were related to the deaths.
According to activists, the state could do more to uncover the truth, including submitting complete transcripts of its discussions and conducting DNA testing.
Kazuyuki Kawamura, a former Shinjuku city council member, just obtained 400 chapters of study materials from the 2001 review using freedom of information requests. He claims the state “tactfully excluded” important data from witness addresses.
Witnesses who witnessed the vivid descriptions of the recently published materials, like one who said she saw a mind in a barrel and assisted in handling it before fudging off to the toilet. These records point out that a possible connection to Unit 731 could be found in more criminal investigation.
” Our goal is to identify the legs and take them back to their families”, said Kawamura. ” We just want to consider the truth”, according to AP.
Health Ministry national Atsushi Akiyama said see addresses had already been analysed and factored into the 2001 report, and the government’s place remains intact. He argued that a critical missing link is a lack of documentary information, such as labeling on fossil containers or official records.
In the run-down of the war, documents relating to Japan’s atrocities were thoroughly destroyed, preventing the discovery of fresh facts. According to Akiyama, the lack of bones ‘ knowledge would make DNA study challenging.
Hideo Shimizu, who was sent to Unit 731 in April 1945 at age 14 as a laboratory technician, recalls seeing faces and system components in formalin jars stored in a sample area. He was told they were “maruta” — logs — a term used for prisoners chosen for experiments.
Days before Japan’s 15 August 1945 surrender, Shimizu was ordered to collect bones of prisoners ‘ bodies burned in a pit. If found while returning to Japan, he was given a pistol and cyanide to commit suicide.
Shimizu emphasized that what he witnessed in Harbin should never be repeated, even though he said he could not determine whether any specimen from Unit 731 might be among the Shinjuku bones. He said,” I want younger people to understand the tragedy of war.”
