Archives: Japan uses inmates in WWII medical experiments

A written confession from a Japanese officer-turned-businessman, published on Thursday, documented Japan's use of Chinese inmates as subjects in medical experiments during World War II.

The document, written by Takeo Utsugi, a Japanese military police officer and businessman, was posted on the website of the State Archives Administration (SAA).

Utsugi, born in Chiba Prefecture of Japan in 1895, served in the military police in "Manchukuo," the puppet state established by the Empire of Japan in northeast China, from 1934 to 1941 and then ran a company in northeast China from 1942 to 1945. He was arrested in December 1945.

According to the confession he wrote in 1954, he brought a Chinese inmate, who was sentenced to death, to an army hospital for "pathological experiments" in November 1937.

"As I was just about to go on a business trip by car, I helped to bring Corporal Tamura and the detainee to the hospital," he wrote.

In January 1938, in order to do pathological experiments on live bodies, "I ordered Warrant Officer Ando and Corporal Tamura to send a prisoner sentenced to death to Xinjing No. 2 Army Hospital and give him to a military surgeon, Captain Ono," he wrote.

In the same month, one of seven Chinese detainees Utsugi arrested was sentenced to death for murder and robbery and later sent to Xinjing No. 2 Army Hospital for experiments, according to the archive.

This is the latest in a series of 45 Japanese war criminal confessions the SAA plans to publish. The SAA has been issuing one a day since July 3.

The move follows denials of war crimes in China by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and right-wing politicians.