Miracle at Fushun: The Transformation of Japanese ‘War Criminals’

from Devils into Humans

Motomu Ishikawa and Megumi Makino

In Japan, there exist many war veterans’ organizations. They are usually made up of the ex-military personnel who fought together in the same corps. Many commentators on Japan have criticised Japanese ex-servicemen for not discussing their wartime actions frankly, let alone acknowledging their responsibility for their conduct. In this regard, the Chûgoku Kikansha Renraku Kai (the Association of China Returnees, hereafter the ACR) is unique. This group was founded in 1957 by about 1000 Japanese war veterans who had been detained at Fushun Prison in the Northeast of China, and then repatriated in 1956. Since then, its members have devoted themselves to the promotion of better Sino-Japanese relations. However, what makes the ACR most unusual in comparison with other war veterans’ organizations is that, since their homecoming, many of its members have been confessing publicly the crimes against humanity which they had committed in China in order to atone for their wartime conduct.

The behaviour of Japanese troops was so horrendous that Chinese people called them “Japanese devils.” The ACR members think of their experiences at Fushun Prison as a “miracle” by which they were transformed from “devils” into humans with the help of the Chinese prison staff. In what follows, we will give a brief account of how this process took place in Fushun Prison during the early years of revolutionary China.
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