Chapter One
Documents that Overturn the Tokyo Trials
The Tokyo Trials and the Truth of “Pal’s Judgment”
by WATANABE Shōichi
https://t.co/p0yThXltCt
https://t.co/4DH2NP154B
It was the second category that was substantially investigated as requiring the death penalty: conventional war crimes. We can say that these were such things as the crime of mismanagement in supervising prisoners of war. As an example, let us consider Hirota Kōki. Nanking fell when Hirota was Japan’s foreign minister, and it was determined that the Nanking Massacre took place, and it was charged that, as the foreign minister, Hirota failed to stop it. It was completely beyond the scope of his duties for the foreign minister to be expected to have responsibility for directing troops on the field of battle.
Moreover, in the charges presented was the strained interpretation that those killed in the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, and Kota Bharu, as they took place before declarations of war, were victims of murder instead of being among the war dead. Although this was raised in the prosecutor’s statements, it really did not become an issue and was ignored.
The third category, “crimes against humanity,” also appeared at the Nazis’ trial at Nuremberg; but on this point there were none found guilty.
Looking at the trial process, it seems that most of the prosecutors’ charges were refuted. Seven people, however, were sentenced to death. Gen. Matsui Iwane, the man found responsible for the so-called Nanking Massacre, received the death penalty for Class-B and C charges. In addition, charged with participating in a conspiracy to commit war, and with that combined with the charge of oppressing prisoners, sentences of death were passed down. In other words, it feels as if the two charges were combined into one.
Moreover, the sentence of death was not unanimous. Of the eleven judges, Justice Pal voted “not guilty” on all charges; Justices Bert Röling of Holland and Henri Bernard of France also dissented in places; and Justice Sir William Webb, the president of the court, also handed down a separate opinion and was opposed to the use of the death penalty. Of the seven death sentences handed down, the six military personnel were sentenced on a judicial vote of seven-to-four; civilian defendant Hirota Kōki’s sentence was particularly close, with a one vote margin in the six-to-five decision to give him the death penalty. I can only imagine that the sentences of death were given out to allow the Allied governments to save face.
XXV OF GHOSTS AND GOBLINS.
GLIMPSES OF UNFAMILIAR JAPAN
by Lafcadio Hearn, 1895
https://t.co/5Gz0lhqWcv
ラフカディオ・ハー���『知られぬ日本の面影』
第二十五章 幽霊と化け物について
https://t.co/QZvfaKzRiT
“Master” said Kinjurō, “the goblins are inside.” We lifted the veil, and found ourselves in a sort of lane between hedges, and behind the hedges we saw tombs; we were in a graveyard. There were real weeds and trees, and sotoba and haka, and the effect was quite natural. Moreover, as the roof was very lofty, and kept invisible by a clever arrangement of lights, all seemed darkness only; and this gave one a sense of being out under the night, a feeling accentuated by the chill of the air. And here and there we could discern sinister shapes, mostly of super-human stature, some seeming to wait in dim places, others floating above the graves. Quite near us, towering above the hedge on our right, was a Buddhist priest, with his back turned to us.
“A yamabushi, an exorciser?” I queried of Kinjurō.
“No,” said Kinjurō; “see how tall he is. I think that must be a Tanuki-Bōzu.”
The Tanuki-Bōzu is the priestly form assumed by the goblin-badger (tanuki) for the purpose of decoying belated travelers to destruction. We went on, and looked up into his face. It was a nightmare, — his face.
“In truth a Tanuki-Bōzu,” said Kinjurō. does the Master honorably think concerning it?” Instead of replying, I jumped back; for the monstrous thing had suddenly reached over the hedge and clutched at me, with a moan. Then it fell back, swaying and creaking. It was moved by invisible strings.
