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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
The positive and negative significance of the Tokyo Trial has been passionately debated among Japanese historians and intellectuals. However, the attitudes of the Japanese people in general towards the Trial have been rather apathetic. The Trial was almost absent in Japanese public discourse from the conclusion of the Trial until the 1980s, and according to opinion polls conducted recently, 60 per cent or even 70 per cent of Japanese people are unfamiliar with the specifics of the Trial. Some historians and intellectuals argue that the Tokyo Trial, unlike the Nuremberg Trial, had no direct impact on post-war Japanese society. Nonetheless, a close look at Japanese attitudes shows that the Tokyo Trial has had a subtle but substantial impact on the Japanese sense of history, war responsibility and war guilt, all of which are highly contemporary issues. This long-term societal impact of the Tokyo Trial became clearer in the 1990s and started to be recognised and pointed out publicly from 2005 onwards.
1 An extended version of this paper was published in Madoka Futamura, War Crimes Tribunals and Transitional Justice: The Tokyo Trial and the Nuremburg Legacy (2008). I have added new quantitative data and updated information on recent developments in Japanese society.
2 Kitō Makoto et al, ‘Kenshō: Sensō Sekinin Usureru Taisen no Kioku — Tokushū‘, Yomiuri Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan), 27 October 2005, 12.
3 ‘Keishōmeguri tomadoi — Asahi Shimbun Yoron Chōsa’, Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan), 2 May 2006, 12.
4 In examining Japanese attitudes, it is of course important to examine intellectuals' views on the Tokyo Trial as well, which illustrate sharply divided views in the debate surrounding the Trial. However, this chapter recognises that the intellectuals' arguments are not necessarily shared by people in general, whose attitudes towards the Tokyo Trial have been more ambivalent, nuanced and complex.
5 Editorial, ‘Heiwa Ketsui no Sekaiteki Hyōgen’, Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo), 13 November 1948, 1.
6 Editorial, ‘Tōkyō Saiban no Hanketsu’, Mainichi Shimbun (Tokyo), 5 November 1948, 1.
7 Based on the Opening Statement of Joseph Keenan, Chief Prosecutor, claiming that ‘we are waging a part of the determined battle of civilization to preserve the entire world from destruction’, the Tokyo Trial came to be understood by the Japanese as ‘civilization's justice’ [Bunmei no Sabaki], together with ‘victors’ justice': United States et al v Araki Sadao et al in The Tokyo Major War Crimes Trial: The Records of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, with an Authoritative Commentary and Comprehensive Guide (2002) Vol 2, Transcript, 384 (‘Tokyo Major War Crimes Trial‘) (emphasis added).
8 Awaya Kentarō, Tōkyō Saiban e no Michi [The Road to the Tokyo Trial] (2006) Vol 2, 23. See Takakuwa Kōkichi, Makkāsā no Shimbunkenetsu (1984) for the details of GHQ's censorship of newspaper coverage.
9 Yokota Kisaburō, Sensō Hanzai Ron (1947) 5.
10 Kainō Michitaka, Ukai Nobushige, Takano Yūichi, Tsuji Kiyoaki and Maruyama Masao, ‘Tōkyō Saiban no jijitsu to hōri’ (1949) 21 Hōritsu Jihō 13.
11 See Shunsuke Tsurumi, A Cultural History of Postwar Japan: 1945–1980 (1987) 15.
12 General Staff of General MacArthur, Reports of General MacArthur: MacArthur in Japan: The Occupation: Military Phase (first published 1966, 1998 ed) Vol I, Supp, 53.
13 See, e.g. B V A Röling and Antonio Cassese, The Tokyo Trial and Beyond: Reflections of a Peacemonger (1993) 84.
14 John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Aftermath of World War II (2000) 510. See also Yoshimi Yoshiaki, ‘Senryōki nihon no minshūishiki: Sensōsekininron wo megutte’ (1992) 811 Shisō 73, 82-4.
15 Gushima Kanesaburō, ‘Tōkyō saiban no rekishiteki igi’ (1948) 3(6) Rekishi Hyōron 30.
16 Higurashi Yoshinobu, ‘Tōkyō saiban to Nihon no Taiō: “Kokka” to “Kojin” ‘(2008) 44(3) Gunjishigaku 7.
17 Mainichi Shimbun Seijibu (ed) and directed by Utsumi Aiko and Nagai Hitoshi, Shimbun Shiryō ni miru Tōkyō Saiban, BC-kyū Saiban (2000) Vol 1, xx.
