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Many former members of Unit 731 have become part of the Japanese medical establishment. Dr Masaji Kitano led Japan's largest pharmaceutical company, the Green Cross. Others have headed medical schools or worked for the Japanese health ministry.
In August 2002, the Tokyo District Court acknowledged the existence of Unit 731 and its biological warfare activities, but ruled that all compensation issues were settled by the Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China of September 29, 1972.
Chinese movie Black sun 731 (Man behind the sun) is a somewhat snuff film on the atrocities committed by the Japanese.
Formation
In 1932, Ishii and his men built the Zhoghma Fortress, a prison on the outskirts of Harbin. In 1935 a jailbreak forced Ishii to shut down Zhoghma Fortress. Ishii moved closer to Harbin at Pingfang to set up a new facility.Activities
Members
Facilities
The 731 complex covers six square kilometers and consists of more than 150 buildings. The facilities were very well designed making it hard to destroy them. Some of 731's satellite facilities still remain and are open to tourists.Disbanding
Ishii wanted to use biological weapons in the Pacific conflict since May 1944, but his attempts were repeatedly foiled by poor planning, and Allied intervention. When it was clear that the war would soon end, Ishii destroyed the facilities, and told his men "to take the secret to the grave."End of World War II
The United States believed that the research data was valuable because the US and its allies would never conduct this type of human experimentation. Also, the US did not want any other nation, particularly Communist Russia, to acquire data on biological weapons. Therefore, in exchange for the data, the United States did not charge the officers of Unit 731 with war crimes.Legal action
In 1997, 180 Chinese, either victims or the family of victims of Unit 731, sued the Japanese government for a full disclosure, apology and compensation.Present day
Unit 731 activities are denied by right-wing nationalist Japanese historians, who say they are fabrications by Chinese propaganda. References to Unit 731 are omitted from many Japanese history textbooks. Some see this as evidence that, in modern Japan, revisionist history is part of the mainstream.
Japan is at fault for refusing to accept responsibility for the crimes of its past. Despite this it should be remembered that Japan at the start of the 21st Century is a stable democracy and, in other respects fairly liberal.Documents
In 2000, the United States Congress passed the Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act to declassify most classified US Government records about war criminals and crimes committed by the Japanese during World War II. As of 2003, this will be done through the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG) [1].Cultural depictions and representations
External links
2000-04-16.