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The Tokyo Trial, Justice, and the Postwar International Order pp 123–141Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Stagnation and Confusion: The Incoherencies of the War Criminal Program in Japan

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Part of the book series: New Directions in East Asian History ((NDEAH))

Abstract

This chapter reveals Prime Minister Yoshida’s position towards the war criminals as well as institutional cleavages when it comes to the release of war criminals. Babovic points out the persistent confusion of Class A and Class BC war criminals which complicates their campaign for release. Babovic analyzes the inter-Allied differences when it comes to the Class A war criminal release. In 1953, the war criminal matter reached high-level attention thanks to public opinion, but the chapter shows that there are no significant developments until the Cabinet change.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ibid.

  2. 2.

    Background Information Re Japanese Law 103 of 1952 “Concerning the Enforcement of Sentences, the Granting of Clemency Etc. In Accordance with the Provisions of Article 11 of the Treaty of Peace.” In Records of CPB in NARA II, RG220, Box 1.

  3. 3.

    Ibid.

  4. 4.

    Ibid.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., 347–348.

  6. 6.

    Minutes, October 6, 1952, NARA, RG 220, Box 1, folder: Minutes CPB, M-1 through M-30.

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    Matsusuke Shirane, “Decision on Recommendation on Release by Clemency of A Class War Criminals,” October 20, 1952 in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  9. 9.

    Minutes, November 20, 1952, NARA, RG 220, Box 1, folder: Minutes CPB, M-8.

  10. 10.

    Minutes, December 11, 1952, NARA, RG 220, Box 1, folder: Minutes CPB, M-10.

  11. 11.

    Higurashi Yoshinobu, Tōkyō saiban (Kodansha: Tokyo, 2008), 359.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    Telegram, Murphy, American Embassy, Tokyo to Secretary of State, August 21, 1952 in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  14. 14.

    Memorandum, “Japanese War Criminals,” Mr. Hawley, August 14, 1952 in NARA, RG84, War Criminals – General Files, Box 28.

  15. 15.

    Ibid.

  16. 16.

    Memorandum, “Japanese Embassy Requests for Special Clemency to War Criminals on Occasion of Investiture of Crown Prince Akihito,” November 7, 1952 in NARA, RG84, War Criminals – General Files, Box 28.

  17. 17.

    Telegram, Secretary of State to American Embassy, Tokyo, November 10, 1952 in NARA, RG84, Box 1.

  18. 18.

    Telegram, Mr. Robert D. Murphy to Secretary of State, November 10, 1952 in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    Dai-15 Kokkai Honkaigi Dai-11, December 9, 1952. http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/SENTAKU/syugiin/015/0512/01512090512011a.html (accessed on September 4, 2017).

  21. 21.

    Letter of Robert Murphy from the American Embassy in Tokyo to Conrad Snow, October 27, 1952, NARA, RG220, Box 9.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    Deptel, Murphy, American Embassy, Tokyo to Secretary of State, January 6, 1953, in NARA, RG84, War Criminals – General, Box 28.

  24. 24.

    Telegram, Murphy to Secretary of State, December 30, 1952 in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  25. 25.

    Ibid.

  26. 26.

    Dispatch, John M. Steeves, American Embassy, Tokyo to State Department, October 2, 1952 in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  27. 27.

    Memorandum of Conversation, “Implementation of Article XI of the Peace Treaty with Respect to War Criminals Sentenced by the IMTFE, June 15, 1952, in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, General Files, Box 26.

  28. 28.

    Telegram from Murphy of American Embassy Tokyo to Secretary of State, April 15, 1953, NARA, RG220, Box 1.

  29. 29.

    Memorandum, Department of State, “Governments Entitled to Participate Under Article 11 of the Peace Treaty in Decision with Respect to War Criminals Sentenced by the IMTFE,” April 29, 1952, in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  30. 30.

    Telegram from Mills of American Embassy, New Delhi to Secretary of State, April 28, 1953, NARA, RG220, Box 1.

  31. 31.

    Working Papers Reg A, B, + C War Criminals, Folder 1, Dispatch from Robert W. Zimmermann, American Embassy to London to State Department, July 28, 1953 in NARA, RG220, Box 1.

  32. 32.

    James Burnham Sedgwick, “The Trial Within: Negotiating Justice at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, 1946–1948,” (PhD diss., University of British Columbia, 2012), 334. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0072876 (accessed November 14, 2017)

  33. 33.

    General Working Files, Robert Trumbull, “War crimes issue still irks Nehru,” The New York Times, October 5, 1954, NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  34. 34.

    G. D. Anderson, Commonwealth Relations Office, London to L. Cole, New Delhi (5 August 1954), NZ Archives, EA W2619 54,106–3-39 Part. Cited in James Burnham Sedgwick, “The trial within: negotiating justice at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, 1946–1948,” 334.

  35. 35.

    Sandra Wilson, Robert Cribb, Beatrice Trefalt, Dean Aszkielowic, Japanese War Criminals: The Politics of Justice After the Second World War (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017), 185.

  36. 36.