18 There were 50 articles in 1945, 453 articles in 1946, 310 articles in 1947, and 325 articles in 1948.
19 See Yoshimi, above n 14, 73-99; Yoshida Yutaka, ‘Senryōki ni okeru sensō sekininron’ (1991) 105(2) Hitotsubashi Ronsō 121, 121-38; Awaya, above n 8, Vol 2, 4-7, 16-18; Dower, above n 14.
20 Telegram from George Atcheson, Acting Political Adviser in Japan, to James Byrnes, US Secretary of State, 17 December 1945, in US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers (1945) Vol VI, 984.
21 Tokyo Major War Crimes Trial, above n 7, Vol 2, Transcript, 468.
22 Tsurumi, above n 11, 16.
23 See Futamura, above n 1, 120-2.
24 See also Yoshida Yutaka, ‘Sensō sekinin to Kyokutō Kokusai Gunji Saiban’ in Nakamura Masanori, Amakawa Akira, Yun Kooncha and Igarashi Takeshi (eds), Sengo Nihon: Senryō to Sengokaikaku [Post-war Japan: Occupation and Post-war Reformation] (1995) Vol 5, 80.
25 Nomura Masao, ‘Sabakareta “Nihonkoku”‘, Asahi Shimbun (Osaka, Japan), 13 November 1948.
26 See Futamura, above n 1, 123-33.
27 Ushimura Kei and Higurashi Yoshinobu, Tōkyō Saiban wo Tadashiku Yomu (2008) 144-6.
28 Asahi Shimbunsha Chōsa Kenkyūshitsu (ed), Kyokutō Kokusai Gunji Saiban Kiroku: Mokuroku oyobi Sakuin (1953) 5.
29 Editorial, ‘Kono Shokei wo Igiarashimeyo’, Mainichi Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan), 23 December 1948, 1.
30 See, eg, Inoue Kiyoshi, ‘Hō no ronri to rekishi no ronri’ (1948) 3(6) Rekishi Hyōron 13. For an analysis of the intellectuals' debate on the Tokyo Trial and war responsibility issues, see Yoshida Yutaka, ‘Senryōki no sensō sekininron’ in Ajia Minshūhōtei Junbikai (ed), Toinaosu Tōkyō Saiban (1995) 210. Claims for further trials, however, did not necessarily focus on collective responsibility of the Japanese people but targeted the responsibility of the Emperor, the military clique, and zaibatsu. At the same time, some academics did point out the war responsibility of the intellectuals and the media.
31 Awaya, above n 8, Vol 2, 5-7.
32 Tokyo Major War Crimes Trial, above n 7, Vol 103, Transcript, 49 768-9.
33 Ibid Vol 103, Transcript, 49 592.
34 Higurashi, Tōkyō saiban to Nihon', above n 16, 16-17.
35 See, eg, Iokibe Makoto, ‘“Tōkyō saiban” ga sabaita hito to jidai’ in Kōdansha (ed), Tōkyō Saiban: Shashin Hiroku (1983) 109.
36 Quoted in Yoshimi, above n 14, 77.
37 Editorial, ‘Heiwa Ketsui no Sekaiteki Hyōgen’, Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan), 13 November 1948, 1 (emphasis added).
38 See, e.g., Treaty of Peace with Japan, opened for signature 8 September 1951, 136 UNTS 46 (entered into force 28 April 1952), with which Japan regained independence, and which contains Article 11 stating that: ‘Japan accepts the judgments of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and of other Allied War Crimes Courts both within and outside Japan, and will carry out the sentences imposed thereby upon Japanese nationals imprisoned in Japan.‘
39 According to an opinion poll conducted by Asahi Shimbun in 2006, 48 per cent of those who replied that they knew enough about the Tokyo Trial (27 per cent) answered that ‘with some problems, the Tokyo Trial still was necessary as a settlement’: ‘Keishōmeguri tomadoi — Asahi Shimbun Yoron Chōsa’, Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan), 2 May 2006, 12.
40 Japan Cabinet Office, Sengo 10nen no kaiko to tenbōni kansuru yoronchōsa (August 1955).
41 There were 22 articles in 1952, the year that the occupation ended, and 17 articles in 1955, when Class A war criminals sentenced by the Tokyo Tribunal were released from prison.
