In 1992, TMPD strengthened the SWAT capability by incorporating several SAP operators into its SIT. [7] And later, this custom evolved into the Special Investigation Dispatch Task Force (特殊班派遣部隊, Tokushuhan-haken-butai) as a formal institution of the NPA, being made up of experienced detectives selected from across the country. [3], Counter-terrorism operations are the affairs of the operators of the Security Divisions, such as Special Assault Teams (SAT) or Anti-firearms squads, so these SWAT-capable detectives are mandated for critical incidents except terrorism. Inspector Kurosawa, a man with 100 faces and a talent for martial arts, is the most respected and feared agent on the team. No part of this page may be reproduced or reprocessed in any form or by any means without the permission. The Unit 731 complex covered six square kilometres (2.3 square miles) and consisted of more than 150 buildings. He received the authorization to move to Pingfang, approximately 24 km (15 mi) south of Harbin, to set up a new and much larger facility.[11]. [86] Later in that decade, journalists suspected that the murders attributed by the government to Sadamichi Hirasawa were actually carried out by members of Unit 731. Some children grew up inside the walls of Unit 731, infected with syphilis. Yoshinori Masakado Of the 314 investigations launched by the Unit in 2019, here is how the SIU was notified: Cases Closed by the SIU From January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, the SIU closed 363 cases. These detectives usually work at their respective PPHs, but they may be dispatched to other PPHs to provide advice to the local commander as needed. [75] Potassium cyanide vials were issued for use in the event that the remaining personnel were captured.

[90] Harris speculates that the reason US scientists generally wanted to acquire it was due to the concept of forbidden fruit, believing that lawful and ethical prohibitions could affect the outcomes of their research.[91]. [55], According to A. S. Wells, the majority of victims were Chinese[26] with a lesser percentage being Russian, Mongolian, and Korean. An expedition to Nanking involved spreading typhoid and paratyphoid germs into the wells, marshes, and houses of the city, as well as infusing them into snacks to be distributed among the locals. The compilation of all these units comprised Ishii's network, and at its height in 1939, was composed of more than 10,000 personnel.

(1) While most documents captured by the US in Europe were microfilmed before being returned to their respective governments, the Department of Defense decided to not microfilm its vast collection of documents before returning them back to the Japanese government. Fetal survival and damage to mother's reproductive organs were objects of interest. [2], It became clear that traditional criminal investigation systems were sluggish and outdated for these new-style, rapid-tempo, and sometimes lethal cases. Special Investigating Unit (SIU) SIU hotline: 0860 748 748 SIU Special Investigations Unit: info@siu.org.za Gauteng - Pretoria Head Office Tel: +27 (0) 12 843 0000 - Fax: +27 (0) 12 843 0115 Physical: 74 Watermeyer Street, Rentmeester Building, Meyers Park Postal: PostNet Suite: 271, Private Bag X844, Silverton, 012 WEBSITE. The plan was scheduled to launch on September 22, 1945, but Japan surrendered five weeks earlier. Two prisons are hidden in the center of the main building. Japanese discussions of Unit 731's activity began in the 1950s, after the end of the American occupation of Japan.

Shuhei Nomura

This term originated as a joke on the part of the staff because the official cover story for the facility given to the local authorities was that it was a lumber mill. The subject was not pursued further by Sutton, who was probably unaware of Unit 731's activities. Parts of organs, such as the brain, lungs, and liver, were removed from some prisoners. [2], When these rural PPHs were faced with critical incidents requiring a special investigation, the NPA ordered the TMPD or Osaka PPH units to dispatch advisers to the relevant PPH customary. [15], A special project code-named Maruta used human beings for experiments. The Truth of Unit 731: Elite medical students and human experiments (2017). It was officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army (関東軍防疫給水部本部, Kantōgun Bōeki Kyūsuibu Honbu). [78] The Americans believed that the research data was valuable, and did not want other nations, particularly the Soviet Union, to acquire data on biological weapons.[79].

[31] This research led to the development of the defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb used to spread bubonic plague. The researchers involved in Unit 731 were secretly given immunity by the United States in exchange for the data they gathered through human experimentation. Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity", "Vivisectionist recalls his day of reckoning", "Weapons of Mass Destruction: Plague as Biological Weapons Agent", "Where To Find The World's Most 'Wicked Bugs': Fleas", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Biohazard: Unit 731 and the American Cover-Up (Page 5)", "The 1925 Geneva Protocol: China's CBW Charges Against Japan at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal", "Electrocuted, gassed, frozen, boiled alive", "Inside Japan's wartime factory of death", "Self Determination by Imperial Japanese Doctors", "[IAB8] Imperial Japanese Medical Atrocities", "Japanese Medical Atrocities in World War II", "Diary Whilst A P.O.W. [96] In April 2018, the National Archives of Japan released the names of 3,607 members of Unit 731, in response to a request by Professor Katsuo Nishiyama of the Shiga University of Medical Science.[97][98]. [4], All unit are established in the First Investigation Divisions (捜査一課, Sousa Ikka) of each Prefectural police headquarters (PPHs). Additionally, the biological weapons were tested in the field on cities and towns in China. A special task force has been set up and elite undercover operatives known as DIVER are sent to infiltrate the underworld and conduct dangerous undercover investigations. To study the effects of untreated venereal diseases, male and female prisoners were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhoea, then studied. Ishii ordered every member of the group to disappear and "take the secret to the grave". [5], The Task Force also conducts research on special investigations, such as participating in training at the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States, and regular joint training sessions are held to disseminate its outcomes.