    Makoto Iokibe, Caroline Rose, Tomaru Junko, and John Weste, eds., Japanese Diplomacy in the 1950s: From Isolation to Integration (Abingdon: Routledge, 2011), 35.

  37. 37.

    Iokibe et al., eds., Japanese Diplomacy in the 1950s, 36.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., 36.

  39. 39.

    The CPB, Minutes, October 27, 1952, folder: Minutes, M-6 in NARA, RG 220, Box 1.

  40. 40.

    Ibid.

  41. 41.

    “Warning on Japan,” Sidney Morning Herald, December 7, 1948, cited in Sedgwick, “The Trial Within,” 316.

  42. 42.

    Dispatch, John M. Steeves, American Embassy, Tokyo to State Department, October 2, 1952, in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  43. 43.

    Summary of Meeting, November 5, 1953, of Representatives of IMTFE Governments with Respect to Class A War Criminals in NARA, RG84, War Criminals – General, Box 28.

  44. 44.

    Memorandum for the Record, Mr. Pelletier, French Embassy, Mrs. Dunning, March 2, 1953, NARA, RG220, Box 1.

  45. 45.

    Memorandum, Department of State, “Governments Entitled to Participate Under Article 11 of the Peace Treaty in Decision with Respect to War Criminals Sentenced by the IMTFE,” April 29, 1952, in NARA, RG84, Japanese War Criminals, Box 1.

  46. 46.

    Summary of Meeting, February 19, 1953, of Representatives of interested governments on procedure to deal with Class A war criminals, NARA, RG220, Box 1.

  47. 47.

    Memo for Ambassador, “Class A War Criminals Conference,” Jules Bassin, March 3, 1953, in NARA, RG84, War Criminals – General, Box 28.

  48. 48.

    General Working Files, copy of report from Mr. Dunning, “Loose Ends with respect to Class A War Criminals,” April 10, 1953, NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  49. 49.

    General Papers Re A, B, + C War Criminals, From Kenneth Young, Direction of Northeast Asian Affairs to Arthur R. Ringwalt, American Embassy to London, June 3, 1953 in NARA, RG220, Box 1.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Telegram from Dulles to American Embassy Tokyo, March 25, 1953, NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  52. 52.

    Telegram, Murphy, American Embassy, Tokyo to Secretary of State, March 26, 1953 in NARA, RG84, War Criminals – General, Box 28.

  53. 53.

    Ibid.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    Foreign Service Dispatch, John M. Steeves, US Embassy Tokyo to the Department of State, October 2, 1952, NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  56. 56.

    Ibid.

  57. 57.

    Wilson et al., The Japanese War Criminals: The Politics of Justice After the Second World War, 189.

  58. 58.

    Utsumi Aiko, Sugamo purizun: senpantachi no heiwa undō (Tōkyō: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 2004), 147–48 cited in Ibid., 195.

  59. 59.

    Foreign Service Dispatch, John M. Steeves, US Embassy Tokyo to the Department of State, October 2, 1952, NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  60. 60.

    Wilson et al., Japanese War Criminals: The Politics of Justice After the Second World War, 191.

  61. 61.

    Dai-016 Kai Kokkai Honkaigi Dai 29, July 30, 1953.

  62. 62.

    Higurashi, Tōkyō saiban, 360.

  63. 63.

    Wilson et al., Japanese War Criminals: The Politics of Justice After the Second World War, 193–194.

  64. 64.

    Ibid., 194.

  65. 65.

    Nakajima Takeshi, “The Tokyo Tribunal, Justice Pal and the Revisionist Distortion of History,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 9, Issue 44 No 3, October 31, 2011. http://apjjf.org/2011/9/44/Nakajima-Takeshi/3627/article.html (accessed June 13, 2016).

  66. 66.

    Ibid.

  67. 67.

    Ibid.

  68. 68.

    Wilson et al., Japanese War Criminals The Politics of Justice After the Second World War, 196.

  69. 69.

    Ibid.

  70. 70.

    Dispatch from the American Embassy in Tokyo, Purpose of the People’s Convention on Immediate Release of War Criminals (Translation), January 13, 1953, NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  71. 71.

    Ibid.

  72. 72.

    Ibid.

  73. 73.

    Working Papers Re A, B, +C War Criminals, Folder 1, Dispatch from William Leonheart, American Embassy Tokyo to State Department, Legal Advisor, July 6, 1953, in NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  74. 74.

    Ibid.

  75. 75.

    Letter E. Stanley Jones to Edward Snow, April 24, 1953, NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  76. 76.

    General Files 1952–1958, Walter Simon, “Fear Escape of War Criminals in Jap Prison, “September 19, 1953, in NARA, RG220, Box 5.

  77. 77.

    General Files, 1952–1958, “Gist of the Enforcement of the Last Release Movement Policy, Sugamo Management Committee,” September 1, 1953, in NARA, RG220, Box 5.

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  1. Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Aleksandra Babovic

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Babovic, A. (2019). Stagnation and Confusion: The Incoherencies of the War Criminal Program in Japan. In: The Tokyo Trial, Justice, and the Postwar International Order. New Directions in East Asian History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3477-1_9

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