「旦那、化け物はこの中に居ります」と金十郎は云った。
私共は幕を上げて中へ入ると、そこは生垣の間の小径(こみち)のようになっていた、それから生垣のうしろに墓があった、私共は墓地へ来て居るのであった。本当の草や樹木があった、それから卒塔婆もあり墓もあったがその印象は全く自然であった。その上屋根が甚だ高いのと、光線を巧みに塩梅してそれを見えなくしてあるので、一切うす暗くなっていた、それでこれが人に夜、外に出て居る感じを与えた、その上空気がつめたいので一層その感を深くした。それから処々に大概超人間的の高さの、気味の悪い物が見えた、或物は暗い処で待って居るようで、又或物は墓の上に浮かんで居るようであった。すぐ私共の近くに右の方の生垣の上の方に、私共に背中を向けてずっと聳えて居る坊さんがいた。
私は金十郎に尋ねた、「山法師かね」
「いや」金十郎は答えた、「背の高い事を御覧なさい。狸坊主にちがいないと思ひます」
坊主は日暮れてから未だ旅をして居る人を誘い込んで殺すために、狸が僧侶の姿に化けた物である。私共は進んでその顔を見上げた。見ると魘(うな)されるような顔であった。
「全く狸坊主です」金十郎は云った。「旦那様はそれをどう御考ですか」
返事をしないで、私はとび退いた、その巨大な物は突然生垣の上へのり出して、呻き声を上げて私につかみかかったからであった。それから搖ぎながら、軋る音をた���てもとへ戻った。見えない糸で操られるのであった。
Chapter One
Documents that Overturn the Tokyo Trials
The Tokyo Trials and the Truth of “Pal’s Judgment”
by WATANABE Shōichi
https://t.co/p0yThXltCt
https://t.co/4DH2NP154B
Figuratively speaking, is was as if, in The Godfather, after the Corleones won the gang war against the Tataglias after Sonny was gunned down, the Corleones decided on their own to hold a court to judge the Tataglia men and made eleven of their own higherups serve as judges (including among them those who had suffered during the struggle). Of such stuff were the Tokyo Trials.
War criminals were divided into three grades: Classes A, B, and C. It was decided that the Class-B and Class-C criminals were not to be dealt with at the Tokyo Trials.
As a point of reference on B- and C-Class criminals: Class-B crimes were violations of the rules of war under international law during wartime. That is, those who directed conventional war crimes such as cruelty to prisoners were named Class-B criminals. Those who carried out those orders were made Class-C criminals.
Class-A war crimes were firstly “crimes against peace.” Article Five of the Charter begins, “Crimes against Peace: Namely, the planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a declared or undeclared war of aggression, or a war in violation of international law, treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing.”
Incidentally, those listed as Class-A war criminals were judged variously for three things: crimes against peace, conventional war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
There were some magnificent efforts by their lawyers. First among these is the fact that there were no death sentences handed down to those charged only with crimes against peace. We can understand the implication that they demolished the charge of crimes against peace.
XXV OF GHOSTS AND GOBLINS.
GLIMPSES OF UNFAMILIAR JAPAN
by Lafcadio Hearn, 1895
https://t.co/5Gz0lhqWcv
ラフカディオ・ハーン『知られぬ日本の面影』
第二十五章 幽霊と化け物について
https://t.co/QZvfaKzRiT
The remaining groups, twenty-four in number, were powerfully impressive in their peculiar way, representing mostly famous popular traditions or sacred myths. Feudal heroisms, the memory of which stirs every Japanese heart; legends of filial piety; Buddhist miracles, and stories of emperors were among the subjects. Sometimes, however, the realism was brutal, as in one scene representing the body of a woman lying in a pool of blood, with brains scattered by a sword stroke. Nor was this unpleasantness altogether atoned for by her miraculous resuscitation in the adjoining compartment, where she reappeared returning thanks in a Nichiren temple, and converting her slaughterer, who happened, by some extraordinary accident, to go there at the same time.
At the termination of the corridor there hung a black curtain, behind which screams could be heard. And above the black curtain was a placard inscribed with the promise of a gift to anybody able to traverse the mysteries beyond without being frightened.