42 Awaya Kentarō, Tōkyō Saiban-ron (1989) 276.
43 Sumitani Takeshi, ‘“Shōsha no sabaki” ron saikō ‘in Ajia Minshūhōtei Junbikai (ed), Toinaosu Tōkyō Saiban (1995) 53.
44 See Takigawa Masajirō, Tōkyō Saiban wo Sabaku (1952-53) Vol 1; Sugahara Yutaka, Tōkyō Saiban no Shōtai (1961).
45 Awaya, Tōkyō Saiban-ron, above n 41, 270.
46 Radhabinod Pal and Tanaka Masaaki, Nihon Muzairon: Shinri no Sabaki [The Japan-Is-Not-Guilty View: Judgment of the Truth] (1952). Tanaka continuously wrote and published books on Justice Pal's Opinion, all of which carried the phrase, Nihon Muzairon, in their title: see, e.g, Tanaka Masaaki, Paru Hakase no Nihon Muzai-ron [Justice Pal's Theory of Japan's Innocence] (1963).
47 It has been pointed out that Justice Pal did not state that Japan was ‘morally’ innocent as he confirmed that the Japanese military conducted various atrocities during the war and therefore, his argument should not be taken as a total acquittal of modern Japan. See Tsunoda Jun, ‘Paru hanketsusho to Shōwashi’ in Tōkyō Saiban Kenkyū-kai (ed), Paru Hanketsusho: Kyōdō Kenkyū [Pal's Judgment: Joint Research] (1984) Vol 1, 199; Yuma Totani, The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Pursuit of Justice in the Wake of World War II (2008) 220.
48 In 1966, Justice Pal was given the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Kun Ittō Zuihō Shō) by the Japanese Government, and an emeritus doctorate from Nihon University.
49 According to the National Diet Library's database, there were 33 books categorised under ‘the Tokyo Trial’ or ‘the International Military Tribunal for the Far East’ during the 1980s. This was a significant number considering that, in total, 25 books related to the Tokyo Trial — including court materials — were published during the occupation (1946-51), 11 during the 1950s (1952-60), 11 in the 1960s, and 19 in the 1970s.
50 Comment by Kobayashi Masaki, in ‘Tokushū Tōkyō saiban: Zadankai — Rekishiteki shinjitsu wo kyakkanteki ni gurōbaruna shiten de’ (1983) 858 Kinema Junpō 64, 67.
51 Ibid.
52 Ōnuma Yasuaki, Tōkyō Saiban kara Sengo Sekinin no Shisō he [From the Tokyo Trial to a Sense of Postwar Responsibility] (4th ed, 1997) 123.
53 A record of the Symposium was published in 1984, which is available in English as Chihiro Hosoya, Andō Nisuki, Ōnuma Yasuaki and Richard Minear (eds), The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: An International Symposium (1986).
54 Comment by Ōnuma in the record of the Symposium: ibid 123.
55 Ibid 56.
56 See Igarashi Takeshi and Kitaoka Shinichi (eds), ‘Sōron’ Tōkyō Saiban toha Nandattanoka (1997) (as the record of the Symposium).
57 Ibid v.
58 According to the database of the National Diet Library, in 1995 alone, 15 books on the Tokyo Trial, including eight volumes of compiled documents of the defence counsel, were published. Altogether, there were 34 books published in the 1990s.
59 Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama ‘On the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the War's End‘ (15 August 1995).
60 See, e.g., an opinion poll result carried in Yomiuri Shimbun, 5 October 1993, in which 53.1 per cent agreed with the then Prime Minister Hosokawa Morihiro's comment that year that ‘Japan's war in the Asia Pacific was aggression’, 24.8 per cent disagreed and 22.1 per cent did not answer. See also an opinion poll result carried in Asahi Shimbun, 23 August 1994, in which more than 70 per cent thought that the Government ‘has not adequately compensated the people of countries Japan invaded or colonised’.
61 According to Asahi Shimbun's opinion poll in May 2006, 31 per cent answered that it was aggression, 7 per cent answered that it was self-defence, and 45 per cent answered that it had both aspects, while 15 per cent answered ‘do not know'.
62 Futamura, above n 1, 109.
63 Richard Minear, Victors' Justice: The Tokyo War Crimes Trial (1971) ix.
64 During intensive interviews and focus group interviews conducted by the author in 2003, many interviewees expressed reluctance and discomfort to talk about the Tokyo Trial in public, for fear of being misunderstood or involved in ideological disputes: see Futamura, above n 1, 116-43.
