Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials

by Timothy P. Maga

“They are plain, ordinary murderers,” cried Chief Prosecutor Joseph B. Keenan, and the court at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials believed him. As a result, Japanese officers and soldiers who conducted beheading demonstrations, engaged in unethical medical experiments, or even practiced cannibalism on POWs, were found guilty of the more prosecutable charge of murder. In the years since the Japanese war crimes trials concluded, the proceedings have been colored by charges of racism, vengeance, and guilt. Tim Maga contends that despite these charges, the trials encompassed some of the most fascinating criminal cases of the twentieth century. Judgment at Tokyo is a bold reassessment of the trials, in which defendants ranged from lowly Japanese Imperial Army privates to former prime ministers. Maga shows that these were cases in which good law was practiced and that they changed the ways war crimes trials are approached today. In contrast to Nuremberg, the efforts in Tokyo, Guam, and other locations throughout the Pacific received little attention by the Western press. Once the Cold War began and America needed Pacific allies, the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers throughout the 1930s and early 1940s were rarely mentioned. The trials were dismissed as phony justice and “Japan Bashing.” Since the defendants did not represent a government for which genocide was a policy pursuit, their cases were more difficult to prosecute than those of Nazi war criminals. Keenan and his compatriots adopted criminal court tactics and established precedents in the conduct of war crimes trials that still stand today. Maga reviews the context for the trials, recounts the proceedings, and concludes that they were, in fact, decent examples of American justice and fair play.

Genres: History, World War II

181 pages, Hardcover

First published January 11, 2001

About the author

Timothy P. Maga is Oglesby Professor of American Heritage at Bradley University.

Reviews

[Robu-sensei · Rating 2 out of 5]

The International Tribunal for the Far East ("Tokyo Trial") of 1946-48 was intended to mirror the Nuremberg war-crimes trials, but several important differences have made the Tokyo Trial far more controversial. First, "conspiracy to wage aggressive war," one of the four charges leveled against defendants at Nuremberg, was a uniquely European concept. Next, the defense argued, with some justification, that Japan's "aggressive" warmaking was (largely) in the service of freeing Asian peoples from European colonial rule. Also, whereas atrocities against civilian populations and prisoners of war by the Nazis were systematic and carefully orchestrated from the highest levels, atrocities committed by the Japanese military occurred spontaneously, without orders from high-ranking officers. Defendants, therefore, were often charged with having failing to prevent war crimes (i.e., "negative culpability"). Moreover, the moral superiority of the victorious Allies had been heavily compromised by the horror of the Allied firebombing of major Japanese cities, and even more by the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Finally, the United States unmistakably dominated the proceedings, creating the impression that the Tokyo Trial was an act of revenge for the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. In this setting, proponents of the tribunal have had difficulty convincing the world at large that justice in international law was served.

Timothy Maga argues strenuously that the Tokyo Trial was, indeed, fair, but although I agree with him more than disagree, I found his arguments more reactionary than compelling. (Justice B.V.A. Röling, despite his dissention from the majority judgment, gives a more convincing defense of the trial in The Tokyo Trial and Beyond: Reflections of a Peacemonger.) Maga appears to lose sight of his overall goal, delving too often and too deeply into irrelevant, albeit sometimes fascinating, details, especially with some of the subsidiary war-crimes trials in the Pacific theater. The well-versed World War II devotee sifting through Judgment at Tokyo will be rewarded with many intriguing anecdotes, but anyone seeking a well-rounded, general overview of the International Tribunal had best look elsewhere.

[Phillip Goodnight · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Armand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. It was tedious in places but worth the almost 1000 pages. Change my perspective on war and war crimes. Also made me rethink the US position on war. Crimes. Don’t miss the Epilogue.

[Sketchbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Japanese (W2) were butchers. So were the Russians. Their victims do not have a powful lobby in DC.