Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes

¶ … Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II by Yuki Tanaka. Specifically, it will contain a review of the book, including its purpose and an evaluation of how well Tanaka achieved his objective. Tanaka's book is a detailed and often uncomfortable look at war crimes committed against others by the Japanese, and why the Japanese felt it necessary to commit these crimes.

Author Tanaka states his purpose for writing this book early in the Introduction when he writes, "To master the past' -- what the Germans call Vergangenheitsbew ltigung -- is, I believe, the most appropriate answer to such questions" (Tanaka 1). Tanaka believes to understand the past and learn from it, creating "moral imagination" (Tanaka 1), the past must be uncovered and "mastered," and that is his purpose in creating this book. It looks at specific examples of war crimes and how they were committed. Most importantly, the author speculates on why these crimes were committed, why they were so atrocious, and what in world culture creates the need for appalling crimes during war. The author cites Vietnam, Bosnia, and Iraq (Tanaka 5) as other encounters that have produced horrific crimes of war, indicating the problem is not strictly Japanese, it is worldwide.

The book is filled with startling and disturbing accounts of some of the most horrific Japanese war crimes, including cannibalism by Japanese soldiers in New Guinea, the murders of Australian military nurses who had already surrendered in Indonesia, medical experiments on POWs to research bacteriological warfare, and sexual crimes from rape to forced prostitution on captured women. These women, called "comfort women," were conscripted as prostitutes to serve the Japanese military leaders. The book is unsettling to read, and some parts are so difficult it is hard not to pass over them.

Tanaka achieves his purpose quite well throughout the book. He talks about many unsettling topics, such as the rape and massacre of the Australian nurses, but the ultimate cruelty may be the chapter on cannibalization. Tanaka writes, "In another case a friend of his found human flesh in the mess tin of an officer who had become ill and died. The impression left is that the victims of cannibalism were Japanese soldiers who had been killed in battle or who had died of various illnesses" (Tanaka 114). Tanaka shows anything his possible in war and that normal people can become animals when faced with death and war.