65 For a detailed analysis of the taboo of the Tokyo Trial, see Futamura, above n 1, 107-11.
66 Yui Daizaburō, ‘Komento’ in Takeshi Igarashi and Shinichi Kitaoka (eds), ‘Sōron’ Tōkyō Saiban toha Nandattanoka (1997) 44.
67 Higurashi Yoshinobu, Tōkyō Saiban (2008) 256-7, 391-2.
68 For detailed discussion of this paradoxical combination of the perception, see Futamura, above n 1, 116-43. The Japanese ambiguous attitude may be related to the societal impact of the trials of minor war criminals, the so-called Class B and Class C war crimes trials, which Tsurumi pointed out are seen by the Japanese ‘to be connected in an unbroken chain’ with the Tokyo Trial: Shunsuke Tsurumi, ‘What the War Trials Left to the Japanese People’ in Chihiro Hosoya, Andō Nisuki, Ōnuma Yasuaki and Richard Minear (eds), The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: An International Symposium (1986) 141. Each trial was conducted by one of the Allied countries, mostly outside Japan. Altogether 5700 soldiers were tried for committing conventional war crimes and crimes against humanity. 984 were sentenced to death, 475 to life imprisonment and 2,944 to limited prison sentences. Quoted in Tōkyō Saiban Handobukku Henshū Iinkai (ed.), Tōkyō Saiban Handobukku (Tokyo: Aoki Shoten 1989), 219.
69 In an opinion poll conducted in May 2005, 51 per cent answered that they ‘cannot understand the Chinese stance of problematising Yasukuni’, while most opinion polls up to then clearly showed that the majority of the population acknowledged the aggressive nature of the past war and that war crimes were committed: ‘Yasukuni Sampai “Chūshiwo” 49%, Chūgoku no mondaishi “Rikaidekinu” 51% — Asahi Shimbun Yoron Chōsa’, Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan), 31 May 2005, 1.
70 The number of articles in Asahi Shimbun leaped from 31 in 2004 to 98 in 2005, and the number of articles in Yomiuri Shimbun jumped from 23 in 2004 to 58 in 2005. Both newspapers issued the largest number of articles in 2006, 142 in Asahi Shimbun and 77 in Yomiuri Shimbun.
71 The articles were published as Asahi Shimbunsha (ed), Sensō Sekinin to Tsuitō (2006).
72 The articles were published as Yomiuri Shimbun Sensō Sekinin Kenshō Iinkai (ed), Kenshō Sensō Sekinin 1 (2006).
73 Watanabe Tsuneo, ‘“Sensō sekinin” to ha nanika’ [What is ‘War Responsibility‘] (November 2006) Ronza 131.
74 According to the database of the National Diet Library, during the period 2005-08 there were 59 books published that are categorised under the Tokyo Trial and the International Military Tribunal for Far East. There were 14 books in 2005; 12 in 2006; 15 in 2007; and 18 in 2008. See also above nn 49, 58.
75 Tamogami Toshio, Nihon ha Shinryakukokka de attanoka [Whether Japan Was an Aggressor] (2008).
76 Higurashi Yoshinobu, Tōkyō Saiban no Kokusai Kankei: Kokusai Seiji ni okeru Kenryoku to Kihan [International Relations of the Tokyo Trial: Power and Norm in International Politics] (2000).
77 Higurashi Yoshinobu, Tōkyō Saiban (2008).
78 See Totani, above n 47, which was also published in Japanese: Yuma Totani, Tōkyō Saiban: Dainiji Sekaitaisengo no Hō to Seigi no Tsuikyū (2008).
79 Ushimura Kei, 'Sensō Sekinin'ron no Shinjitu: Sengo Nihon no Chiteki Taiman wo Danzu [The Truth of the Debate on War Responsibility] (2006).
80 Takeda Kayoko, Tokyo Saiban ni okeru Tsūyaku (2008).
81 Totani, above n 47, 218-45.
82 Hosaka Masayasu, Tōkyō Saiban no Kyōkun [Lessons of the Tokyo Trial] (2008).
83 Ushimura and Higurashi, above n 27, 171, 215.
84 Hosaka, above n 82, 11.
85 This point was already raised by some academics in the 1980s. See, eg, Ara Takashi, ‘Tōkyō saiban: Sensō sekininron no genryū — Tōkyō saiban to senryōka no yoron’ (1984) 408 Rekishi Hyōron 2.
86 State–War–Navy Coordinating Committee, Politico-Military Problems in the Far East: United States Initial Post-defeat Policy relating to Japan (21 September 1945).
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