The Tokyo war crimes trial: Historiography, misunderstandings, and revisions

This dissertation assesses the historical significance of the Tokyo war crimes trial, which was held between 1946 and 1948 as the eastern counterpart of the Nuremberg trial. It investigates a large body of trial-related sources that have been understudied in existing scholarship. By exploring many untapped sources, this dissertation presents the Tokyo trial as a misunderstood historical subject with enormous potential to enhance our understanding of the Japanese conduct of war and occupation during World War II, the Japanese postwar debate on war guilt, and the relevance of the Tokyo trial to the continuing development of international humanitarian law.; One of the oft-raised criticisms against the Tokyo trial has been that it was a political show trial that had no lasting validity as a judicial event. But this dissertation shows that the Tokyo Judgment was based on sound legal principles---mostly inherited from the Nuremberg trial---which remain salient to current international war crimes trials such as those held at The Hague today. Despite the widespread notion of victors' justice, this trial was a major arena for developing the core principles of contemporary international humanitarian law. Another widespread criticism is that the participants of the Tokyo trial purposely omitted important war crimes cases from the prosecutorial effort in view of various ideological and political considerations of the Allied governments. The omitted cases---it is said---included the medical experimentation on prisoners of war, organized military sexual slavery, and atrocities targeted at the Asian civilian population. However, this dissertation shows that the prosecutors actually introduced a large amount of evidence substantiating Japanese war crimes, including those that critics charge were neglected. Contrary to what is generally believed, the Tokyo trial actually contributed to setting the historical record straight about the Japanese war and war crimes during World War II.