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The defendants at the International
Military Tribunal for the Far East Ichigaya Court: Accused Japanese war
criminals in the prisoners' box. Front row of defendants from left to right:
General Kenji Doihara; Field Marshal Shunroku Hata; Koki Hirota, former prime
minister of Japan; General Jiro Minami; General Hideki Tojo, former prime
minister of Japan; Takasumi Oka; General Yoshijiro Umezu; General Sadao Araki;
General Akira Muto; Naoki Hoshino; Okinori Kaga; Marquis Koichi Kido. Back row:
Colonel Kingiro Hashimoto; General Kuniaki Koiso; Admiral Osami Nagano; General
Hiroshi Oshima; General Iwane Matsui; Shumei Okawa; Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma;
Shigenori Togo; Yosuke Matsuoka; Mamoru Shigemitsu; General Kenryo Sato;
Admiral Shigetaro Shimada; Toshio Shiratori; Teiichi Suzuki.
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The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known
as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, or simply the Tribunal, was convened on April
29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of war
crimes. "Class A" crimes were reserved for those who participated in
a joint conspiracy to start and wage war, and were brought against those in the
highest decision-making bodies; "Class B" crimes were reserved for
those who committed "conventional" atrocities or crimes against
humanity; "Class C" crimes were reserved for those in "the
planning, ordering, authorization, or failure to prevent such transgressions at
higher levels in the command structure.”
Twenty-eight Japanese
military and political leaders were charged with Class A crimes, and more than
5,700 Japanese nationals were charged with Class B and C crimes, mostly
entailing prisoner abuse. China held 13 tribunals of its own, resulting in 504
convictions and 149 executions.
The Japanese Emperor
Hirohito and all members of the imperial family, such as career officer Prince
Yasuhiko Asaka, were not prosecuted for involvement in any of the three
categories of crimes. Herbert Bix explains that "the Truman administration
and General MacArthur both believed the occupation reforms would be implemented
smoothly if they used Hirohito to legitimise their changes." As many as 50
suspects, such as Nobusuke Kishi, who later became Prime Minister, and
Yoshisuke Aikawa, head of Nissan, were charged but released in 1947 and 1948.
Shiro Ishii received immunity in exchange for data gathered from his
experiments on live prisoners. The lone dissenting judge to exonerate all
indictees was Indian jurist Radhabinod
Pal.
The tribunal was
adjourned on November 12, 1948.
I
will name the 28 defendants of the trial:
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Japanese War Criminals
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Twenty-eight
defendants were charged, mostly military officers and government officials.
Civilian officials
- Kōki
Hirota, prime minister (1936–1937), foreign minister (1933–1936,
1937–1938)
- Baron Kiichirō Hiranuma, prime minister (1939),
president of the privy council
- Naoki
Hoshino, chief cabinet secretary
- Marquis Kōichi
Kido, Lord Keeper of the Privy
Seal
- Toshio Shiratori, Ambassador to Italy
- Shigenori Tōgō, foreign minister (1941–1942,
1945)
- Mamoru Shigemitsu, foreign minister
(1943–1945)
- Okinori
Kaya, finance minister (1941–1944)
- Yōsuke Matsuoka, foreign minister (1940–1941)
Military officers
- General Hideki Tōjō, prime minister (1941–1944), war minister (1940–1944),chief of the Imperial Japanese Army
General Staff Office (1944)
- General
Seishirō Itagaki, war minister (1938-1939)
- General Sadao
Araki, war minister (1931–1934)
- Field Marshal
Shunroku Hata, war minister (1939–1940)
- Admiral Shigetarō Shimada, navy minister
(1941–1944), chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy
General Staff (1944)
- Lieutenant
General Kenryō Satō, chief of the Military Affairs Bureau
- General Kuniaki
Koiso, prime minister (1944–1945), governor-general of Korea
(1942–1944)
- Vice Admiral Takazumi Oka, chief of the Bureau of Naval Affairs
- Lieutenant
General Hiroshi Ōshima, ambassador to Germany
- Fleet Admiral Nagano
Osami, navy minister (1936–1937), chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy
General Staff (1941–1944)
- General Jirō
Minami, governor-general of Korea (1936–1942)
- General Kenji Doihara, chief of the intelligence service in Manchukuo
- General Heitarō Kimura, commander of the Burma Area
Army
- General Iwane Matsui, commander of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force and Central China
Area Army
- Lieutenant
General Akira Mutō, chief of staff of the 14th Area Army
- Colonel Kingorō Hashimoto, founder of Sakurakai
- General Yoshijirō Umezu, commander of the Kwantung
Army, chief of the Imperial Japanese Army
General Staff Office (1944–1945)
- Lieutenant
General Teiichi Suzuki, chief of the Cabinet Planning
Board
Other defendants
