The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Pursuit of Justice in the Wake of World War II
This book assesses the historical significance of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE)—commonly called the Tokyo trial—established as the eastern counterpart of the Nuremberg trial in the immediate aftermath of World War II.\ Through extensive research in Japanese, American, Australian, and Indian archives, Yuma Totani taps into a large body of previously underexamined sources to explore some of the central misunderstandings and historiographical distortions that have...
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This book assesses the historical significance of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE)—commonly called the Tokyo trial—established as the eastern counterpart of the Nuremberg trial in the immediate aftermath of World War II.Through extensive research in Japanese, American, Australian, and Indian archives, Yuma Totani taps into a large body of previously underexamined sources to explore some of the central misunderstandings and historiographical distortions that have persisted to the present day. Foregrounding these voluminous records, Totani disputes the notion that the trial was an exercise in “victors’ justice” in which the legal process was egregiously compromised for political and ideological reasons; rather, the author details the achievements of the Allied prosecution teams in documenting war crimes and establishing the responsibility of the accused parties to show how the IMTFE represented a sound application of the legal principles established at Nuremberg.This study deepens our knowledge of the historical intricacies surrounding the Tokyo trial and advances our understanding of the Japanese conduct of war and occupation during World War II, the range of postwar debates on war guilt, and the relevance of the IMTFE to the continuing development of international humanitarian law. Fred L. Borch - Journal of Military History The significance of this book is not whether the Tokyo trials established the guilt of Japanese wartime political leaders for initiating an aggressive war, and their culpability for the horrific war crimes committed by Japanese military personnel against innocent civilians and Allied military personnel. While these are important, the real import of The Tokyo War Crimes Trials is its systematic, yet nuanced analysis of the prevalent Japanese view--one that persists to this day--that the Tokyo tribunals were illegitimate because the legal process was corrupted for ideological and political reasons...This excellent book belongs on the bookshelf of every historian interested in legal history generally and war crimes in particular.
List of Figures xiNote to the Reader xiiiIntroduction: Why the Tokyo Trial Now? 11 Lessons from Nuremberg 202 The Trial of Emperor Hirohito? 433 Tojo and Other Suspects 634 Narrative of the War 785 Leadership Responsibility for War Crimes 986 Nanking and the Death Railway 1197 Documenting Japanese Atrocities 1518 The First Trial Analysts 1909 Pal's Dissent and Its Repercussions 218Conclusion: Beyond Victors' Justice 246Notes 265Works Cited 301Index 323
\ Journal of Military HistoryThe significance of this book is not whether the Tokyo trials established the guilt of Japanese wartime political leaders for initiating an aggressive war, and their culpability for the horrific war crimes committed by Japanese military personnel against innocent civilians and Allied military personnel. While these are important, the real import of The Tokyo War Crimes Trials is its systematic, yet nuanced analysis of the prevalent Japanese view—one that persists to this day—that the Tokyo tribunals were illegitimate because the legal process was corrupted for ideological and political reasons...This excellent book belongs on the bookshelf of every historian interested in legal history generally and war crimes in particular.\ — Fred L. Borch\ \ \ \ \ \ Journal of Military HistoryThe significance of this book is not whether the Tokyo trials established the guilt of Japanese wartime political leaders for initiating an aggressive war, and their culpability for the horrific war crimes committed by Japanese military personnel against innocent civilians and Allied military personnel. While these are important, the real import of The Tokyo War Crimes Trials is its systematic, yet nuanced analysis of the prevalent Japanese view--one that persists to this day--that the Tokyo tribunals were illegitimate because the legal process was corrupted for ideological and political reasons...This excellent book belongs on the bookshelf of every historian interested in legal history generally and war crimes in particular.\ — Fred L. Borch\ \
