The ruins of the site of Unit 731 in Pingfang, Harbin. WANG JIANWEI/CHINA DAILY
A sense of denial
Ichinose is aware of how persistent that sense of denial can be. His late father's right forearm and right hip carried scars from the war. "When I was little, I was mesmerized by them. Later, as I grew up, I asked my father: did you ever kill any Chinese?" he said. "Throughout his life, my father, who had studied medieval art history under a leading professor before he joined the army, never answered that question."
Currently, Ichinose is representing 180 victims and their families who are demanding compensation from Japan for the indiscriminate bombing of Chongqing, China's wartime capital. "I don't have unrealistic hopes," the lawyer said candidly, pointing to favorable verdicts given in other cases and, most famously, the case he fought between 1997 and 2007, along with Wang and Tsuchiya. The demand for compensation was rejected, but the court accepted all the facts, from germ warfare to experiments conducted on humans.
"That was a triumph. People in peaceful times must be made fully aware of the cruelty of war," Ichinose said.
In his autobiography, Tsuchiya admitted that he was just one step away from committing a war crime: "The job of beheading the U.S. lieutenant was originally handed to me. Although I hated it, I was in no position to refuse. However, the day before the scheduled execution, I was informed by my superior, who was slightly apologetic, that another person had recommended himself."
When the war ended, the executioner begged his peers not to give him away to U.S. interrogators. Initially, he escaped detection and returned to his hometown, later enrolling at a university in Tokyo. However, in the spring of 1946, news came that the U.S. authorities had discovered the truth and were looking for him. He returned home from Tokyo that night and soon killed himself, according to Tsuchiya's book.
"I was cheated into believing that I was fighting a war of honor, only to realize that there was no honor in being an aggressor－only shame and pain. I could have died a disgraceful and unworthy death; now, I will live for justice until I die," the lawyer wrote.
