I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
and lay low the insolence of tyrants. [Isaiah 13:11, NRSV]
Japanese Evil Unbound
“Unit 731” is a historical face of Japanese evil unbound, and of heinous Japanese militarists.
This is an attempt neither to promote anti-Japanese racism, nor to raise emotions of vengeance. We do, however, we do vehemently insist that this violent Japanese history must be recorded and remembered; and Japan must stop actively rewriting its history textbooks proclaiming itself a victim of war when it was in fact the Nazi ally that actually perpetrated WWII. Japan’s brainwashing of its young generations through altered history textbooks betrays a blatantly unrepentant spirit. There is no trace of remorse, which ought to be a red flag to the rest of the world. History is always condemned to repeat itself if the perpetrator has learnt nothing from its past mistakes.
The Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese war (1931-1945) has left a strong legacy of hate and disgust among the Chinese today, mainland or overseas. Among all the heinous war-time atrocities in the world, by far the most despicable and forgotten acts against humanity committed by the Imperial Japanese government were its covert germ warfare programme. Disguised as the “Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department” of the Imperial Japanese Army, the Japanese conducted a wide range of cruel and inhumane experiments on innocent prisoners and civilians, pregnant women and small children. Of the types and scale of this Japanese savagery, even science experts and seasoned soldiers are shocked, calling them crimes against humanity in excess of the Nazi insane cruelty.
While Japanese germ warfare experiments were conducted at several locations, the best known is Unit 731, located near Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province in Japanese-occupied Manchuria and commanded by Shiro Ishii. It served as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII. Below are excerpts of the work in Unit 731 from different sources:
- “[Its] experiments involved infecting prisoners, primarily Chinese prisoners of war and civilians, deliberately with infectious agents, and exposing prisoners to bombs designed to penetrate the skin with infectious particles. There were no known survivors of these experiments; those who did not die from infection were killed to be studied at autopsy, and in the waning days of the war all remaining prisoners were killed to conceal evidence. Some experiments were also done to test human responses to freezing temperatures and other extreme conditions.”[1]
- “Its doctors experimented on human subjects, often in horrific and sadistic ways. They performed surgery on victims without anesthesia, removed limbs, exposed people to extreme temperatures, and purposely infected subjects with deadly diseases. Several thousand people are estimated to have died as a direct result of the unit’s experiments; many tens of thousands more are believed to have been killed in field experiments on local populations.”[2]
- “Declassified documents from Russia reveal that Unit 731 conducted continuous human experiments and attacked hundreds of Chinese people with pathogen-carrying artillery shells to calculate the infection rate and assess the “quality” of the pathogens. The documents also show the unit’s secret plan to conduct a biological attack on the Soviet Union.” [3]
- To dehumanize prisoners in their minds, the scientists of Unit 731 called their test subjects ‘Marutas’ or logs.[4]
Why All This Evil? – Japanese “Aspirations”
It is a very good thing to have national aspirations to progress in scientific research so as to grow in various fields of human development for the welfare of its people and for the benefit of the world. But, the Western discovery of science, which was many centuries behind the ancient Chinese,[4] began in Great Britain around 1760. The Industrial Revolution then spread to continental Europe and the United States by about 1840. The Great Exploration Era had brought excitement to the European elites, but they did not use their knowledge and fortune for the good of the world. Instead, they elevated themselves above everyone else, becoming imperialist-colonialists out to conquer and loot the rest of the world. By the end of the 19th century, the Japanese declared their aspiration to join the Western colonialist club, copying the Europeans by invading other countries for quick profit. Since then, the invading-mentality brought sorrow to many places: Native Americans were destroyed; Africans were brought to America for slavery; captive-colonies were set up all over the globe; Jews were killed by the Nazi-Germans in WWII; and East Asians were decimated by the Japanese. The Japanese elite class, with a strong desire to rule over the world, systematically sought to build weapons better than any other global powers. With science as their chosen road to aspired invincibility, Japanese scientists were mobilized to develop weapons by any unethical means in pursuit of their empire-dream.
They have left a trail of human destruction and racial hatred too deep to heal. Worse yet, this evil-soaked militarist mentality lingers obstinately in present day Japan, with its current first-ever female prime minister riding high on the crest of new wave of sick national pride. We know of Malaysians who declare: “Even if you pay for the trip, I will not visit Japan!”
The contemporary world is seriously lacking in empathy. With mad “emperors” holding power, nuclear world-war looms. If it comes, humanity will face a “nuclear winter” and collapse of global society of a scale unimaginable. Japan devastating history needs to be studied and learned.
Exposure to the World
The world knows about the Nazi WWII atrocities very well. An array of books and films, museums and exhibitions have made sure the world did not forget the Holocaust. By contrast, worse atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese during the same time are to this day still a revelation for many people, the Japanese population included. Savage atrocities were committed by the Japanese fascists on Chinese, Korean, Soviet and people from other parts of Asia during the war. Heinous crimes have been purposely covered up by the Japanese, assisted by the Americans who profited from the trade-off. The recently released blockbuster movie “731 Evil Unbound” is a fresh attempt to blow the lid off this part of hidden world history.
The movie is based on the bio-labs of the Japanese militarist government on Chinese land, operated secretly to not only research bio-weapons but also to research human physiology from mid-1930 to 1945.
- “This is a history that must never be forgotten,” said Jin Chengmin, a historical adviser for the film and head of the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army. “The film reveals the inhumane atrocities committed by the invading Japanese army through the eyes of ordinary civilians, while highlighting the unyielding resistance spirit of the Chinese people in the face of despair. It serves as a powerful reminder to safeguard peace.”
Informative books have recently been published. Three of these are indicated below.
(1) Derek Pua, Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Holocaust.
“Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Holocaust by Derek Pua, is not for the faint of heart. It is, however, for anyone wanting to more clearly understand the extent of Imperial Japanese war crimes. This brief, dispassionate, and factual book outlines the creation and development of Unit 731, an organization that employed thousands of Japanese scientists who conducted nightmarish experiments on an untold number of human guinea pigs, all in the name of medical research. Even if one cannot stomach the details included in Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Holocaust, a basic knowledge of these atrocities should be more widely known, if only in the hope that history will never repeat itself in this horrific manner.” (Review by Kathryn Atwood)
(2) Hal Gold, Unit 731 Testimony: Japan’s Wartime Human Experimentation Program. Compiled from information provided by the Central Organizing Committee for the Unit 731 Exhibitions in Tokyo, 1994—1995, the author gives a riveting and disturbing account of the medical atrocities performed in and around Japan during WWII. Publisher announces:
- “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.”
- “Vivid firsthand memories of some of the unit members tell 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.”
- “By showing how the ethics of ordinary men and women, and even an entire profession, can be warped by the fire of war, this remarkable book offers a window on a time of human madness, in the hope that such days will never come again.”
(3) Sheldon Harris, Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-1945, and the American Cover-up. This is an authoritative work in two parts, “Japanese factories of death, with details on horrifying experiments upon live human beings” and “American cover-up with details of brokered deal after the war”. Meticulously researched, written (in an outraged tone) for historians, researchers and serious readers.
“The questions of ethics and morality as they affected scientists in Japan and in the United States never once entered into a single discussion… In all the considerable documentation that has survived…, not one individual is chronicled as having said [biological warfare] human experiments were an abomination and that their perpetrators should be prosecuted. The only concern voiced was that of the possibility of exposure that would cause the United States some embarrassment should word of the bargain ever become public knowledge.” (p.305)
The Infamous American Complicity in Post-War Cover-Up
When the right-wing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was asked in Parliament in early 2025 about Unit 731’s actions, his tongue in cheek reply was that the means to verify the facts had been “lost with history”.[4] Ishiba clearly relied on the seemingly seamless development after the war where the perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity have largely escaped persecution unlike their Nazi counterparts in Europe. In a cowardly attempt to escape persecution by the Soviets, Dr. Shiro Isshi and his staff were able to trade the information obtained from their experiments with the Americans in return for immunity in the Tokyo Trials. American interest in their data gave them a powerful bargaining chip; In an elaborate American cover-up, America ensured their continued freedom. The U.S. dealt with war criminals from Germany and Japan very differently.
The pacificatrocities.org website reports:
These “medical doctors’ who performed routine human experiments were allowed to escape persecution, unlike their Nazi counterparts in Europe This affair became infamously known as the elaborate American cover-up of war crimes, offering these perpetrators of crimes against humanity– including Emperor Hirohito and Ishii Shiro–immunity in exchange for US access to Unit 731 research. Instead of punishment, many of these criminals were rewarded handsomely with great careers after the war, while thousands of Chinese families mourned their loved ones’ lives which had been lost at Unit 731 or dealt with the permeating consequences of sustaining a bacterial attack in their village. [5]
Is that a shocking revelation at all? Ever since then, war-mongers have justified crimes against humanity under two nebulous excuses – “national security” and “wartime exigency”. In reality, a simple question dismantles these excuses: How can two so-called civilized countries who presumed racial superiority make such a deal at the expense of innocent blood?
Concluding Thoughts
When you honestly assess the condition the contemporary world is in, do you see the American-led West and Japan relenting in their messed-up ambition against the rest of humanity? The Americans have around 800 military bases strategically spread around the globe – imagine the magnitude of their sickness! Now that their national debt has blown off the roof, Trump demands that NATO allies must raise each member country’s annual national defence budget to 5% of their respective GDPs, on pain of penalty including membership exclusion. And Japan, with the singular distinction of having been atomic-bombed, has now chosen to raise its defence budget in step with America.
The outlook is bleak. From start to finish, Christian theology is steadfast not only in calling for trust and hope in the Lord as being the ultimate human salvation, but in insisting that God cannot save us without us. Human collaboration is an essential part of the equation. Despair helps none. Long term relentless mobilisation and support for peace, racial-equality, and mutual respect in every local population worldwide is indispensable. It’s a long road ahead. The welfare and even survival of future generations depend on it.
References:
[1] “United States Responses to Japanese Wartime Inhuman Experimentation after World War II: National Security and Wartime Exigency,” at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4487829/
[2] “Chinese movie Evil Unbound has lessons for the world” at https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202509/24/WS68d35637a3108622abca28fa.html.
[3] “Film on Japan’s infamous WWII germ warfare unit to debut on September 18,” at https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-09-15/Film-on-Japan-s-infamous-WWII-germ-warfare-unit-to-debut-on-Sept-18-1GGWThTIpZC/p.html; “Russian documents reveal new evidence of Japan’s WWII germ warfare,” at https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202508/21/WS68a70dc1a310851ffdb4f66e.html.
[4] “Marutas of Unit 731: Human Experimentation of the Forgotten Asian Auschwitz” at https://www.pacificatrocities.org/marutas-of-unit-731-guide.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=8932359075&gbraid=0AAAAADp0h4G7mqzXngTVwAvS2bpe5pJFa&gclid=CjwKCAjw89jGBhB0EiwA2o1On6jVVW3I5BzD_oLcdvvai5ioEe2-gomrsMPxz8WJW2me6CcddTR_zBoCFQUQAvD_BwE
[5] Ibid. See also “The U.S. Covered Up Japan’s Human Experiment Labs — and Used Their Data – YouTube.”
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, February 2026. All rights reserved.
To comment, email jeffangiegoh@gmail.com.
