Japan's Kempeitai & Unit 731

We’ve heard about a lot of evil on Secret Police, but the actions of the Kempeitai and the wider Imperial Japanese Army are particularly poignant for their brutality and the extent to which violence prevails if you believe your enemy is inhuman.

Who were the Kempeitai?

How did the Kempeitai develop out of Japan’s long military history?

What were the Kempeitai’s connections to both German and Russian secret police?

What was the level of the Kempeitai’s involvement in various atrocities in China?

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Sources:

 

Kempeitai: Japan's Dreaded Military Police by Raymond Lamont-Brown (1998).

What Are The Major Natural Resources Of Japan? By Sophy Owour. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-major-natural-resources-of-japan.html

 

The Dawn Empire | Animated History of Japan. Suibhne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zwi3XXLci8&list=PLyw95kShWfm_JqDRyLAxEAob74zWH-BI2&index=4&ab_channel=Suibhne

 

Origin of the Samurai | History of Japan 5. Linfamy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6xgz4p2d60&ab_channel=Linfamy

 

How Europeans Tried to End Japanese Isolation - Colonialism DOCUMENTARY. Kings and Generals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFJRc6jYOaI&ab_channel=KingsandGenerals

 

Feature History - First Sino-Japanese War. Feature History. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdWY8aWxNL4&t=615s&ab_channel=FeatureHistory

 

Japanese Invasion of Manchuria | 3 Minute History. Jabzy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_sdkbYWiww&ab_channel=Jabzy

 

WW2 - Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1941. Eastory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTkRBg2Dwz0&ab_channel=Eastory

 

THE NANJING MASSACRE - DOCUMENTARY OF THE RAPE OF NANKING. History of China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CAYFxXBohA&t=2s&ab_channel=HistoryofChina

 

The Most Disturbing Human Experiment Ever. Wendigoon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRwCNiWuUpQ&ab_channel=Wendigoon

 

Meiji and Taishō Japan: An Introductory Essay. University of Colorado Boulder. https://www.colorado.edu/ptea-curriculum/becoming-modern/meiji-and-taisho-japan-introductory-essay#:~:text=By%20the%201920s%2C%20things%20had,member%20of%20the%20international%20community.

 

H-057-2: I-400 and Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night: Japanese Plan for Biological Warfare – September 1945. Naval History and Heritage Command. https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-057/h-057-2.html

 

Daniel Barenblat, A plague upon humanity, 2004.

 

Sheldon Harris, Factories of Death, 2002.

 

Japan’s Infamous Unit 731 by Hal Gol. 2004.

 

The Unspeakable Things That Happened In Unit 731. A Day in History. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BpKixUKbU8&ab_channel=ADayInHistory

 

General Ishii Shiro: His Legacy is That of Genius and Madman General Ishii Shiro: His Legacy is That of Genius and Madman Gregory Dean Byrd East Tennessee State University. May 2005.

 

 

The Path to Pearl Harbor.The National WWII Museum of New Orleans.

 

Unit 731 by Avani Sihra. Atomic Heritage Foundation.

 

Remembering Pearl Harbor, A Pearl Harbor Fact Sheet. US Census. https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/pearl-harbor-fact-sheet-1.pdf

 

Japanese announcement of the attack at Pearl Harbor, 1941. THE GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/japanese-announcement-attack-pearl-harbor-1941#:~:text=In%20January%201941%2C%20Admiral%20Isoroku,tensions%20with%20the%20United%20States.

Encyclopedia Britanica:

Iva Toguri D'Aquino. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Iva-Toguri-DAquino

Hideki Tojo. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tojo-Hideki

Counting the dead at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/

 

Tojo The Last Banzai by Courtney Browne. 1998.

 

About the B-25 History Project. https://b-25history.org/history/carrier.htm#:~:text=Most%20everyone%20knows%20that%20on,of%20the%20CV%2D8%20U.S.%20S.

 

Hideki Tojo -The Face of Japanese Militarism in WWII. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecRuPE-PzVE&ab_channel=Biographics

 

Second Sino-Japanese War

https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Sino-Japanese-War

 

Bushido’s Eight Virtues. https://www.themartialway.com.au/bushidos-eight-virtues/

 

More on Bushido

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bushido

 

What Japanese history lessons leave out By Mariko Oi. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21226068  

 

 

Music:

Scorching Action by Jonathan Margrove

Blood Kiss by Hainbach - Topics

Kalahari Wind by Humans Win

Cinematic Ambient Orchestral Drama Trailer by MEDIA MUSIC GROUP

Dramatic Investigation by Jon Presstone

Exploring The Possibility by Jon Presstone

Eye Of The Storm (Feat. Cicely Parnas) - Instrumental Version