あとのものは全部で二十四あったが、大概は名高い人気のある伝説とか又は神話などを表した物で、それぞれ強い印象を与えた。それを想い出すと日本人の胸がとどろかずにはいないと云う封建時代の英雄的行動、親孝行の伝説、仏教の奇蹟、天皇の物語などが題目のうちにあった。しかし時々その写実が残忍な事もあった、たとえは或場面では頭を刀でたち割られて、血の溜りに倒れて居る女の死骸がある。つぎの部屋へ行くとその女が奇蹟的に蘇生して日蓮宗の寺へ御参りをして、何か不思議な事件で偶然そこへ行った自分の殺害者に出遇って、その男を改宗させては居るが、そのためにこの不快な事が全然ぬぐい去られる事はない。
廊下の終りに黒い幕がかかっていて、そのうしろから叫び声が聞える。それから黒幕の上の方に掲示があつて、平気で向うまでこの秘密の場所を通りぬける事のできる人には褒美を出すと約束が書いてあった。
Chapter One
Documents that Overturn the Tokyo Trials
The Tokyo Trials and the Truth of “Pal’s Judgment”
by WATANABE Shōichi
https://t.co/p0yThXltCt
https://t.co/4DH2NP154B
§2 The trial for which impartiality didn’t matter
When we look back at the Tokyo Trials, the most important feature of note is that its foundation was not in international law. Justice Pal, too, insistently pointed out that, “it was not based on international law,” and that there was nothing then extant in international law that would allow for the formation of the Tokyo Trials. Properly speaking, as Pal said, the only things that were valid were those that under international law were eligible for adjudication (for example, conventional war crimes).
On what basis, then, were the Trials held and administered? It was authority from the Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (CIMTFE) that was promulgated by Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP). This Charter established the criteria and rules for the Tokyo Trials. In short, SCAP created the Charter and proceeded from that to the Trials.
As the chief prosecutor of the trial, former assistant attorney general of the United States Joseph Keenan was involved in the production of the Charter. He participated in drafting the regulations for the prosecution. It can’t be helped but be seen that he created the conventions to judge to fit in with the prosecuting attorneys’ arguments.
Furthermore, all of the judges came from the victor nations. For example, the judge from the Philippines, who advocated the death penalty on all twenty-five Class-A war criminals, was a man who had been a prisoner of the Japanese at Bataan. Surely anyone can grasp the common sense that having as a judge a person who bore animosity toward the defendants meant it was as if saying that an impartial trial was not needed.
XXV OF GHOSTS AND GOBLINS.
GLIMPSES OF UNFAMILIAR JAPAN
by Lafcadio Hearn, 1895
https://t.co/MvYHuP0ZKV
ラフカディオ・ハーン『知られぬ日本の面影』
第二十五章 幽霊と化け物について
https://t.co/h7mbIwzaE8
Gigantic characters signifying “IKI-NINGYŌ,” painted upon the sign-board at the entrance, partly hinted the nature of the exhibition. Iki-ningyō (“living images”) somewhat correspond to our Occidental “wax figures”; but the equally realistic Japanese creations are made of much cheaper material. Having bought two wooden tickets for one sen each, we entered, and passed behind a curtain to find ourselves in a long corridor lined with booths, or rather matted compartments, about the size of small rooms. Each space, decorated with scenery appropriate to the subject, was occupied by a group of life-size figures. The group nearest the entrance, representing two men playing samisen and two geisha dancing, seemed to me without excuse for being, until Kinjurō had translated a little placard before it, announcing that one of the figures was a living person. We watched in vain for a wink or palpitation. Suddenly one of the musicians laughed aloud, shook his head, and began to play and sing. The deception was perfect.
入口の看板に書いてあった「生人形」と云う大きな文字は幾分この見世物の性質をほのめかしていた。生人形は私共西洋の「蠟細工」にやや相当する、しかしそれと同じように写実的であるこの日本の創作はずっと安価な材料でできて居る。銘々一銭で木の札を買うてから、私共は入場した、それから幕のうしろへ行くと長い廊下へ出た、それには小さい部屋程の畳敷の仕切のある仮屋がいくつかならんでいた。それぞれこの題目に相応な背景で装飾されたその場所には等身大の人物のいくたりかがいた。入口に最も近いものは三味線を弾いて居る二人の男と踊って居る二人の芸者を表したものであったが、私には云うまでもなく人形と思われた、しかし金十郎がその前の小さい掲示を翻訳してくれたのによれば一人だけは本物の人間であると云う事であった。私共はまたたきか身震いがあるだろうと待って見たが駄目であった。不意に三味線弾きの一人が大きな声で笑い出して、頭を振って三味線を弾いて歌い出した。私共は完全にだまされた。