Editing Unit 731 (section)

=== Post-occupation Japanese media coverage and debate ===
Japanese discussions of Unit 731's activity began in the 1950s, after the end of the [[American occupation of Japan]]. In 1952, an infant girl at [[Nagoya City]] [[Children's hospital|Pediatric Hospital]] died after being infected with ''[[Escherichia coli|E. coli]]'' bacteria; the incident was publicly tied to former Unit 731 scientists.<ref>日本弁護士連合会『人権白書昭和43年版』日本弁護士連合会、1968年、pp. 134–136；高杉晋吾『七三一部隊細菌戦の医師を追え』徳間書店、1982年、pp. 94–111; [http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/activity/document/civil_liberties/year/1955/1955_4.html 保護施設収容者に対する人権擁護に関する件（決議）] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127043917/http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/activity/document/civil_liberties/year/1955/1955_4.html |date=2016-01-27 }}</ref> Later in that decade, journalists suspected that the murders attributed by the government to [[Sadamichi Hirasawa]] were actually carried out by members of Unit&nbsp;731. In 1957, Japanese author [[Shūsaku Endō]] published the book ''[[The Sea and Poison]]'' about human experimentation in [[Fukuoka]], which is thought to have been based on a real incident.

In 1950, former members of Unit 731 including Masaji Kitano founded the [[blood bank]] and pharmaceutical company [[Green Cross (Japanese company)|Green Cross]], for which Murray Sanders also served as a consultant. The company became the target of a [[HIV-tainted-blood scandal|scandal]] in the 1980s after up to 3,000 Japanese contracted [[HIV]] through the distribution and use of its blood products, which the [[Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency]] had deemed unsafe.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-26 |title=JPRI Working Paper No. 23 |url=http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp23.html |access-date=2024-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526145652/http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp23.html |archive-date=26 May 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20091101x4.html | title=Ministry insider speaks out | website=search.japantimes.co.jp | first=Tomoko | last=Otake | date=2009-11-01}}</ref>

The author [[Seiichi Morimura]] published ''The Devil's Gluttony'' (悪魔の飽食) in 1981, followed by ''The Devil's Gluttony: A Sequel'' in 1983. These books purported to reveal the "true" operations of Unit&nbsp;731, but falsely attributed unrelated photos to the Unit, which raised questions about their accuracy.<ref>{{cite book |title=Textbook controversy and the production of public truth: Japanese education, nationalism, and Saburo Ienaga's court challenges |last=Nozaki |first=Yoshiko |year=2000 |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |pages=300, 381}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Keiichi Tsuneishi|title=『七三一部隊 生物兵器犯罪の真実』 講談社現代新書 |year=1995|isbn=4061492659|page=171|publisher=講談社 }}</ref> Also in 1981, the first direct testimony of human [[vivisection]] in China was given by [[Ken Yuasa]]. Since then, much more in depth testimony has been given in Japan. The 2001 documentary ''[[Japanese Devils]]'' largely consists of interviews with fourteen Unit&nbsp;731 staff members taken prisoner by China and later released.<ref>田辺敏雄 『検証 旧日本軍の「悪行」—歪められた歴史像を見直す』 自由社 {{ISBN|4915237362}}</ref> [[Takahito, Prince Mikasa|Prince Mikasa]], who was the younger brother of Hirohito, toured the Unit 731 headquarters in China, and wrote in his memoir that he watched films showing how Chinese prisoners were "made to march on the plains of Manchuria for poison gas experiments on humans."<ref name="Kristof"/> [[Hideki Tojo]], who later became [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] in 1941, was also shown films of the experiments, which he described as "unpleasant".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vanderbrook |first=Alan |date=2013 |title=Imperial Japan's Human Experiments Before And During World War Two |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3588&context=etd |journal=Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 |via=STARS}}</ref>