Review of Utsumi Aiko, Sugamo Prison: The Peace Movement of the War Criminals (Sugamo purizun—senpantachi no heiwa undo). Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2004.

“Sugamo Prison” became Sugamo Keimusho (jail) at the end of the occupation when it passed from American to Japanese-government control. Until that time, it was the place of confinement for convicted war criminals and suspects. Although located inside Japan, it was an abnormal space—one might call it a foreign country—where Japanese had their freedom restricted by the Occupation authorities. If we view it from a stance critical of “the Tokyo Trial view of history” (e.g., the new nationalist history), “Sugamo Prison,” was a space in which victims were confined by “victors' justice”. However, viewed through the eyes of those “who were visited with the horrors of war” (to quote the Preamble to the Constitution), this prison was a space for implementing “justice” in which aggressors were confined.