[22], Thousands of men, women, children and infants interned at prisoner of war camps were subjected to vivisection, often without anesthesia and usually ending with the death of the victim. [65] Peaty recounts: "I was reminded of Dante’s Inferno – abandon hope all ye who enter here ...." His diary recorded the regular injections of infectious diseases that were disguised as preventative vaccinations. [9][10], Unit Tōgō was implemented in the Zhongma Fortress, a prison/experimentation camp in Beiyinhe, a village 100 km (62 mi) south of Harbin on the South Manchuria Railway. [37] Tularemia was also tested on Chinese civilians. "[50], In 2002, Changde, China, site of the plague flea bombing, held an "International Symposium on the Crimes of Bacteriological Warfare" which estimated that the number of people killed by the Imperial Japanese Army germ warfare and human experiments was around 580,000.

Official silence under United States occupation, Post-occupation Japanese media coverage and debate, Significance in postwar research of bio-warfare and medicine.

[4] Japanese researchers performed tests on prisoners with bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, botulism, and other diseases.

Test subjects were gathered from the surrounding population and were sometimes referred to euphemistically as "logs" (丸太, maruta), used in such contexts as "How many logs fell?". In a 1998 correspondence letter between the DOJ and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Eli Rosenbaum, director of OSI, stated that this was due to two factors.

The members of the unit, approximately 300 researchers, included doctors and bacteriologists.

; Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity" The New York Times(1995). [33][34][35][36] Plague fleas, infected clothing and infected supplies encased in bombs were dropped on various targets.

There have been several films about the atrocities of Unit 731. One of Ishii's main supporters inside the army was Colonel Chikahiko Koizumi, who later became Japan's Health Minister from 1941 to 1945. Unit 731 (Japanese: 731部隊, Hepburn: Nana-san-ichi Butai), also known as Detachment 731, the 731 Regiment, Manshu Detachment 731, The Kamo Detachment,[3]:198 Ishii Unit,[5] Ishii Detachment[5] or the Ishii Company, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) of World War II. Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body. Welcome to the Special Investigations Unit’s website. 日本弁護士連合会『人権白書昭和43年版』日本弁護士連合会、1968年、pp. [5] On the contrary, some rural PPHs assign only one or two detectives to these offices, so in case of SWAT operations, these units can be reinforced by detectives of Mobile Investigation Units (機動捜査隊, Kidō Sousa-tai), first responders for initial criminal investigations. Prisoners were also repeatedly subject to rape by guards. Infected food supplies and clothing were dropped by airplane into areas of China not occupied by Japanese forces. These detectives were well acquainted with new technology and special tactics to track and capture the criminals quickly and accurately.

日本弁護士連合会『人権白書昭和43年版』日本弁護士連合会、1968年、pp.134–136；高杉晋吾『七三一部隊細菌戦の医師を追え』徳間書店、1982年、pp.94–111; Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department, planned to use plague as a biological weapon against San Diego, California, biological weapons facility in Sverdlovsk, List of war apology statements issued by Japan, Poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services, Unethical human experimentation in the United States, "Unmasking Horror –A special report. A Youth Corps member deployed to train at Unit 731 recalled viewing a batch of subjects that would undergo syphilis testing: "one was a Chinese woman holding an infant, one was a White Russian woman with a daughter of four or five years of age, and the last was a White Russian woman with a boy of about six or seven. A male and female, one infected with syphilis, would be brought together in a cell and forced into sex with each other. [14] Medical doctors and professors from Japan were attracted to join Unit 731 by the rare opportunity to conduct human experimentation and strong financial support from the Army. [43][44], Some of the tests have been described as "psychopathically sadistic, with no conceivable military application".[45][46]. In addition to standard service handguns (.38 Special caliber revolvers such as New Nambu M60, or .32 ACP caliber semi-automatic pistols such as SIG Sauer P230), some units are equipped with large 9×19mm Parabellum caliber semi-automatic pistols (Beretta 92 Vertec, for example) and pistol-caliber carbines (Heckler & Koch MP5SFK, semi-automatic variant of MP5K with foldable stock).

[89], There was consensus among US researchers in the postwar period that the human experimentation data gained was of little value to the development of American biological weapons and medicine.